Defense Minister Ehud Barak tells PBS broadcaster Charlie Rose; "Iran is exactly where the IAEA report says, and they (have been there) for quite a long time. For some reason (former IAEA chief Mohamed) ElBaradei got a Nobel Peace Prize, but he never told the truth," .
"It is clear that (Iran) is determined to achieve (military nuclear) capability,"
"Probably…I don't delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel. They have their history of 4,000 years. They look around, they see the Indians are nuclear, the Chinese are nuclear, Pakistan is nuclear…Israel allegedly has it (military nuclear capability)."
The defense minister told Rose that should Iran turn nuclear there would be no way of preventing Saudi Arabia, Turkey or Egypt from following suit:
"The Middle East with a nuclear Iran is a totally different place,That will open a new round (of the) nuclear arms race under much less responsible hands…It's too risky."
"Allowing Iran to obtain nuclear weapons may eventually lead to the conquering of Qatar or Bahrain by the Islamic Republic....Who in the world will come to liberate them? It's (Persian Gulf region) is the source of 40 percent of the energy of the world."
"Whatever kind of risks people can raise (regarding) tougher action (against Iran), try always to think what would happen if they already turn nuclear."
Barak stated that if the nations of the world were to unite on tough enough sanctions against Tehran, the Islamic Republic would be forced to abandon its nuclear program. However, he added that he harbors "no illusions" that such a step is imminent.
"While world leaders are declaring that 'all options are on the table,' they lack the political will to do it through the UN Security Council or outside the UN Security Council."
