Jerusalem, Aug 2 (ANI): Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned that time is running out for the international community to halt Iran's nuclear programme by peaceful means.
Netanyahu, told US defence secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday that 'sanctions, diplomacy and declarations of a willingness to take military action as a last resort had not yet convinced the Iranians to stop their programme'.
"However forceful our statements, they have not convinced Iran that we are serious about stopping them. Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear programme," the Guardian quoted him, as saying.
According to the paper, Netanyahu has earlier said that although sanctions were hurting the Iranian economy, such measures had 'yet to move its nuclear programme even a millimetre backwards'.
Panetta, in an attempt to reassure Israel, told Netanyahu that the US 'would not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon'.
"We will not allow them to develop a nuclear weapon, and we will exert all options in the effort to ensure that that does not happen," the report quoted Panetta, as saying. (ANI)