Iran ready for nuclear talks with West, says Ahmadinejad

>>> israeli minister of financial. very good to have you with us.

>> good morning.

>> we want to talk about finance, but let's talk about iran first. obviously in america that's what so president of our presidential candidates are obsessed with. dr. brzezinski here, a great picture. does iran overshadow just about everything that goes on in israel right now as far as foreign policy goes?

>> this is a little bit too much, about you of course the gravity of the iranian threat, and not just to israel and the middle east , about you to europe and --

>> would you call it an existential threat when ahmadinejad says he wants to destroy israel orb do you dismiss him as a clown?

>> no. many people in the world dismissed hitler as a clown. we know this is serious. and the gravity of the iran nuclear threat is of enormous magnitude. it's also to the western world all together, to the free western world . i would put it like this -- since italy and since russia during the cold war , this is the most potential threat to the peace of the world together.

>> since 1948 for israel , the greatest threat since that time?

>> i cannot say this is the greatest threat --

>> come on, make a sweeping statement. come on.

>> it's a real threat, and i want to emphasize it's not just a threat to israel . if a threat to the entire middle east , it's a threat to europe , as you probably know, the iranian missiles can now reach most of europe , and now they're waiting on enter continental ballistic missiles . so it's not just israel that is under the threat here.

>> prime minister netanyahu just yesterday praised the new tougher sanctions imposed on iran . do you think they go far enough?

>> first, i put it like this. it's very important that finally, finally the europeans like the americans are putting almost an economic blockade on the iranians, yet it's very significant, but the gravity of the threat might make it insufficient yet. if the world wants to prevent this -- the realization of the threat, they should come under a complete economic blockade in order to force them not to proceed. of course all the options should remain on the table. i'm very happy both america and israel are making it very clear that all the options are on the table if necessary. what more specifically would you like to see done?

>> those are very significant, but still partial.

>> what more can be done?

>> a complete economic blockade. also a sea blockade on the iranians. you know, it should be prevented. the world will be different and much more dangerous world if those iranian get nuclear weapons with long-range missiles. already berlin and -- and they were working currently, on i mentioned before, intercontinental ballistic missiles .

>> so let's move from military threats to economic threat. how much a threat is the european crisis economically on israel ?

>> like the rest of the world , we are concerned. you know, 50% of israeli gdp, or export is like 50% of the gdp, and much of it is going to europe . if europe is declining, the impact on israel might be immediate.

>> and yet you had a record sale of israeli bonds over the weekend. what is it that foreign investors see in israel that they like?

>> well, first, in the last two years, the israeli economy is really growing, the fastest-growing economy in the western world . and it's mainly not due to a shopping -- the volume of economic activity , but due to new investments in the real economy in the country. the level of investing current will i in israel is 75 march beyond the b.r.i.i.c. crisis in investments. which is extremely significant. part of it, we are the first nation to implement a two-year budget in the middle of the crisis. this was extremely helpful to stabilize the system during the crisis, and part of it because we gave many incentives for investors to invest in the israeli economy in the economile of the crisis. we are putting a lot of emphasis on improving all the infrastructure, including dramatically improving the higher education in israel , in order to continue to produce very strong human capital , which is the secret of the success of the israeli economy .

>>> when stan signor wrote about in "start upnation." he's a great guy to make bets with. he always loses. anyway, "start-up nation" and it sounds like the rest of the world is agreeing with stan.

>>> thank you for being on the show this morning.

>> my pleasure.

>>> more " morning joe " in just a minute. brad, where we going? just a second. just,

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46145422/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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