Israel Ready to Strike Iran

Israel Ready to Strike Iran

By Leslie Wetzel; Talon News; July 20, 2004

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (Talon News) -- Israel has conducted military exercises for a preemptive strike against several of Iran's nuclear power facilities and is ready to attack if Russia supplies Iran with rods for enriching uranium, Israeli officials told reporters.

Israel has for a long time assumed the right of preemption. Preemption refers to the right to attack, and even make war with Arab states that are developing nuclear weapons.

The London Sunday Times, which first published the story, was told by an Israeli defense source in Tel Aviv that Israel "will on no account permit Iranian reactors -- especially the one being built in Bushehr with Russian help -- to go critical."

The source was also quoted as saying that any strike on Iran's reactors would probably be carried out by long-range jets, flying over Turkey, with simultaneous operations by commandos on the ground. NewsMax.com states that other sources suggest that Israel will deploy one of its submarines to the Persian Gulf and fire cruise missiles at key targets.

WorldNetDaily reports that Russia is expected to deliver the enriching rods, currently being stored at a Russian port, late next year after a dispute over financial terms is resolved.

The source says that they are confident that they would be able "to demolish the Ayatollah's nuclear aspirations in one go."

The source explained that any strike could be accompanied by an attack on other Iranian targets, including a facility at Natanz, where the Iranians have attempted to enrich uranium, and a plant at Arak, which International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors suspect of nuclear activity, according to WorldNetDaily.

The Sunday Times also quoted a senior U.S. official warning of a preemptive Israeli strike if Russia continues cooperating with the Iranians. He said Washington was unlikely to block Israeli attacks against Iran.

The Sunday Times quoted a classified document on the Iranian threat which was presented to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon earlier this year. The document, entitled "The strategic Future of Israel," was first reported by Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, a premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WorldNetDaily.

G2 quoted the report, which was drafted by four of Israel's senior defense experts, as saying, "All enemy targets should be selected with the view that their destruction would promptly force the enemy to cease all nuclear, biological, and chemical exchanges with Israel."

The report also called on Israel to develop a multilayered ballistic missile defense system and described Iran as a "suicide nation," recommending "targeted killings" of members of the country's elite, including its leading nuclear scientists.

Israel has maintained the blockage of Iran's nuclear program at the top of its "to do" list, according to NewsMax.com.

Even before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there were scattered reports that Israel was preparing to strike Iranian targets.

According to NewsMax.com, "There have been mutterings that time is short and Israel will do to Iran what it did to Iraq in 1981."

Israeli bombers struck Iraq's Osirak nuclear power plant in 1981, destroying Iraq's ability to make nuclear bombs. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin came under heavy criticism at the time from the world community, but was recognized as a hero to his own people.

The U.S. maintains that Iran has pursued a nuclear weapon for the past 18 years. In recent years, the Iranian government has been only giving "lip service" to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to NewsMax.com.

The oil-rich country of Iran developing a peaceful atomic energy program, solely for domestic energy needs does not ring true for the Israelis.

Israel has also become frustrated with the U.N.'s inability to get Iran to comply with the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty they signed, obligating Iran to random inspections supervised by the IAEA. The treaty allows Iran to produce nuclear material as long as it can plausibly claim the production is for "peaceful purposes."

Experts warn that Iran can build the infrastructure needed to make nuclear weapons, telling inspectors they need the material for "energy and nuclear medicine research," and then kick out the inspectors, renounce the treaty and quickly assemble a nuclear arsenal, as the North Koreans did. North Korea is now said to have ten nuclear warheads.

According to the Iranian deal with Moscow, waste produced at the Bushehr plant containing plutonium that could be used in bomb-making would be shipped back to Russia for storage, but the material must first be cooled, providing Iran with what Washington fears could be up to two years in which to extract the plutonium.

The London Sunday Times quoted Israeli sources as saying that a quarter ton of plutonium could be produced each year if Bushehr is fully functional, enough for 20 bombs.

The Sunday Times also reports Israeli sources fear a preemptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities could provoke "a ferocious response," which could involve Lebanese-based rocket attacks on northern Israel or terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets abroad.

http://www.gopusa.com/news/2004/july/0720_israel_iran.shtml