Israel’s Security Cabinet called on the international community not to ease sanctions on Iran until it halts its military nuclear program.

The Security Cabinet released a statement Oct. 15 ahead of talks that day in Switzerland between Iran and six world powers on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.

“These negotiations begin at a time when the Iranian regime is under great pressure because of the sanctions and is desperately trying to have them removed,” the statement said. “Sanctions must not be eased when they are so close to achieving their intended purpose.”

The P5+1 world powers — the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany — and Iran were scheduled for talks in Geneva.

“Iran believes it can get by with cosmetic concessions that would not significantly impede its path to developing nuclear weapons, concessions that could be reversed in weeks,” the statement said. “In exchange, Iran demands an easing of the sanctions, which have taken years to put in place.”

The statement said that Israel does not object to Iran having a “peaceful nuclear energy program.” It also said that Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei is “the true decision maker” and that he has not given any indication that he intends to stop trying to achieve a nuclear weapon.

The statement said an appropriate diplomatic solution would involve Iran adhering to United Nations Security Council resolutions that require the Islamic Republic to cease all nuclear enrichment; remove from the country its stockpiles of enriched uranium; dismantle its two underground nuclear facilities and the centrifuges in them; and stop work on the plutonium-producing heavy water reactor in Arak. — jta