To the Editor:

It is heartening that so many world leaders have stood up to express outrage over the remarks by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran calling for Israel's destruction ("Western Leaders Condemn the Iranian President's Threat to Israel," Oct. 28).

But in the case of Iran, which has rattled its anti-Israel and anti-America sabers for nearly three decades, often with bizarre spectacles aimed at distracting its restive public, words clearly are not enough. All civilized nations that maintain diplomatic relations with the Iranian regime must follow their words with action - be it in the form of tough sanctions, diplomatic isolation or expulsion from the United Nations.

It is time for the international community to serve a wake-up call. Western leaders should deliver an ultimatum to Iran's hard-line clerics - say, by giving them 30 days to retract their anti-Israel statements or suffer immediate consequences.

It is time for the world to hold Iran's leadership to account for its bald-faced attempts to further destabilize the Middle East and disrupt the region's inevitable march toward reform.