The US and Israeli evaluation of Iran’s nuclear program are closer than ever following a secret US intelligence report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.

“It seems there really is a report by US intelligence agencies. I don’t know if it’s by the National Intelligence Estimate or a different agency circulating between senior chambers,” he told public radio, asked about the report which Israeli daily Haaretz ran on its front page.

“As far as we know, it brings the American assessment much much closer to ours,” Barak said. “I’d say that compared to previous American appraisals, it makes the Iranian issue a bit more urgent.”

Israel, the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, says Iran’s nuclear program poses an existential threat to it and has repeatedly threatened to carry out bombing raids on Iranian nuclear facilities.

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