Israeli Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman Tuesday called on the new United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to revoke Iran's UN membership, local media reported.

In his letter to Ban Ki-moon, Lieberman also ask UN to impose tough sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt nuclear enrichment, according to Israeli Army Radio.

"(Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad's intentions are clear, and while the free world takes its time, the Iranian president is pressing with his plan to build nuclear weapons. Israel can and will stand alone against Iran, but we shouldn't have to do so. If Iran is allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, the free world will pay a heavy price and Israel will be the first and will pay the heaviest price. But Iran's aggression will not end there," the minister said.

Lieberman also pointed out that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was at the core of solving all the problems in the Middle East.

"Any connection between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iranian issue is a pretext used by some of the most anti- Semitic elements the world has known since the Nazi ideology and the Holocaust," Lieberman said in the letter.

Ahmadinejad on Tuesday scorned the UN Security Council's sanctions on Iran, and warned that the Western countries would face a "historic slap" in the face if they confront the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear issue.

Source: Xinhua