Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that it will never accept Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability, according to a statement issued after a dinner meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Mr. Barak has once again underlined the fact that Israel cannot accept that Iran acquires nuclear (capability). Israel refuses to rule out any options" in its handling of the issue, the defence ministry statement said, an allusion to a previously-stated threat to use force.
"The United States must continue to impose effective economic sanctions on Tehran with the goal of preventing Iran from building nuclear arms," Barak told Rice during their meeting, according to the release.
Rice arrived in Tel-Aviv on Monday in a bid to kickstart stalled Middle East peace negotiations.
Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme, which Israel and its staunch US ally suspect is aimed at developing weapons.
