Israel will do everything possible to stop "nuclear" Iran: minister

JERUSALEM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that his country is "committed to doing everything it can in order to stop Iran from going nuclear," according to a statement Xinhua obtained Thursday.

In an address to graduates of the army's National Security College on Wednesday, Barak said he is "fully aware of the difficulties and complexities involved in preventing Iran from attaining nuclear weapons."

Israel is facing "difficult and fateful decisions" in weighing methods of thwarting what many in the West believe is a clandestine Iranian nuclear weaponization program, Barak said.

Iranian officials contend that their program has only peaceful and medical goals.

However, Barak said that "having to deal with the challenge" of an Iran possessing nuclear bombs "would be many times more complex, dangerous and costly, both in terms of human life and in terms of resources, than a preemptive strike."

The remarks by the Israeli leaders come on the heels of recent statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that "There are currently 11,000 centrifuges active in enrichment facilities," 1,000 more than previously known by the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to a report in May.

The Iranian president made the statements during talks with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Teheran officials, according to The Jerusalem Post.