Israeli Defense Chief Says Iran Postponed Nuclear Ambitions

New York Times ^ | October 30, 2012 | RICK GLADSTONE

[Seizethecarp]

Israel’s defense minister said Tuesday that the country had interpreted Iran’s conversion of some enriched uranium to fuel rods for civilian use as evidence that Iran had delayed ambitions to build a nuclear weapon.

The assertion, by Defense Minister Ehud Barak in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper, amounted to the first explanation from him as to why he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu softened their position in September over the possibility of a military strike to thwart what they called Iran’s drive toward imminent nuclear weapons capability.

Asked why Iran would have decided on such a conversion, Mr. Barak said it might have taken Israeli and American warnings seriously, might have wished to delay a confrontation with Israel until after the American presidential elections, or might have been seeking to convince the agency of the sincerity of its peaceful intent.

[FredZarguna]

Or, far more likely, Ehud might have wandered off the Reservation again.

[Slump Tester]

"...might have wished to delay a confrontation with Israel until after the American presidential elections...

With a 3 month window to do whatever they want and without having to face any dire consequences.

Israel better have something up their sleeve!

[Olog-hai]

Missing barf alert. Then again, it’s the NYT . . .

[itsahoot]

Ehud might have wandered off the Reservation again.

I think Ehud is an Obama fan.

[onyx]

Between the NYT and Ehud Barak’s word, I smell rats.

[JewishRighter]

Ehud Barak is an Israeli leftist. Like leftists everywhere, he will do or say anything to gain/retain power. In this case, he gains by 1) opposing Netanyahu, which is red meat for the Israeli left, thus 2) distinguishing himself to leftists abroad as the guy who is not the “bellicose warmonger” (ie: so he can get campaign cash from the EU, Stanley Greenberg to run his campaign, etc.)

[Seizethecarp]

IIRC, Barak is Netanyahu’s current defense minister and is a hawk on Iran totally aligned with Netanyahu. Barak burned many bridges to his labor party a long time ago.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Seizethecarp.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper, amounted to the first explanation from him as to why he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu softened their position...

Wow, that's a transparent lie. Either this is related to Barak's none-too-subtle campaign to again reach the office of PM, or it has to do with misdirection, which would mean Israel's getting closer to launching an interdiction.

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[JewishRighter]

Barak is the current defense minister, due to the typical brokering that goes on when Israeli political parties set up ruling coalitions. I don’t think Barak has been particularly supportive or aligned with Netanyahu on a number of policies. Since they are leaders of opposing parties, it is not unusual to be critical even while occupying a ministry office as part of a Netanyahu-lead government. I haven’t done research on this, but it is my general recollection from following reports of Israeli national politics fairly closely.