Iran stalling to buy time to build nuke arsenal: Israel

BERLIN: Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged world leaders on Monday to confront the "threat" posed by Iran, saying the Islamic state was trying to buy time to build a nuclear weapon.

"There is an additional threat, not just for the state of Israel but for the entire international community," she said after talks in Berlin with her German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

"The world must understand that it must act so that uranium enrichment is stopped in Iran. This is crucial for world peace."

She said the international community could not accept an equivocal Iranian response to an incentives package for stopping sensitive nuclear work, calling it an attempt to stall until Tehran can develop a nuclear weapon.

And later in a speech before the German Council on Foreign Relations, she demanded UN sanctions against Iran.

"This is a test for the international community," she said. "It's time for real sanctions."

Germany is part of the "5 plus one" team along with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China -- that drew up the package.

Few details have emerged of Iran's response but the United States has warned it would lead moves to impose sanctions if the reply fell short of UN Security Council demands.