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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Defense Minister Amir Peretz review an honor guard at a military base in Tel Aviv.



Gates: Diplomacy toward Iran effective :
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST , Apr. 18, 2007

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday praised the international front against Iran's nuclear program, saying the diplomatic efforts are "working." Gates made the comments at a news conference with his Israeli counterpart, Amir Peretz. Both the US and Israel accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons - a charge Iran denies.Israel considers Iran its greatest threat, pointing to the nuclear program and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for the destruction of Israel. While Israeli leaders have never ruled out taking military action against Iran, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he hopes diplomacy will prevail and backed US-led efforts at the United Nations to punish Iran. During his meeting with Peretz, Gates said the men agreed that the diplomatic pressure is working. "We agreed it was important to deal with the Iranian nuclear problem through diplomacy, which appears to be working," Gates said. Gates noted that the UN Security Council has already passed two resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to develop nuclear weapons. "The international community is united in telling Iran what it needs to do with respect to its nuclear program," he said. "These things don't work overnight, but it seems to me clearly the preferable course to keep our focus on the diplomatic initiatives, and particularly because of the united front of the international community at this point." The UN Security Council has set a May deadline for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment, warning it will gradually ratchet up punishment. Earlier this week, Ahmadinejad said additional UN sanctions would cause Iran to step up its nuclear development. Iran has been a key topic in meetings Gates has had during his Mideast swing, which also has taken him to Jordan and Egypt. The US believes Iran is backing insurgents in Iraq and arming Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shakes hand with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the start of their meeting in Jerusalem. Gates told Olmert that Washington favours diplomacy to deal with the nuclear programme of Iran -- the Jewish state's arch-foe.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday that Washington favours diplomacy to deal with the nuclear programme of Iran, the Jewish state's arch-foe. Gates also said the US would keep up its two-month-old security plan in Iraq despite a barrage of car bombs that killed 190 people in Baghdad on Wednesday. "Clearly if you think that the (Iran) programme is further away from being irreversible... you have more time for the diplomatic process to work," Gates told reporters following his meeting with the Israeli premier in Jerusalem. "I had the impression that at this point they (the Israelis) are comfortable with letting the diplomatic process work out," he said on the third leg of a regional tour that has also taken him to Jordan and Egypt. Gates, the first US defence secretary to visit key ally Israel since 2000, arrived in Tel Aviv late Wednesday as part of a Middle East tour aimed at countering the influence of Iran and at shoring up support for Iraq. Late Wednesday he said that diplomacy was the "preferable focus" for dealing with Tehran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is a cover for building an atomic bomb and Iran says is solely for civilian purposes. "It's important to deal with the Iran nuclear problem with diplomacy which is working," Gates said after talks with his Israeli counterpart Amir Peretz. Israel, widely considered to be the sole if undeclared nuclear power in the Middle East, considers Iran its top foe following repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map. Gates also said that the carnage from car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday would not deter Washington from its security plan. "We have anticipated from the very beginning... that the insurgency and others would increase the violence to make the people of Iraq believe the plan is a failure," Gates said. "We intend to persist to show that it is not."
In his discussions in Israel, Gates also touched on ways of reinvigorating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process -- a top issue in his talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Gates also reassured Israel that Washington would continue to help it keep its military superiority amid concerns over planned US sales of advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The secretary said he told Olmert that "the United States would help Israel maintain its qualitative military edge." The weapons package reportedly includes tanks, warships and advanced air defence systems valued at between five and 10 billion dollars. Its exact content and value are still under consideration, US defence officials said. Gates's discussions in Israel have also touched on Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and Syria. Israel waged a month-long war against the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon in 2006 and accuses the militia of trying to re-arm for a possible future conflict by smuggling weapons across the porous border with Syria. Gates said late Wednesday that Washington had diplomatic relations with Syria but "that doesn't mean that we approve of much of anything that they do." "Frankly Syrian activities, both in allowing suicide bombers to cross their border into Iraq, where they kill both Iraqis and coalition partners, their allowing of a resupply of Hezbollah in Lebanon and a variety of other activities, are of great concern to us," he said.