Israel defense chief suggests U.S. has new intelligence bringing worries over Iran in line with Israel's

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (R) shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak before a meeting at the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, Aug. 1, 2012.

/ Getty

(CBS News) LONDON - Israel's defense chief suggested Thursday that the U.S. has new intelligence that changes the American assessment of the imminent danger represented by Iran's clandestine nuclear work, bringing its views closer to those held by the Jewish state.

An article published Thursday by the Haaretz newspaper said Defense Minister Ehud Barak had "confirmed" the paper's earlier report that Mr. Obama had received a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) "which shares Israel's view that Iran has made surprising, significant progress toward military nuclear capability."

Speaking later to Israeli Radio, Barak was not as definitive, but said there is "apparently a report by American intelligence agencies - I don't know if it's under the title NIE or under another title - which is making the rounds of high offices," in Washington that makes the American government's concerns more urgent.

"As far as we know, it comes very close to our own estimate, I would say, as opposed to earlier American estimates. It transforms the Iranian situation to an even more urgent one and it is even less likely that we will know every development in time on the Iranian nuclear program," Barak said.

CBS News is seeking clarification on the latest U.S. intelligence assessments on Iran's nuclear program. The Obama administration has said nothing publicly about a change in their overall assessment of the risk currently posed by Iran.

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In Depth

Iran's nuclear sites »

The Obama administration has pressured Israel for months to hold off on any military attack on Iran's nuclear sites, arguing that economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic are taking their toll on its government, and should be given more time to draw the Iranians back into serious negotiations on halting their enrichment of uranium.

Israel insists that Iran - a sworn enemy of the Jewish state - is secretly advancing toward the capability to build a nuclear weapon. The United States agrees that Iran is working toward that goal, but the two allies disagree on exactly how close the Iranians have come, and how best to deter them from proceeding.

"The Israelis were very upset about the NIE in 2007, and the official summary released to the public that said Iran had stopped the part of its nuclear program aimed at making bombs. Naturally, now, they would seize on any evidence that the U.S. intelligence community now agrees with the Mossad and with Israel's military intelligence agency Aman," said CBS News correspondent Dan Raviv, who co-authored "Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel's Secret Wars."

The last official NIE on Iran, in 2007, concluded that Tehran had halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 as it came under increasing scrutiny from the international community. Since that time, American intelligence agencies and their partners have continued monitoring Iran closely in partnership with the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA. There has been evidence, in the form of satellite imagery from nuclear sites, on top of a lack of cooperation from the Iranians, that Tehran is still conducting weapons-related research, but no smoking gun that either the U.S. or Israel can point to as proof of such work.

"Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program," Netanyahu said in a joint news conference with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the beginning of this month. "This must change, and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out."

Panetta, who was visiting Jerusalem to reassure the Israelis that the U.S. remains committed defending its close ally, said the Obama administration would "not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Period ... we will exert all options in the effort to ensure that that does not happen."

Iran rejects the argument that its nuclear program is working toward a weapons capability, saying the sole purposes are energy production, scientific research and medical uses.

[AndiPrama]

Tweet from @AndiPrama
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@AndiPrama: RT @AndiPrama: In the 1990's Pathfinder and now Curiosity, 'analyze' in Mars with the same binoculars? Obama, you are out of your mind!

[db49paley]

There is always the possibility that this is yet another example of using the media to shape popular opinion, in this case, convincing the general populations of the Western world, and its allies, that Iran is on the very verge of becoming a nuclear power, and thus a valid target for preventative military action. If it is not such a ploy, however, I would have to say I expect some form of invasion into Iran by the USA and Israel within 1-3 months at the latest. They simply will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power.

