Barak: Iran sanctions not effective enough

After meeting Ban, defense minister repeats assertion that no option should be removed in nuclear standoff.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
barak UN 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
barak UN 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Defense Minister Ehud Barak repeated his assertion Wednesday night that "no option should be removed" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and claimed that UN sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic were not effective enough. Barak was speaking after meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at UN Headquarters in New York. "Basically, it's a challenge for the whole world," said Barak. "If Iran turned into a military nuclear power, this would be the end of any conceivable nonproliferation regime and it will significantly risk any considerable stable world order." Barak said he emphasized to Ban that Israel believed the UN sanctions regime against Iran "is basically not working well enough" because it is smuggling into Lebanon "a flow of munitions, rockets and other weapons systems." Meanwhile, more than 100 nonaligned nations backed Iran's right to peaceful uses of nuclear power. The endorsement is key to Teheran in its standoff with the UN Security Council over its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. Senior Iranian officials are welcoming the support from a high-level conference of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday that the conference's backing contradicts claims from some countries that the international community opposes Iran's nuclear program.