Amid rising concerns over the Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with US President George W. Bush on Wednesday to discuss possible joint military action to halt Iranian nuclear aspirations.
In a telltale sign of the increasing US-Israeli concern over Iran, US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell arrived to Israel on Tuesday to convene with heads of the Israeli intelligence community about possible military action.
McConnell met with several high ranking Israeli intelligence officers, including head of Military Intelligence Major General Amos Yadlin, Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
The US National Intelligence Estimate, under the command of McConnell, reported late last year that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 even though it had renewed its enrichment of uranium in 2005.
The report contradicted Israeli intelligence on the matter and sparked delegations from the Mossad and Military Intelligence to travel to the US several times in recent months to present the Americans with Israel's estimates concerning Iran's race towards nuclear power.
Defense officials said that McConnell's visit to Israel was part of the ongoing intelligence dialogue between the two countries and that he would be presented with the most updated Mossad and MI assessments regarding Iran's nuclear program. MI recently moved up its assessment and now believes that Iran will master centrifuge technology by the end of the year, meaning that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the end of the decade.
Despite the visit, officials said it was unlikely that McConnell's office would put out a new and revised NIE before the US elections in November.
According to the Jerusalem report one official said that "we do not expect a change to the earlier American assessments," "Just like we do not expect the current administration to take military action against Iran."
On Monday, Barak told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel needed to do everything possible to ensure that the Iranians did not obtain nuclear power.
"There are many things we can do, but the last things that help us are words and criticism," Barak said.
