AJC Launches International Campaign to Stop a Nuclear Iran

Contact: Kenneth Bandler, 212-891-6771, bandlerk@ajc.org or Joan Goodman, 212-891-1385, goodmanj@ajc.org - both of the American Jewish Committee

NEW YORK, Dec. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The American Jewish Committee is urging world leaders to unite in a vigorous international effort to defuse the Iranian nuclear threat now.

"President Ahmadinejad has made crystal clear his determination to ignore the international community, to develop nuclear weapons, and to use the threat of a nuclear arsenal to advance his regime's extremist agenda," said AJC Executive Director David A. Harris. "The time for complacency is long past. Urgent action is needed to stop Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold."

U.S. and other experts have projected that Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons within several years and to master the technology to convert and enrich uranium for that purpose as early as this spring. While any nation in the range of Iranian ballistic missiles is a potential target, the Iranian leader in recent weeks has repeated several times his intention to annihilate Israel.

"The world must not allow itself to be in the position of relying on President Ahmadinejad's, or the reigning mullahs', self-restraint or good judgment to avoid a nuclear calamity," said Harris. "The possibility of Iranian nuclear weapons falling into the hands of Iran's terrorist proxies -- particularly Hezbollah -- is horrifying." According to the U.S. State Department, Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and even without nuclear weapons, has proven to be a menace.

In advocacy efforts with governments around the world, and with the UN, AJC is seeking implementation of a range of measures to halt Iran's progress toward nuclear weapons capability.

"Most importantly, states should cease providing any assistance to Iran's nuclear and military programs, and should bring the issue of Iran's violation of non-proliferation agreements in its development of nuclear weapons capability before the UN Security Council," stated an AJC policy statement released this week. For a full copy of the statement, visit http://www.ajc.org.

Among the steps AJC proposes are that governments recall their envoys to Iran and expel Iranian diplomats from their respective countries, suspend Iran from a range of international organizations, and impose economic sanctions.

"Until Iran desists from a nuclear program it sought to conceal from the world for the last two decades, and which poses a grave threat to regional and world peace, it cannot be permitted to benefit from business as usual in bilateral or multilateral relations," Harris said.

As part of an accelerated public education effort, AJC this week cosponsored a Chanukah vigil outside the Iranian interests section in Washington, D.C., where candles on a menorah were lit as protestors spoke out against the Iranian threat and President Ahmadinejad's recent reckless statements on Israel and the Holocaust.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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