WarSclerotic

Barak: Sanctions can stop Iran, … JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

    Defense Minister Ehud Barak addressed rumors that Israel was planning a military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying that “lethal and paralyzing enough” sanctions could be effective in halting Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but “no option should be taken off the table.” Barak’s comments came in an interview with the BBC aired on Sunday.

Barak warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would become much more effective in sponsoring terror and intimidating its neighbors, especially with the pending US withdrawal from Iraq.

An eagerly awaited report from the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is expected to strengthen suspicions that Tehran is seeking to develop the capability to make atomic bombs, but stop short of explicitly saying it is doing so. The report is due to be released on Tuesday or Wednesday. Barak stated that he hopes the IAEA report “will tell the whole world a little bit more specifically about [Iran’s] nuclear plan.”

Meanwhile on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe warned that military attacks on Iran’s nuclear program could create a “totally destabilizing” situation in the region, saying France would instead harden sanctions.

“We can still strengthen them (sanctions) to put pressure on Iran and we are going to continue along this path because a military intervention could create a totally destabilizing situation in the region,” Juppe told Europe 1 radio.

“We must do everything to avoid the irreparable,” he said.

Last week, President Nicolas Sarkozy criticized what he called Iran’s “obsessional desire” to develop nuclear weapons and said France would not stand idly by if Israel were threatened.

This entry was posted on November 6, 2011 at 3:27 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.