'Israeli MPs refuse to sign Iran war letter'

Israeli MPs have refused to sign a letter supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on launching a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, PRESS TV reported.

MP Tzipi Hotovely, who was the driving force behind the letter, had claimed that nine lawmakers from the Likud party had signed the letter.

"We have complete faith in the way any decision on Iran will be made, and we are sure it will be made responsibly and with a clear view of Israel's vital interests," read the letter.

However, the Israeli newspaper Maariv published a report on Monday saying that no lawmaker had signed the letter, but that nine MPs have only orally expressed support for the letter.

Hotovely admitted that no lawmaker had signed the letter after MP Karmel Shama, one of the MPs whom she said had signed the letter, wrote on his Facebook page that he had not signed such a letter.

The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran in order to force the Islamic Republic to halt its uranium enrichment program, which Washington and Tel Aviv claim includes a military component.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.


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