JERUSALEM (JTA) — President-elect Barack Obama said Iran’s "threats against Israel are contrary to everything that we believe in and what the international community should accept."
On Sunday’s "Meet the Press," Obama told host Tom Brokaw that the United States needs to "ratchet up tough but direct diplomacy with Iran" and make it clear to the Iranians that their development of nuclear weapons and their funding of terrorist organizations "like Hamas and Hezbollah," and threats against Israel are "unacceptable."
The president-elect suggested a "carrots and sticks" approach to changing the way Iran operates, including using economic incentives and sanctions.
Iran recently announced that it has 5,000 working centrifuges enriching uranium that much of the Western world believes will be used to create nuclear weapons to target the United States and Israel.
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