Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said on Thursday that Iran's nuclear program is not only an issue for Israel but the entire world as well.
"The last two IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] reports are damning. They include serious violations, fraud, deception and outright lies," he said at a press conference after meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, referring to reports the UN's nuclear watchdog compiled after inspecting Iranian nuclear facilities.
"Iran's march toward a nuclear weapon is not only an Israeli problem. It is a problem for the entire world."
This was Lapid's first state visit to Russia since taking office in June and he was slated to meet with the Kremlin's top diplomat to discuss a wide range of diplomatic and security issues.
Lapid also warned of Iranian military entrenchment in Syria which he said was a destabilizing element in the Middle East.
"Unfortunately, there won't be security in Syria or the wider Middle East while there is an Iranian presence [there]. Iran is the world's number one exporter of terror, and it threatens us all."
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Lapid and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov give a joint statement in Moscow, September 9, 2021
(Photo: GPO)
Russia is the Syrian government's closest ally and after it turned the fortunes for the collapsing regime of President Bashar al-Assad regime in 2015 when it began supplying Damascus air support in the country's civil war.
Iran is also a close Syria ally but shares an axis of convenience with Russia, going between a rival and an ally.
According to foreign media reports, Israel has repeatedly targeted Iranian assets in Syria, most notably of the Tehran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group, setting off Russian-supplied air defenses, but the two countries are careful not to antagonize each other.