Barak says no plans to strike Iran

JERUSALEM, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak denied recent media reports saying Israel had decided to strike Iranian nuclear sites but said "all options remain open."

"Israel has not yet decided to embark on any operation," Barak told Israel Radio Tuesday. At the same time Israel must prepare for "uncomfortable situations," is responsible for its own security and "all options remain open," he said.

"We know more than The Washington Post knows and we know more than the IAEA does," Barak said referring to the upcoming International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran's nuclear ambitions, details of which were leaked to international newspapers including The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, western nuclear experts told Haaretz they believe Iran will be able to construct a nuclear bomb within a few months.

Experts told the newspaper Tehran already has the technological means and materials required to build an atomic bomb.

The experts said nuclear weapons engineers from Russia, Pakistan and North Korea have been assisting Iranian scientists, the paper said.

The paper also mentioned Vyacheslav Danilenko, a former Soviet nuclear scientist who for the past five years has worked for Iran's Physics Research Center, a facility linked to Tehran's nuclear program. Details of Danilenko's role were revealed by David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, Haaretz said.