WarSclerotic

Barak: Israel has not yet decided on ‘military operation’ against Iran – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Defense Minister downplays speculation Jerusalem is preparing for attack, says ‘war is not a picnic. We want a picnic. We don’t want a war’; France and Russia voice concern over possibility of striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

By Haaretz and Reuters

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday played down speculation that Israel intended to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, saying it had not decided to embark on any military operation.

“War is not a picnic. We want a picnic. We don’t want a war,” Barak told Israel Radio ahead of the release this week of an International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] report on Iran’s nuclear activity.

	Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak
	Photo by: Emil Salman

“[Israel] had not yet decided to embark on any operation,” he said, dismissing Israeli media speculation that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had chosen that option.

Western nuclear experts have told Haaretz, in anticipation of the IAEA report, that Iran will be ready to build a nuclear bomb within a few months if it desires.

Other experts, who have seen intelligence used in the compilation of the latest report, have said that Tehran already has the know-how, the technological means and the materials needed to put an atom bomb together within short order.

These experts have concluded that nuclear weapons engineers from Russia, Pakistan and North Korea have been assisting Iranian scientists in their efforts to reach nuclear capability. Haaretz published similar information last week, reporting that experts have said that Iran could carry out underground nuclear tests quite soon if it wants to.

The foreign ministers of Russia and France have warned this week that an Israeli military strike against Iran would cause irreparable damage.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that such a strike against Iran would be a grave mistake with unpredictable consequences: “This would be a very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences,” he said.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said his country was “very worried” about the potential militarization of Iran’s nuclear program, but opposes any strike against the Islamic Republic because it would destabilize the region. He said earlier this week that France supported the hardening of sanctions against Iran.

Earlier this week, Haaretz learned that U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta did not get a clear commitment from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barak that Israel would not take action against Iranian nuclear facilities without coordinating any such operation with the United States.

According to American officials who were briefed about the visit Panetta made a month ago to Israel, the two Israeli leaders only answered Panetta’s questions regarding Israel’s intentions toward Iran in a general manner.

Panetta arrived in Israel on October 3 and, in addition to Netanyahu and Barak, also met with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and senior members of the IDF General Staff. The U.S. defense secretary’s visit came against the backdrop of a sense among members of the American administration that they didn’t clearly understand where Israel was headed with regard to the entire subject of the threat from Iran.

Panetta raised the Iranian issue in his talks in Israel with both Netanyahu and Barak. He sought not only to hear about Israel’s intentions but also to underline that the U.S. was interested in full coordination with Israel on the issue of the Iranian nuclear threat. The American defense secretary hinted that the Americans did not want to be surprised by Israel. For their parts, however, Netanyahu and Barak avoided providing a clear response, answering vaguely and in general terms.

This entry was posted on November 8, 2011 at 11:56 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.