Barak. Limited period of time
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Olmert. Secret discussion
Photo: Emil Salman
Obama. Wants to talk
Photo: AP
Barak: US dialogue with Iran must be limited
Defense minister attends secret discussion convened by Prime Minister Olmert following IAEA report on Iranian nuclear program. Israel fears Tehran will take advantage of US President Obama's willingness to launch negotiations in order to 'stall'
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
convened a secret discussion on the Iranian nuclear threat on Sunday evening following the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report
on the matter.
The discussion was attended by Olmert, Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
and senior defense officials, and the prime minister imposed a blackout on the details of the meeting.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed the American administration's plan to launch a dialogue with Tehran, and recommended that it be limited for a short time and will followed by sanctions on Iran.
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However, the defense minister referred to the discussion before entering the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning, saying that the IAEA report "demonstrates the need to continue the international pressure. We must continue sticking to the Israeli stance, which states that no option should be taken off the table."
Following the discussion, Barak and Livni believe Israel should launch a diplomatic effort with the American administration. The defense minister recommended that the US dialogue with Iran be limited for a short period of time, after which United Nations sanctions would be imposed on the Islamic Republic.
"Alongside the intelligence effort and the diplomatic activity, there is a lot of importance to the understanding… that Israel is not taking any option off the table and recommending to other elements in the world not to take any option off the table," said Barak.
'Iran perceives itself as a superpower'
Only last week, the defense minister said that "Iran is aiming to lead the battle against Israel until its destruction, whether metaphorically or in an implied threat. I don’t think that the Iranian nukes originate only in Israel and in the threat it faces. Iran perceives itself as a superpower, its sees all of its nuclear neighbors and views it as a duty to be nuclear as well."There is no doubt that a nuclear weapon in Iran is a threat on any possible world order. It is a gate to massive nuclearization of the entire Middle East, and could be, if and when it matures, an existential threat on the State of Israel."
Barak estimated that Iran would try to "utilize the strategy of misleading, deterrence and a sophisticated use of diplomacy to the fullest.
"I estimate that an Iranian dialogue will be launched with the Obama administration, and that each time there is a real chance for military action we will see Iranian gestures aimed at delaying the matter. On the background there is an Iranian effort to also reach deeper fortification and a better protection of their systems."
State officials stressed after the secret discussion that Israel was waiting to see how the American president would act, after Obama declared that he plans to change his predecessor's policy and launch negotiations with Iran.
The sources added, however, that as soon as the preparations are completed the international pressure must be increased until the Iranians realize it is unaffordable to continue developing nuclear weapons for military purposes.
