Gates, Israeli Defense Minister Discuss Iran, Regional Security

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 — Defense Sec­re­tary Robert M. Gates and Israeli Defense Min­is­ter Ehud Barak met this morn­ing at the Pen­ta­gon to con­tin­ue dis­cus­sions on a range of bilat­er­al and region­al secu­ri­ty issues, includ­ing the Iran­ian threat, Pen­ta­gon Press Sec­re­tary Geoff Mor­rell told reporters today.
The meet­ing, the defense lead­ers’ sixth this year, “touched on every­thing from the recent wild­fires in Israel to ongo­ing peace process efforts to the chal­lenges posed by Iran,” Mor­rell report­ed.

Gates last host­ed Barak at the Pen­ta­gon in April, in talks that also focused heav­i­ly on Iran. Appear­ing at a joint media avail­abil­i­ty after that meet­ing, Gates expressed sat­is­fac­tion with the lev­el of plan­ning by the Defense Depart­ment and oth­er ele­ments of the U.S. gov­ern­ment to counter threats from Iran. Barak also endorsed diplo­mat­ic efforts and sanc­tions to steer Iran from its nuclear ambitions. 

Fol­low­ing today’s vis­it with Gates, Barak also met with Vice Pres­i­dent Joe Biden and Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Coun­cil offi­cial Den­nis Ross. 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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