US, Israeli defense chiefs discuss Iran sanctions: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, Feb 25, 2010 (AFP) - US and Israeli defense chiefs held talks on Thursday that the Pentagon said were focused on diplomatic efforts to impose "robust" sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Amid rising international tension over Iran's uranium enrichment work, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met for about an hour with US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told AFP.

The two discussed "the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions and what the international community can do to try to thwart them, to try to deter them," Morrell said.

The talks touched on the need for "effective sanctions" to persuade Iran to comply with its international obligations, he said.

Morrell told reporters earlier that both countries agreed the time had come to tighten sanctions on Iran as Tehran had "spurned" diplomatic efforts so far.

The United States shares many of Israel's concerns on the issue, and Iran's failure "to respond to a year of sustained and genuine outreach has left the international community no choice but to pursue a robust regime of sanctions," he said.

He said the Israelis had been "understanding, if not outright supportive" of President Barack Obama's previous diplomatic overtures to Iran.

"And obviously we have come to a point where those efforts, that outstretched hand, has not been reciprocated -- in fact, it's been largely spurned."

The Obama administration has embarked on an intense diplomatic push to rally support for fresh UN sanctions against Iran, but Morrell said Washington remained open to dialogue if Tehran changed its stance.

"We keep that door open to engagement. So just because we're going down the pressure track doesn't mean the engagement track is closed off."

US and Israeli officials have refused to rule out military action against Iran, but the Obama administration has stressed it is presently committed to a diplomatic strategy designed to pile pressure on Tehran.

Gates and the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, have both expressed deep reservations about resorting to military force to counter Iran's nuclear drive, saying it would only delay the program.

Israel has called for tough international sanctions on Iran's energy sector to persuade Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment efforts, which Israel and western nations suspect is aimed at building an atomic weapon.

Iran insists the program is purely for civilian purposes.

Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has viewed Iran as its greatest threat because of the nuclear issue and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated predictions of the Jewish state's demise.

The talks between Gates and Barak also covered "regional security issues" including the role of Hamas and Hezbollah, cooperation on missile defense and the Middle East peace process, Morrell said.


by Lachlan Carmichael
(c) 2010 AFP