Israel endorses draft Iran atom deal as 'first step'
Prime Minister Netanyahu offers cautious praise for UN-drafted proposal for dealing with Iran's nuclear program, tells US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, 'Proposal the president made in Geneva, to have Iran withdraw its enriched uranium - a portion of it - outside Iran is a positive first step'
Israel offered cautious praise on Friday for a UN-drafted, US-backed proposal for dealing with Iran's enriched uranium, calling it "a positive first step" toward denying Tehran the means to make nuclear weaponry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the issue expressly at the start of talks with US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who does not usually deal with Iran, following more skeptical remarks by Israeli defense officials.
"I also wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the president's ongoing efforts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear military capability," Netanyahu said at a brief welcome session video-taped by his office.
"I think that the proposal the president made in Geneva, to have Iran withdraw its enriched uranium -- a portion of it - outside Iran is a positive first step in that direction."
The statement came as Iran, the United States and other world powers disputed the terms for any final settlement.
Netanyahu made no immediate mention of Israel's long-standing demand that any deal with Iran end its domestic uranium enrichment, a process than can yield bomb-grade fuel.
Iran says its atomic ambitions are peaceful, but the secrecy around the program and Tehran's vituperation of the Jewish state have stirred regional war fears.
Israel, assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, has hinted at the possibility of preemptive strikes against Iranian facilities if it deems diplomacy a dead end.
