Israel warns about dangers of Iranian nuclear capabilities

Israeli President Isaac Herzog reiterated his country's concerns about Iran's nuclear strategy on Monday ahead of a possible deal to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons.

The international community must never remain silent about Tehran's attempts to spread terror in the region and wipe Israel off the map, Herzog said during a meeting with Swiss President Ignazio Cassis in Bern.

"We expect the family of nations to make this point crystal clear: The international community, and the nations that so proudly push for international peace, should not accept calls and efforts to eradicate a sovereign member state of the United Nations," Herzog said.

Iran's behaviour "cannot be met with silence. Iran's activities cannot go unpunished. And most critically, such a state must not be allowed to possess nuclear capabilities. Iran must be denied such capabilities by all means necessary," he said, according to a text of his speech issued by his office.

Efforts are underway to revive the 2015 Vienna agreement to set controls on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Tehran insists its nuclear research activities are solely for civilian use.

However, Israel has repeatedly slammed the current version of the deal. Herzog's comments came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned that Iran would just bide its time until it can return to weapons building and that the deal does not include strict enough monitoring to ensure Iranian compliance.