Israel should be reserved the right to a large-scale military operation against the Islamic Republic, as a nuclear breakout "will most probably" occur when the US has its hands full with other crises across the globe, Barak said.
"This summer, Iran will turn into a de-facto threshold nuclear state," Barak added, further warning that operations over Iranian skies "simply cannot delay the Iranians from turning nuclear."
Instead, Barak argued, small-scale operations by both Israel and the US can only accelerate the Islamic Republic's rush to the nuclear bomb, with them providing Iran's program legitimacy "on grounds of self-defense."
Despite his warning, the former prime minister is still hopeful a diplomatic ultimatum "backed by credible threat of a wide-scale war" could be a "realistic" approach.
"Nothing short of that can assure a result," he claimed. READ MORE
