With bin Laden dead, Iran is Israel's greatest fear, PM says

With bin Laden dead, Iran is Israel's greatest fear, PM says
From Zain Verjee, CNN
May 5, 2011 -- Updated 1153 GMT (1953 HKT)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran's Ali Khamenei (pictured in 
2008) "is infused with fanaticism."
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
	* NEW: Osama bin Laden's death shows terrorists will pay the price, Benjamin 
Netanyahu tells CNN 

	* NEW: The "butchering" of civilians in Syria "must stop," he says
	* If Iran gets nuclear weapons, "it will change history," he warns
	* Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is "infused with fanaticism," 
the Israeli leader says
RELATED TOPICS 
	* Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
	* Benjamin Netanyahu
	* Osama bin Laden
London (CNN) -- With Osama bin Laden dead,   Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah 
Ali Khamenei is now the biggest threat   to peace in the world, Israeli Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said   Thursday.
"He runs the country and he is infused with   fanaticism," Netanyahu told CNN, 
arguing that Iran's supreme leader was   more worrying than its president, 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as the Islamic   republic pursues a controversial nuclear 
program.
"If the Iranian   regime gets atomic bombs, it will change history," he warned. 
"The   future of the world -- the future of the Middle East -- is certainly at   
stake."
Ever-tighter U.S. and international sanctions against Iran must be backed up by 
the threat of force, he insisted.
"Those   sanctions might work if the international community makes it clear that   
there is a credible military option if sanctions don't work," he said.
The   death of bin Laden weakens extremists worldwide, Netanyahu said. "When   
the world's number one terrorist... is brought to justice and   eliminated, it 
tells terrorists everywhere there's a price and you will   pay it, and that's 
good."
The Israeli prime minister said he has not seen the photos of bin Laden dead, 
but he's not concerned by that.
"I don't think anyone is really questioning that Osama bin Laden has been 
killed," he asserted.
The   White House is not planning to release photos it has of the al Qaeda   
leader after the raid that killed him this week, President Barack Obama   said 
Wednesday.
One photo shows a gunshot wound to the head above   the left eye, with the skull 
partially blown away, according to two   sources who have seen a photograph of 
bin Laden's body.
Netanyahu   also expressed cautious optimism about the  "Arab Spring" 
revolutions   that have shaken the region, but warned they could be hijacked by   
extremists, as was the case with the 1917 Russian revolution and 1979   Iranian 
revolution.
"Something very big is happening here, a   convulsion... We would like to see 
the triumph of democracy... that's   something that will guarantee the peace," 
he said.
But he also warned that the instability could cut both ways.
"The   biggest threat is the possibility that a militant Islamic regime will   
acquire nuclear weapons -- or that nuclear weapons could acquire a   militant 
Islamic regime," Netanyahu explained.
He refused to be   drawn on whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should 
resign as the   country's security forces clamp down on protesters.
But, he said, "this butchering of civilians must stop now." 
Amnesty   International says at least 542 people were killed in a month and a   
half of protests in Syria, and blamed the tactics of Syrian security   forces 
for the deaths.
Netanyahu spoke to CNN   in London, where he's holding meetings in an effort to 
convince the   international community not to recognize any Palestinian 
government that   might include Hamas.  Wednesday, Hamas and Fatah formally 
adopted a   reconciliation agreement that calls for a caretaker government to be   
established until elections are held next year.  Netanyahu is due to   meet 
Obama in Washington on May 20, the White House announced Wednesday.