Posted on 03/23/2012 7:21:49 PM PDT by BlackVeil
The threat of a military strike on Iran is preventing the Islamic republic from taking the final steps towards developing a nuclear bomb, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.
“We are seeing with our own eyes the reason why Iran, which really wants to achieve a military nuclear capability, is not taking some of the steps defined by the IAEA as breaking the rules, why it is not breaking out,” he told public radio, referring to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
“One of the reasons is the fear of what will happen if, God forbid, the United States or maybe someone else acts against them,” Barak said, referring to the threat of an air strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Israel sees an Iranian nuclear weapon as a threat to its existence, and believes Tehran may be on the cusp of “break out” capacity — the moment when it could quickly produce weapons-grade uranium.
With Iran shifting its core nuclear facilities into protected underground sites, Israel fears Tehran is moving into the so-called “immunity zone,” and has warned a military strike may be the only way to prevent the Islamic republic from obtaining a nuclear weapons capability.
Although the Obama administration has made clear it would not hesitate “to use force” where necessary, it has also said it opposes an attack for now, and wants time to let a new round of sanctions take effect.
Last month, Iran agreed to revive talks with the P5+1 group of world leaders, comprising the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, but the spectre of a military confrontation still looms large.
Israel and Washington disagree over the imminence of the Iranian nuclear threat, and the only way to overcome this disagreement was to step up the sanctions imposed on Tehran and to ensure the upcoming talks achieved results, Barak said.
“There’s a point of disagreement and the only way of getting over it and resolving it is by accelerating the sanctions, and by setting down a short timetable for the talks next month, to test if they mean to stop their nuclear programme or not,” he said. So far, no date or venue for the talks has yet been announced. The last round of Iran-P5+1 talks collapsed in Istanbul in January 2011.
Israel and much of the West believe Iran’s nuclear programme is geared towards obtaining a weapon, but Tehran denies the charges, saying the programme is for civil power generation and medical purposes only.
Ehud Barak has not been good for Israel of late, with all his appeasement. He certainly has to know that these words he just uttered are not true.
Although the Obama administration has made clear it would not hesitate “to use force” where necessary, it has also said it opposes an attack for now, and wants time to let a new round of sanctions take effect.
In other news Saddam Hussaen fed three more opposition
members into a shredder today and gassed another village.
This would be a deliberate statement, however, with an eye to the consequences. It is an acknowledgment that Iran has no nuclear weapon, and that its current activites are lawful under the non-proliferation treaty.
The mullahs ignore the words of Israel at their peril.
Never Again.
Exactly. We don't know what audience these remarks are really aimed at.
Saying that, I seriously doubt Israel will attack Iran. They simply can not mount the kind of sustained air campaign necessary to really degrade Iran's nuclear weapons program enough to make the effort worthwhile. Iran will likely build a nuke within the next several years and we will all just have to live with it.
I share your view - I do doubt that such a strike would take place.
Let’s rethink that last idea about not being able to mount a sustained air campaign. Who says it has to be an AIR CAMPAIGN? You can eliminate Iran and it’s nukes. First, take out Iranian C3I (command, control, communications, intelligence) by an EMP strike with Popeye Turbo SLCMs launched from Israel’s Dolphin-class SSGs. Second, when Iran goes electronically dark, then hit Tehran, Qom, and the other sites with MIRV warheads from Jericho 3 ICBMs. The war is over in hours and Iran is in the stone age. Tell the Egyptians, Syrians, and Palestinians that Israel isn’t appeasing Muslims any more; Israel is about killing it’s enemies. Choose your side wisely or get ready to meet 72 virgins.
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