JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and army chief Gabi Ashkenazi will travel to the United States later this month for talks on US military aid to the Jewish state, public radio said on Thursday.
The two Israeli official are expected to make the trip within two weeks, the radio said.
Last week the US Congress approved an increase of 170 million dollars in security assistance to Israel as part of its new 10-year, 30-billion-dollar defence aid commitment to the Jewish state.
The trip comes after a visit to Israel at the end of June by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen for talks focussed on Iran, amid concerns Israel may attack Iran.
"From the US military perspective, opening up a third front right now would be extremely stressful on us," Mullen told a news conference on Wednesday upon his return home.
"That doesn't mean we don't have capacity or reserve. But that would really be very challenging and also the consequences of that sometimes are very difficult to predict."
The United States and its ally Israel fear that Iran could use its programme of uranium enrichment to make an atomic weapon, and have never explicitly ruled out launching a military strike against it.
In June the New York Times cited US officials as saying that a major Israeli military exercise over Greece earlier that month appeared to be a dry run for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran has dismissed the reports as "psychological operations" but warned of a limitless response to any attack.
Tehran denies wanting the bomb, and says its nuclear ambitions extend only to generating electricity for a growing population.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
