By DPA
Washington/Tel Aviv : Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak met his US counterpart Robert Gates in Washington and discussed the joint development of an anti-missile system, the minister’s office said Wednesday.
The “multi-layered missile interception system” discussed at Tuesday’s meeting between the two is aimed at countering the perceived threat from Iranian missiles.
Iran’s nuclear development programme, coupled with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s statements that Israel should cease to exist, have lit a red light in the Jewish state, which now sees Teheran as its major long-term strategic threat.
Jerusalem officials are also increasingly worried that Palestinian missiles launched regularly from the Gaza Strip could become more sophisticated, and could also be fired from the West Bank.
In the 1991 Gulf War Iraq repeatedly attacked Israel with modified Scud missiles. The Patriot anti-missile defence system, rushed to Israel after the first Scuds landed, proved ineffective in halting the Iraqi rockets, which caused damage but few fatalities.
The US and Israel are already cooperating on the Arrow anti-missile missile.