News

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said his nation is not likely to face a nuclear strike from Iran, the Associated Press reported on Thursday (see GSN, May 4).

Barak told the Haaretz newspaper he believes Tehran would not use a nuclear weapon "on us and not on any other neighbor." He warned, though, that forecasting Iran's actions would be a futile task.

Barak's statements seemed to be aimed at addressing worries in Israel about Iran's suspected pursuit of a military nuclear capability (Associated Press/Boston.com, May 5).

"I don't think that anyone can say responsibly that these ayatollahs, if they have nuclear weapons, are something you can rely on, like the Politburo or the Pentagon," Agence France-Presse quoted Barak as saying.

"I don't think they will do anything so long as they are in complete control of their senses," the defense minister said.

"But to say that somebody really knows and understands what will happen with such a leadership sitting in a bunker in Tehran and thinking that it's going to fall in a few days and it is capable of doing it? I don't know what it would do," he added.

Tehran say... >>>