Amir Oren
Haaretz
Sept 4, 2012

Talk in Israel of a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities has reached a fever pitch. Last week brought the news of an alleged "war plan" leaked to a blogger. This week, a well-informed military correspondent in Jerusalem reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "determined" to attack Iran before the U.S. election. Two weeks ago, an outgoing government minister told Israelis to prepare for a war that would last 30 days.

Some analysts dismiss the speculation as an effort to intimidate Iran or put pressure on the U.S. to get tough on Tehran.

David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has his own contacts in the Israeli leadership. He says there's more going on here than just war talk.

"I think there's a 50-50 chance before the U.S. election of an Israeli strike," he says.

In any case, it's clear there's a lot of war thinking going on in Jerusalem.

Iran will achieve nuclear-weapons capability no earlier than 2013 or 2014, says Michael Hayden, adding that the U.S. would be better equipped to launch a military operation against the Islamic Republic than Israel.

A decision on attacking Iran need not be taken at present, as current assessments point to its achieving nuclear-weapons capabilities no earlier than 2013 or 2014, former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Michael Hayden told Haaretz on Monday.

Full article here

Print this page.

Comment Rules