UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) - Israel is ready to act "alone" to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday, warning a UN summit against believing warm words Iran's new leader.
"Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone," Netanyahu said, in a grim warning to world leaders and ministers at the UN General Assembly.
Netanyahu linked Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, who has made diplomatic overtures to the West and strongly denies that his government seeks a nuclear weapon, to past militant attacks.
"I wish I could believe Rouhani. But I don't," Netanyahu said.
"Iran wants to be in a position to rush forward to build nuclear bombs before the international community can detect it and much less prevent it," he alleged.
A nuclear-armed Iran would be a more dangerous threat than North Korea, Netanyahu added.
"As dangerous as a nuclear armed North Korea is, it pales in comparison to the danger of a nuclear armed Iran," he said.
"A nuclear armed Iran in the Middle East wouldn't be another North Korea -- it would be another 50 North Koreas."
An Iranian diplomat at the UN meeting said the government rejects claims that it is seeking a bomb.