[ronhende1]

it is ignorance of Islam's behaviour to conclude that Iran has stopped making the 'bomb.' Islam will do all, and especially through Iran, to get nuclear arms. Their religion allows them to lie to the infidels in order to achieve their goals. Now that Iran has threatened, and continues to threaten Israel with liquidation (Just as they had done unsuccessfully during king Ahasuerus' and Esther's time), they cannot be allowed to continue with nuclear development. Also, the Bible predicts that there will be a war involving Iran, and once again, Iran will come out the looser. The Muslims' hatred of Israel has blinded their ability to reason things out and to comprehend the whole world picture. Sadly, they are destroying themselves!

[gmcgmc]

just imagine if there was no Israel. I can imagine that all these conflicts in the Middle East since 1945 would never have existed. I can even imagine that the world would have been safer and friendlier to one another.

[NoWarOnIran]

As usual, this is about the Israel-first crowd trying to get the US to fight their wars for them.

And their threat: if you don't do it, we will.

Let's make sure there is a high cost for them starting Middle East War III. We can do this nonviolently by pledging to BOYCOTT ISRAEL IF IT BOMBS IRAN:

http://www.divestfromwar.org

Let's PREVENT the next war, instead of protesting it after the fact!

[Reddog02]

Anyone who truly understands human nature would understand that allowing any further countries to obtain nuclear weapons is pure insanity. The fact that we already have 7 countries which due is a very precarious position for the world to be in. No matter how stable any government might appear today, there is no guarantee it will be stable tomorrow. The 65 some odd years we've gone so far without the use of nuclear weopans other than the US against Japan is but a blip in time and should not be referred to as evidence the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) is a valid reason to allow any country who wishes to have nuclear weapons to have them . Even those of us who do.

In addition, nuclear power for peacefull purposes is too dangerous as well given that we still don't know how to protect ourselves from dammage due to natural causes and have nowhere safe to store nuclear waste. With the hundreds of nuclear plants around the world we are playing with fire and don't have the proper fire extinguishers in the event of manmade or natural disasters. Japan again as an example. It would be great if humanity was inteligent enough to and patient enough to wait until we are wise enough to actually use nuclear power or energy for peaceful purposes but we are not. As evidenced by all the rediculous comments on both sides of the argument.

[taylorsucram]

This is how it started: In 1953 The democratically elected government of Iran was overthrown by the CIA and Britain's MI6. This led to the "Shah of Iran" dictatorship up until 1979, during which thousands of Iranians were killed, tortured and repressed and the oil flowed to the west like honey.

Nobel laureate Thomas Schelling states that deterrence is about the only value the weapons might have for Iran. Such devices, he points out, "would be too precious to give away or to sell" and "too precious to waste killing people" when they could make other countries "hesitant to consider military action".

The United States has already declared Iran to be part of the "Axis-of-Evil" and we have dealt with Iraq (boy were we wrong about that one). Would like to deal with North Korea (but they have a nuclear weapon) and believe it is a foregone conclusion that Iran WILL ACQUIRE A NUCLEAR BOMB AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! They know that if Iraq had "one bomb" we would never have invaded! Besides there needs to be a balance in the Middle-East, Israel cannot be the only player in town with a gun. I know for a fact that When everyone has a gun ... you're careful about pulling yours! This American MANIFEST DESTINY nonsense has got to stop.

WE ARE NOT THE UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL !!!

[TheFoundersLive]

There is no manifest destiny issues, here. Come on.

Also, we are dealing with a nation ruled by nutcases. Rational nutcases...but nutcases, nonetheless. These are folks crazy enough to throw these things around...and be the "heros" of the Islamic world.

Unlike dealing with Saddam (who misjudged us, but would never have done something irrational like throwing a nuke around)...Iran is ruled by religious zealots. Who have a "higher calling."

If the Israelis even THINK that Iran can or will use a nulke against them, Israel WILL attack. And if Israel attacks, the whole tinderbox goes up.

World War.

So, if we attack and blow up the Iranian nuclear facilities...there will be some grumbling from folks (Russians, Chinese, North Korea, etc)...but who cares. They wont do anything.

