Netanyahu: Iran Should Face 'Military Sanction'

If Iran does not heed calls to halt its nuclear program, it should face "military sanction," Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday in an apparent reference to a military strike.

"Iran is continuing to defy the international community, (and) doesn't seem to seek an end to its military nuclear program," the Israeli prime minister said during talks with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris.

"Like North Korea, it continues to defy all the international standards and I believe that this requires the international community to ratchet up its sanctions and make clear that if this continues there will be also a credible military sanction," he said.

"I think no other means will make Iran obey the wishes of the international community," he said following two days of talks between world powers and Tehran in Kazakhstan which ended without a breakthrough.

Israel and much of the West believes Iran's nuclear program is a cover for building a nuclear capability, a charge which Tehran strongly denies.

Netanyahu has repeatedly called for the world to lay down a clear red line for Iran which if crossed, could spark harsh repercussions.

Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, believes Iran must be prevented from reaching a military nuclear capability at any cost and has refused to rule out a preemptive military strike to stop it.