Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at the weekly cabinet meeting in Kibbutz Mevo Hama in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 26, 2021. REUTERS/Nir Elias

i24 News – Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Tuesday urged the international community not to financially support the Iranian regime during a remote address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Investing in Iran is not a safe investment whether there is a deal or not,” he warned after discussing Iran’s nuclear program and ongoing talks in Vienna.

Talks between Tehran and world powers resumed in late November after being suspended for about five months as Iran elected a new ultra-conservative government. The eighth round of high-level negotiations was due to resume on Tuesday.

Addressing World Economic Forum President Børge Brende, the prime minister said the only acceptable nuclear deal is one in which Iran renounces its nuclear weapons program.

“Why would anyone legitimize Iran’s right to enrich uranium on a large scale?” he asked.

“I don’t see why it would make sense for the free world to sign a deal with them that would give them money, and at the same time allow them to continue [to enrich].”

Citing Islamic Republic activity in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, Bennett called Iran “an octopus of terror and instability.”

“They have a modus operandi, very clever, where they stay in Tehran, away from the terrorism they are carrying out, and they send other people, their messengers, to carry it out,” he said.

“I see the example of that with the Houthis [in Yemen]. Who is standing behind them? It is Iran. Who is financing them? It is Iran. Who is supplying them with weapons? Iran. Who tells them what to do? It’s Iran,” he said.

Bennett called on “the free world” to fight Iran-backed terrorism, adding that giving Tehran access to billions of dollars by lifting sanctions would lead to “terror on steroids.”