Israel will not “rule out any options” on Iran nukes
Washington, 26 August (IranVNC)—Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that his country would not rule out any option to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, according to a statement the ministry issued after a dinner meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
By: IranVNC
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
ISRAEL – IRAN – NUCLEAR
15:00GMT—11:00AM/EST
Washington, 26 August (IranVNC)—Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that his country would not rule out any option to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, according to a statement the ministry issued after a dinner meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Mr. Barak has once again underlined the fact that Israel cannot accept that Iran acquires nuclear (capability). Israel refuses to rule out any options" in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions, the defense ministry said in a statement quoted by AFP.
According to the statement, at the meeting Barak told Rice: “The United States must continue to impose effective economic sanctions on Tehran with the goal of preventing Iran from building nuclear arms."
Rice arrived in Tel-Aviv yesterday, in a bid to revive stalled Middle East peace talks, her seventh trip to the region since the US-sponsored peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland last year.
Israel, which considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be the greatest threat to its existence, carried out a large-scale military exercise over the Mediterranean in June, interpreted by some in Washington as a warning to Iran over its controversial uranium enrichment program.
But earlier this month, Barak said the U.S.—a staunch ally of Israel—was not “ready” for an Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites.
In an interview with Israel’s Army Radio on 13 August, Barak said: "The position of the United States is well known. They do not want, for the time being, any (military) action against Iran.” He added: "Our position is that no option is to be taken off the table but in the meantime we have to make diplomatic progress.”
Israel and the U.S. believe Iran is using the cover of a civilian nuclear power program to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran denies the charge.
The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] has said intelligence information provided by the United States and other Western nations shows that Iran has conducted high-explosives and missile-modification studies as part of its nuclear program. The IAEA has been pressuring Iran to clear up outstanding questions regarding its nuclear activities.
Commenting on Iran’s work with the IAEA today, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told the official IRNA news agency: “We have given the [IAEA] a six-point response. They have raised the issue of the alleged [weaponization] studies, and regarding those alleged studies, too, with the constructive approach that the Islamic Republic of Iran argues for, if the IAEA needs assistance, we are ready to help.”
Mottaki did not elaborate on the content of Iran’s six-point response. But he added that Iran would continue negotiations with the IAEA and the P5+1 powers, represented by the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
“They [the six powers] have said time and again that they want clear answers,” Mottaki said. “In a letter to Solana, Iran brought up the issue that a clear answer will only be given in exchange for a clear answer,” he added, in a reference to a letter dated 5 August, following a six powers meeting on Iran’s nuclear program in Geneva.
Iran countered a P5+1 offer of incentives in exchange for a moratorium on its uranium enrichment drive with its own offer in July, which it said was a comprehensive package to “solve the world’s problems.”
Mottaki said, “the issue on the table is how to begin negotiations,” adding that the two offers contained what he called common points.
“Negotiations could begin, continue and end in agreement” based on the conditions enumerated in the two offers, he said.
Sources: Agence France-Presse, IRNA in Persian.
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