ASHKELON, Israel: Pentagon chief Leon Panetta on Wednesday reiterated US calls to “exhaust every effort” before considering military options for confronting Iran over its nuclear program in top-level talks in Israel.
Speaking alongside Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on a visit to an Iron Dome missile defense battery in the southern port town of Ashkelon, Panetta suggested there was still room for diplomatic maneuver.
“We have to exhaust every effort before” taking military action, he said.
“It is my responsibility as secretary of defense to provide the president with a full range of options, including military options should diplomacy fail,” he added.
Preventing a nuclear-armed Iran was “a top national security priority” for the administration of US President Barack Obama and in that respect “all options are on the table,” he said.
As Panetta arrived late on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a series of TV interviews, in which he said he had not yet decided whether to strike Iran, which Israel and much of the West believes is trying to develop an atomic weapon under the cover of a civilian nuclear program.
But at the same time, Netanyahu warned that Israel would not rely on anyone else to guarantee its security — not even Washington.
Asked how the Obama administration would react in the event of a unilateral Israeli strike, Panetta would only say: “We respect Israel’s sovereignty and independence,” without commenting further.
Barak said it was extremely unlikely that sanctions and diplomacy would convince Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are purely peaceful in nature.
“The probability (of that happening) is extremely low,” he remarked. “We’ve seen sanctions and diplomacy fail in the past.”
Despite the ongoing pressure on the Islamic republic, which was further ramped up a notch by Washington on Tuesday, Iran was continuing daily enrichment of “uranium needed for their weapon,” Barak said.
“We have clearly have something to lose by this stretched time,” he remarked.
Speaking ahead of his arrival in Israel, Panetta ruled out talks on “potential attack plans” with the Israelis.
“I think it’s the wrong characterization to say that we’re going to be discussing potential attack plans,” he told reporters in Cairo. “What we are discussing are various contingencies on how we would respond.”
Washington, he said, was continuing to “work on a number of options in that area.” He did not give further details.
Speaking earlier, Barak thanked Panetta for bolstering ties between the two nations and said defense ties between Israel and the US were “stronger and tighter than they have ever been.”
Panetta also hailed the friendship between the two men, and said the current ties were “probably the strongest US-Israel defense relationship that we have had in history.”
After the Ashkelon visit, Panetta headed straight to Jerusalem for talks with Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
Panetta last visited in October when he held talks with Netanyahu, Barak, and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
His visit comes just weeks after a secret visit by US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who reportedly briefed Netanyahu on US contingency plans for a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Haaretz newspaper reported earlier this week.
Israeli officials denied the report.
In Tuesday’s interview on private Channel 2 television, Netanyahu was asked if he had decided whether to strike Iran.
“I have not taken a decision,” he said. “Israel’s fate depends solely on us and no other country, however friendly,” he said, in reference to the United States.
Panetta’s arrival also coincided with Washington’s imposition of fresh economic sanctions on Iran’s oil sector.
