RAMALLAH: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said yesterday Israel is not ruling out any option, including military action, when it comes to dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.
Barak said following a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem that Israel is “not taking any option off the table, and we don’t recommend that others take any option off the table.”
He added that Israel was convinced Iran is working to build an atomic bomb while simultaneously deceiving the world by negotiating over supervision of its contentious nuclear program.
Barak said he believed that the leaders of the free world are aware of these developments, which must be taken into account in any future decision.
During their talks, Barak referred to US President-elect Barack Obama’s declaration that he would be prepared to engage in dialogue with Iran.
Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni said on Thursday that Obama’s stated readiness to talk to Iran could be seen in the Middle East as a sign of weakness in efforts to persuade Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
“We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue, in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue, is liable to be interpreted as weakness,” Livni said when asked on Israel Radio about policy change toward Tehran in an Obama administration.
Her remarks sounded the first note of dissonance with Obama by a senior member of the Israeli government since the Democrat’s sweeping victory over Republican candidate John McCain in the US presidential election on Tuesday.
