Israeli Ambassador to US Ron Dermer speaks at the Israeli-American Council National Conference in Washington, DC, Nov. 6, 2017. Photo: Perry Bindelglass.

Former Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer told Israeli daily Israel Hayom in an interview published Sunday that the world will allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, leaving Israel to contend with the threat alone.

Dermer, who served as ambassador for seven years under former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was Israel’s man in Washington through some of the most tumultuous years of the Israel-US relationship, including the intense split between Netanyahu and former president Barack Obama over the Iran nuclear deal.

“In no uncertain terms, the world will allow it to happen,” Dermer said of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.

“No one wanted North Korea and Pakistan to get nuclear weapons, but it happened. [Former US President Barack] Obama and [current US President Joe] Biden also don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but it will happen if we [Israel] doesn’t stop it,” he asserted.

“The Iranians want to turn Israel into South Korea, and Tel Aviv into Seoul,” Dermer said. “They want to surround us with a conventional ring of precision weapons and create a balance of terror so that any time someone fires a rocket from Gaza, you will think twice before responding.”

“In year 15 of the nuclear deal, when your expectation is that the international community will prevent them from acquiring a nuclear weapon, [Iran’s] conventional might will be such that people will say, ‘Now it’s already too late to stop them. They will destroy Tel Aviv,’” he said.

“Anyone who says we will have all the same options when the deal expires as we have now is wrong,” Dermer added. “We won’t have options.”

Referring to a statement by Meir Dagan, the former head of Mossad, about Israel only acting when a knife is at the country’s throat, Dermer said, “It will be impossible for you to act when the knife is at your throat because the price will be too high.”