Barak tells Germans Tehran on verge of passing point of no return

BERLIN (AP) — Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak praised the latest round of tough sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, but he stressed that “all options should remain on the table” to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Barak said the sanctions, including a European import ban on Iranian oil, are an encouraging sign that the international community is now serious about stopping Tehran’s leaders who have “shown a clear determination to defy and deceive the world and move closer to a military nuclear capability.”

Germany’s Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere, speaking alongside Barak after holding closed-door talks with his counterpart, said it appears “unambiguous” that Iran’s nuclear program also has a military purpose.

Iran must be stopped from developing nuclear weapons, requiring “tough negotiations and tough sanctions,” de Maiziere said.

But the minister urged all parties involved to “rhetorical, factual and also military restraint,” adding that a “military escalation would carry unforeseeable risks, for Israel, for the region and for others.”

Germany is part of the six nations group negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program.

Barak also met German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle later Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Westerwelle condemned statements Ahmadinejad made on German state television, after pressure from a major Jewish group.

“FM Westerwelle condemns the Iranian president’s anti-Semitic statements. The [German] government confronts such verbal misstatements everywhere and in every form,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

In an interview with journalist Claus Kleber from German state television station ZDF, Ahmadinejad called Israel an “artificial state” that was created “with a lie called the Holocaust.”

The World Jewish Congress called upon the German government to sharply condemn Ahmadinjad’s statements. The umbrella group’s vice president, Charlotte Knobloch, lamented that the Iranian leader is spreading his hateful comments for years without repercussions from the international community.

‘”It’s about time to make clear to Ahmadinejad and company that democratic Germany doesn’t want to have anything to do with them,” said Knobloch, a former chairwoman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. “A regime with such inhuman policies needs to be ostracized internationally. Perhaps it’s advisable to withdraw the ambassador in Tehran back to Berlin and degrade diplomatic relations to an absolute minimum.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and says it is not pursuing a bomb.

Barak told Israeli lawmakers Monday that Iran’s nuclear program is on the verge of becoming immune to disruptions by a possible military strike. The remarks fueled already rampant speculation that Israel is preparing for a strike before Iran moves most of its nuclear facilities underground.

The U.S. and European governments oppose using military force against Iran at this point, preferring to rely on a steam of economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.