Barak: Sanctions won’t be enough to stop Iran

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that more stringent sanctions will not be enough to stop the Iranian nuclear weapons program during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria over the weekend.

When asked about a possible sanctions escalation proposed by US President Barack Obama, which Zakaria called the “tightest, harshest” sanctions ever put in place, Barak acknowledged the increase, but said, “We don’t believe that this amount of pressure and sanctions will bring the Iranian leadership to the conclusion that they will stop their nuclear military program.”

Barak said that the Iranian program is a problem for the whole world, not just Israel, and dealing with it once Iran has developed nuclear weapons capability will be complicated, dangerous and much more costly in terms of human life and financial resources.

He also suggested a clear line for the upcoming negotiations between Iran and the P5+1, the members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. “We would have expected… that the threshold for effective negotiations be clear, namely that the P5+1 will demand clearly, no more enrichment to 20 percent, and all the already enriched 20% material [will be removed] to a neighboring, trusted country.”

A military nuclear program requires enriched uranium (20%). Lower grade uranium can still be used to power reactors but can not create a self-sustaining reaction or a nuclear bomb. Barak said that if any enriched uranium remained in Iran then the program could continue at a slower pace.