Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday departed for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he is expected to raise Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear program.

Barak is scheduled to participate in a number of panels and hold meetings with his Swiss counterpart Ueli Maurer, as well as with other international leaders, Barak's office said in a brief statement.

"The minister will attend panels entitled 'the dangers of a nuclear Iran' and 'leadership in times of crisis' in which he'll discuss all the pertinent geopolitical issues on the horizon," a defense ministry spokesman told Xinhua on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Barak joined a host of top Israeli officials who welcomed the European Union (EU)'s declaration of new sanctions on Iranian crude earlier in the week. He underscored, however, that more aggressive measures were needed in order to convince Tehran to abandon its nuclear program.

"Europe's decision to up the sanctions against Iran and to consider additional steps is a very important one, but it's no less important to take (the sanctions) even further with steps against (Iran's) central bank," Barak said shortly before meeting EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Tel Aviv, according to a statement.

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran a threat to its survival and has hinted on multiple occasions that it could resort to military actions should international sanctions fail. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and mainly geared to produce energy.

Imposing stiffer sanctions against Tehran would "force it to quickly arrive at a decision: to either halt its military nuclear program or face the consequences of not doing so," Barak said on Tuesday.