Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that the Iranian threat has reached a point that constitutes "a sword on the neck" of the Zionist entity

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that the Iranian threat has reached a point that constitutes "a sword on the neck" of the Zionist entity.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Institute for National Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, Barak stated that the Israeli leadership felt like the “Jewish State had a sword to its neck prior to the 1967 Six-Day War”, and felt their was no choice but to act. He suggested that the “Iranian threat” may have come to this point, or be nearing this point.

The defense minister, who has often employed the phrase "point of no return" in referring to Iran's nuclear program, said that a sword on the neck traditionally has meant that one's enemies have attained weaponry and are poised to strike. When speaking of nuclear capabilities, he added, the ability to obtain the weapon is enough to constitute a sword on the neck. If Iran has already obtained nuclear weapons, it will be too late to act, Barak said.

Barak said that while "nobody wants to go to war," Iran was "methodically" working towards nuclear weapons capability. He reiterated the Israeli leadership's stance that Tehran is buying time to place itself in a position to “pursue nuclear weapons”.

He said that the Iranian regime was disguising its actions so that the international community would not know when they had "passed the line in the sand." "The Iranians are trying to lead the entire world astray and breach the directives of the IAEA," Barak claimed.