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Journalism of Courage
Israel views the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran with greater urgency than the rest of the world,Israels defence minister said Monday.
Ehud Barak also reiterated recent Israeli assessments that Irans nuclear programme is on the verge of becoming immune to disruptions by a possible military strike. The remarks are likely to fuel already rampant speculation that Israel is preparing for a strike before Iran moves most of its nuclear facilities underground and beyond the reach of an attack.
In testimony to parliaments Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee,Barak also said that harsher international sanctions against Iran would be needed to try to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear programme.
Barak also invoked a theme that has become a recent mantra with Israeli leaders that the Jewish state will not leave its fate to others to decide. Israel is responsible for taking the decisions related to its future,its security and its destiny, he said.
Irans nuclear programme,Barak said,is steadily approaching maturation and is verging on a zone of immunity a position from which the Iranian regime could complete its programme without effective disruption,at its convenience. Barak first used the phrase zone of immunity as a reference to Irans movement of nuclear operations deep underground in fortified bunkers,to compromise any military strike.
