Mofaz tells Obama: If all else fails, US must strike Iran
Israel Hayom | Mofaz tells Obama: If all else fails, US must strike Iran.
Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz meets U.S. President Barack Obama and thanks him for standing by Israel • Mofaz: Iran must understand that if Israel feels its existence is threatened, it will act alone if necessary.
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Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz and U.S. President Barack Obama meet in the Roosevelt Room in the White House on Thursday.
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Photo credit: White House
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Vice Prime Minister and Kadima Chairman Shaul Mofaz met U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon in the White House on Thursday and during their conversation, President Barack Obama entered the room and spoke with Mofaz for half an hour.
Obama has adopted the protocol of “dropping in” on a guest that is not a head of state as a way of showing respect for the senior government official. Israeli officials saw the act as the U.S. president’s way of expressing support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to bring Kadima into the government.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, was also present at the meetings.
Mofaz thanked Obama for standing by Israel and its security needs. A statement from his office said “The discussion went very well.”
In his discussion with Obama, Mofaz said that the failure of three rounds of negotiations with Iran concerning its nuclear program means that the next set of tougher sanctions should include an embargo on Iran’s crude oil exports. However, if all other efforts fail, he said, including more severe sanctions, the U.S. must lead a military strike on Iran.
Six world powers and Iran failed to secure a breakthrough at talks in Moscow this week, the third round under the latest diplomatic initiative, and set no date for more political negotiations.
Technical talks with Iran have been scheduled for July 3 in Istanbul, but no further political talks have been agreed to, and some experts have said the risk of war will increase unless diplomacy is renewed.
On Wednesday, after a discussion with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Mofaz released a statement that said “It is time for the United States and Western powers to impose more severe sanctions in the oil embargo and financial sectors in order to stop Iran’s nuclear development program.”
Speaking with the U.S. president, Mofaz sent a warning message to Iran, saying that if Israel feels its existence is threatened, it will be able to carry out a military operation against the Islamic republic on its own.
On his four-day visit to the U.S. capital, Mofaz is also seeking U.S. help in arranging a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to try to renew peace talks deadlocked since 2010.
Concerning talks with the Palestinians, Mofaz told Obama there is no date for the renewal of negotiations and no outline for such talks, but there is a willingness to move forward and he plans to meet with Abbas in the near future.
WarSclerotic 
June 22, 2012 at 2:33 PM
To me its more like an Obama Circus, put in the stage for trying to satisfy – and use – the big ego of Mofaz. Nothing more. By the way, they try it with Ashkenazi and got an amazing success. For other reasons, of course.
Not all the israeli leaders can see the insides of White House and still remain cool.
June 22, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Military hostilities with Iran should start on September the 19th
June 22, 2012 at 3:22 PM
“US must strike Iran”. Hold on a second and let me check the list….OK, there’s Iraq, Afganistan, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Venezuela, Bosina, Panama, Herzegovina, Uganda, Japan, Germany, Italy, USSR, China, North Korea, Grenada, Nicaragua, Cuba, North Vietnam, the Spanish Armada, King George’s British Army, various Indian tribes, the Confederacy, and Santa Anna’s Mexican Army. Oh yeah, and all the countless terrorists groups threatening the world today. Did I leave any out?
June 22, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Not USA but Israel should strike in Iran. Its our job and right to self-defense. Israel, single-handled, can do a superb job in Iran. But, in the aftermath, things can go wrong and the iranians may want to respond on american targets and other objectives. This is why America cannot stay isolated from this conflict. Its not the albanians carriers who are patrolling in front of the iranian shores. They are American Carriers . And why is that ? Are they in a pleasure crosier ? No, they are keeping the petrol lifeline open for the West.
America is simply to big to recluse herself. Her reclusion ended on Pearl Harbor. Her enemies from distant lands did strike her on 9/11. And, my dear friends, i must say this, also : we are already at war.
June 22, 2012 at 5:11 PM
By the way, it appears that a turkish jet fighter was intercepted under the syrian sky. The plane has gone down and the pilots captured. May be we will have a problem there with the S-300
batteries.
June 22, 2012 at 10:18 PM
“if all other efforts fail, he said, including more severe sanctions, the U.S. must lead a military strike on Iran.”
Mr. Mofaz is new to the job, perhaps he doesn’t know yet that it is illegal to attack a country “pre-emptively”, merely because Israel suspects that Iran might be approaching the nuclear ‘breakout’ point, and might somewhere in the distant future become capable of building a nuclear weapon in case it decides to do so.
So the answer, mr. Mofaz, is no, the US will not initiate an attack without the approval of the UNSC.
June 22, 2012 at 10:53 PM
Don’t worry, Israel will ask your approval too, before the attack. You know , just in case. To be more sure. And its good you came back, Renbe. Its quit boring here, now that all of us agree with each other, more or less. There is no good without bad . Otherwise, how we could know what good is if we didn’t knew the devils’s advocate ? Hehe, i’m only joking, you know. Wishing you only well, of course.