Israel welcomes IAEA Iran decision

Jerusalem - Israel Friday welcomed IAEA's governing board decision condemning Iran for breaching UN Security Council orders regarding a new enrichment plant, and urging it to halt construction and answer open questions about alleged nuclear weapons research. The decision comes "after more than three years in which no decision was taken within this framework against Iran," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement to journalists.

The decision, he said, had "great importance."

"The adoption of the decision by a large majority indicates that the international community has reached the conclusion that Iran's nuclear program, which is advancing secretly through concealment and deception, is becoming an urgent and real danger to world peace.

"The international community, through it authorized institutions and its member states, must ensure that this decision will have practical implications," he said.

The international community should do that be "setting binding timetables" for Iran's implementation of the decision and "heavy sanctions" on Tehran in case it ignored it.