Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama told an Israeli newspaper, "The time has come to talk to the Iranians directly in order to arrive at a cessation of their support for terrorism and to halt their production of components for nuclear weapons." He termed Iran's unchecked development of nuclear power a threat to Israel.

In an interview to be published Friday in the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot, Sen. Obama said that if negotiations fail, "we will be able to step up the sanctions." He did not mention using military force if sanctions also fail.

The Democratic candidate also explained that his African and Muslim roots give him "an internal understanding that enables me to conduct better diplomacy in the Muslim world."