Baku-APA. British Prime Minister David Cameron denounced Iran's government as a "despotic regime" in a speech to Israel's parliament on Wednesday and accused Tehran of making "despicable" efforts to arm Palestinian militants, APA reports quoting Reuters.
His address to the Knesset was staunchly pro-Israeli, and he delighted his hosts by claiming Jewish ancestral roots and talking tough on Iran, which is in negotiations with world powers on curbing its contested nuclear ambitions.
"I share your deep skepticism and great concern about Iran," Cameron said. "I am not starry eyed about the new regime," he added, referring to the election last year of President Hassan Rouhani, seen as a relative moderate in Iran.
The Conservative British leader, on his first visit to Israel since taking power in 2010, also used his speech to throw his support behind U.S. efforts to clinch an elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
However, he said global tensions around Iran over what Israel and the West fear is its pursuit of nuclear weapons, were likely to persist even if the generations-old Middle East conflict was resolved. Iran denies seeking atomic arms.
"Israel is not the cause of the shadow that Iran casts over the world," Cameron said.
"There is no rule that says if Israel and the Palestinians make peace, Iran is somehow going to dismantle its despotic regime or abandon its nuclear intentions."
Cameron said he had not come to lecture Israel on how to secure peace, and he made only a passing reference to continued Jewish settlement in occupied land that Palestinians say is stifling their aspirations for an independent state.
"We all yearn for a lasting and secure peace between Israel and its neighbors," Cameron said. "We back the compromises needed, including the halt to settlement activity and an end to Palestinian incitement too."
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