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Barak heads to US for high-level talks on Iran
Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak will fly to Washington this evening for talks with US officials on dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat. Israel’s President Shimon Peres, who will address the annual AIPAC policy conference next Sunday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will speak at the conference the next day, will follow Barak to Washington later in the week.
Barak – who was in Washington just two months ago and who has since hosted Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff – is scheduled to meet Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
According to US new sources, the Obama administration perceives Barak as the most hawkish in Netanyahu’s inner circle with regards to a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. US officials have openly disputed Barak’s assessment that Tehran is on the verge of entering an “immunity zone” – the point at which Iran’s nuclear programme would become impervious to an airstrike because enough centrifuges would be located in underground facilities.
Barak is expected to be in the US for just over two days, returning on Thursday to brief Netanyahu before he leaves for North America.