[KJeroH]

The danger isn't only to Israel. While the Gulf States are not as public in their worries, they definitely don't want a nuclear Iran. True, there is virtually no worry that a nuclear device would be given to anyone outside of Iran. The primary worry is holding the bulk of OPEC hostage. Again, a stable Iran would never use a nuclear weapon, but with the civilain government subservient to religious leaders and Revolutionary Guard, all it takes is one wild-eyed extremist zealot to destroy all of those rational assumptions.

The more immediate problem is Iran beefing up its air defenses. Any attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would take a weeks' long air campaign, with no guarantee it would do more than delay the inevitable. But with an air defense that would inflict heavy casualties, that may prompt an attack more than a significant increase in progress towards weaponized nuclear material.

[tvwatcher5345]

if iran is a threat then i think we should storm the iranian beaches with troops made up of judy miller, charles krauthammer, joe lieberman, john bolton, bill kristol, scooter, norman podhoretz, kagan (multiple ones), abrams, wurmser (and the wife), feith, ledeen, gaffney, i figure it will be over in 30 seconds or less, there will be no increase in oil prices worldwide, and US foreign policy will be much better for it

[TheFoundersLive]

Cute. But not much substance to your post.

[maistir]

An almost worthless story, since it gives no information about the kind of intelligence or its content, much less of the Iranians' progress. The media ought to do some research, not simply report what is handed to them at news conferences.

[stopoil]

Tens of millions of brave young people were killed in a "conventional" war because the West wanted to avoid war and believe Hitler. The Iraq war was costly because Rumsfeld from political pressure to minimize the war costs, would not listen to people like McCain to put in enough soldiers to secure all the weapons in Baghdad. So it spun out of control. Iran has been responsible for hundreds if not thousands of American dead, they fund Islamic terrorism through Hamas and Hezbollah and others. Anyone naive enough to believe they can wishful think their way out of an Iranian nuclear war by ignoring it can be sure that history will repeat itself when it is too late. However, this time the lesson will be learned by this generation and it will be certainly millions of dead before the nuclear dust settles. So it will just be another history lesson for future generations who probably will ignore its lessons also just so many ignore the lessons of WWII and the mistakes of the Iraqi war. Israel is the canary in the coal mine just like the German Jews were in the 1930's.

[EzraPoundsGhost]

Americans are waking up in droves to the fact that out entire foreign policy has been hijacked by the Jewish "State." OUt military is being run into the ground for the sole and exclusive benefit of people who hate and murder Jesus Christ in their hearts with every breath they can muster. If Israel's and America's interests are so aligned as the Jewish press tells us everyday, why does Israel need the biggest and most powerful lobby in Washington outside of the AARP lobby? If Israel is our ally, why do they spy on us and sell the proceeds to the Chinese? If American do not eliminate this zionist parasite in our midst, it will devour us and betray us to our REAL enemy (China.) Israel is not an ally, it is a parasite and it should be eliminated before it can finish running

[EzraPoundsGhost]

My apologies for the poor grammar/spelling above, I was in a hurry. the last line should read: "before it can finish running us into the ground." Americans need to stand up and say "NO MORE WARS FOR THE JEWISH STATE. No More Christian blood for the Christ haters." God Bless America and God help "Israel" if Americans ever find out what this parasitic criminal enterprise has done to our nation. Remember the USS Liberty, Remember the Lavon affair and NEVER FORGET: ISRAEL DID 9/11.

[stopoil]

EzraPoundsGhost: If you were not such a twisted Jew hater you would see that Israel provides the USA with an amazing amount of technical benefits both commercial and militarily and vital military intel. While thousands of American's have died and trillions of dollars have already been spent overseas and domestically and continue to be spent on fighting Islamic fundamentalism, no American's have died defending Israel. In all the Israeli wars with the Arabs, no American forces were involved. Israel took out the Iraqi and Syrian nuclear facilities saving the US the trouble. However, over 36,000 American's died in Korea and thousands continue to be based there in harm's way. But to your twisted thinking, Israel is the issue.