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JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has
held Washington talks with his US counterpart Robert Gates on the
joint development of a missile interception system, his office said
on Wednesday.
On his first trip since taking
office in June, Barak and Gates also discussed regional issues on
Tuesday, including Iran’s controversial nuclear program, which
Israel and the United States say is cover for the development of an
atomic weapon, something Iran strongly denies.
The two men discussed the
continuing cooperation in the development of a “multilayered
missile interception system,” seen as a measure to counter any
Iranian attack on the Jewish state, Barak’s office said in a
statement.
Israel has already successfully
tested and deployed its Arrow antimissile system, also jointly
developed with its key ally, which is said to be able to deflect
most missile strikes against the Jewish state.
During his six-day visit, the
former Israeli chief of staff is also scheduled to meet Vice
President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Israel, widely seen as the
region’s sole though undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its
chief enemy after repeated statements from President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.
Barak was also expected to
discuss the development of a joint US-Israeli system aimed at
countering rocket fire of the sort regularly directed at Israel by
Palestinian militants based in the Gaza Strip and also used by the
Shiite militants of Hezbollah during last year’s war in Lebanon.
--AFP
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