The threat of a military strike on Iran is preventing the Islamic republic from taking the final steps towards developing a nuclear bomb, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday. “We are seeing with our own eyes the reason why Iran, which really wants to achieve a military nuclear capability, is not taking some of the steps defined by the IAEA as breaking the rules, why it is not breaking out,” he told public radio, referring to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency. “One of the reasons is the fear of what will happen if, God forbid, the United States or maybe someone else acts against them,” Barak said, referring to the threat of an air strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israel and Washington disagree over the imminence of the Iranian nuclear threat, and the only way to overcome this disagreement was to step up the sanctions imposed on Tehran and to ensure the upcoming talks achieved results, Barak said. “There’s a point of disagreement and the only way of getting over it and resolving it is by accelerating the sanctions, and by setting down a short timetable for the talks next month, to test if they mean to stop their nuclear programme or not,” he said.
