By Natasha Mozgovaya

Source:

February 28, 2010

WASHINGTON – The clock for the Iranian regime’s downfall is ticking, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a lecture at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Friday. However, “it’s clear to me that the clock toward the collapse of this regime works much slower than the clock which ticks toward Iran becoming a nuclear military power,” Barak said in his talk in memory of Haaretz defense correspondent Ze’ev Schiff, who died three years ago.

“And this is the reason why simultaneously with diplomacy and effective sanctions, we recommend to all players not to remove any option from the table and we adopt this attitude for ourselves as well,” Barak said.

The defense minister, who is visiting Washington for talks with U.S. officials, also said he hopes that in a few weeks indirect talks will begin with the Palestinians.

Regarding doubts voiced about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Barak noted that in the United States, “you choose a president; he will be there for four years and he will probably have certain constraints,” but his term is not threatened.

“In Israel, a prime minister wakes up in the morning to see whether he is still there …. And I always answer this by returning the challenge to the doubters … let’s push them to the negotiating room. We are ready to go there.”

But he said that in Israel there is opposition from both the right and left. Barak mentioned the joke about the soldier who was rejected as a pilot, so he tried out to be an anti-aircraft gunner because if he cannot fly, no one else will. “And I tell my colleagues, leading former ministers of Israel … we do not need anti-aircraft artillery now; we need all the support that you can give to move on with a serious process that will put to the test both sides and their readiness to go.”

Barak also commented on the tension between Israel and Turkey. “I still believe that we do not need to create a new rival in Turkey,” he said, adding that Israel would be better off to “have a partner, understanding the limitation of this partnership.”

He said that there are many layers to the relationship and some still don’t work well: “I don’t like everything that is said in Ankara, but I don’t think that we should make anything that has been said a major cornerstone of our judgment.”

Barak met with his counterpart Robert Gates and senior Pentagon and White House officials, concluding his visit with a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, who is due in Israel on March 8.

During his meeting with Clinton, Barak stressed the need for sanctions against Iran that are “effective and limited in time,” while Clinton said that “additional pressure must be placed on Iran.”

At a press briefing Thursday night, Barak commented on cooperation with the United States on deliveries of defensive weapons and aid to develop weapons.

“We completed the development of [anti-rocket system] Iron Dome, and we are examining the possibility of receiving aid to this end. We are also talking about the improved version of the Arrow [anti-missile system],” he said.

“I stress during all my meetings, also at the Pentagon, that even after what we experienced in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, the enemy has rockets capable of targeting Tel Aviv. If the time comes for a solution with the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, must we ensure that the same thing does not happen from there?”