Barak to meet with officials in US next week

News comes day after Obama says he won’t meet with Netanyahu

Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

Ehud Barak (photo credit: Uri Lenz/Flash90)
Ehud Barak (photo credit: Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will travel to the United States next week to meet with officials about Iran.

According to a Wednesday night report on Channel 10 news, Barak will visit the US to participate in a conference hosted by former US president Bill Clinton. While there, the minister will meet with officials to discuss strategies for dealing with the Iranian nuclear program.

The report did not say with whom Barak will meet, or when the meetings were first scheduled.

The news of the trip comes after aides to US President Barack Obama said he would not sit down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the US later this month to discuss Tehran’s continued nuclear program. The White House denied that a meeting had ever been requested, and said there was now no room in the president’s schedule, while Jerusalem insists it sought several times to arrange face-to-face talks.

Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to the US on September 27 for the United Nations General Assembly.

Tensions between the US and Israel have ramped up in recent days, after the State Department said it would not set an ultimatum for Iran, as Netanyahu has lobbied for.

The prime minister responded that, if the US won’t back Israel in creating a credible threat against Iran’s nuclear program, it has no right to seek to stop Israel from launching a preemptive military action.

The US is of the opinion that time remains for diplomacy and sanctions to be effective.

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