Israeli defense chief warns US on Iran, Lebanon

Barak is scheduled to meet top members of the Obama administration, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, before returning to Israel on Saturday.

In an interview, Barak — who has become one of Israel’s most frequent official guests in Washington — outlined his vision for arresting Iran’s nuclear drive, coping with the Hezbollah threat, and forging a deal with the Palestinians.

A decade ago, Barak’s failed attempt to reach an agreement with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat led to an outbreak of violence that shattered hopes for Middle East peace. Today, at 68, the Labor Party leader finds himself an outlier in a predominantly right-wing coalition that generally opposes concessions to the Palestinians.

But Barak is also, oddly, perhaps the closest confidant of his former political rival, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, making what he says on matters of peace and war particularly relevant for the Obama administration. While in Washington, Barak is to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and various intelligence officials.

On Iran, Barak said Israel and the United States share the same “diagnosis’’ that Iran is “determined to reach nuclear military capability.’’ But he acknowledged “there are differences about what could be done about it, how it should be done, and what [is] the timeframe within which certain steps could be taken.’’

Among the timing issues are questions of how long to give sanctions the chance to work and the cutoff point after which it would no longer be feasible to neutralize Iran’s uranium enrichment program with a military strike. Iranian officials insist that their efforts are geared purely toward peaceful energy development and that they have no intention of building a weapon.

Israeli officials have carefully parsed President Obama’s words, hoping to find evidence that he would be willing to use military force. For Barak, that evidence came in Obama’s December acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, when Obama said there will be times when “the use of force’’ is “not only necessary but morally justified.’’

Another area where Israel believes force may be necessary is in Lebanon. Since a summer war with Hezbollah ended four years ago, Israel says the Iranian-backed militia has built an arsenal of 40,000 missiles and rockets. Barak warned that the next time violence breaks out, Israel plans to strike directly at the Lebanese government, which he said is allowing Hezbollah to rearm.

If Hezbollah fires a rocket into Tel Aviv, “we will not run after each Hezbollah terrorist or launcher. . . . We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hezbollah.’’