WarSclerotic

PM: Israel won’t be spared even if US attacks Iran – Israel News, Ynetnews.

In closed talks, Netanyahu says missiles will be fired at Israel even if US strikes Iran but admits likelihood of US strike is small

Itamar Eichner

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in closed talks over the weekend that a United States strike on Iran will not necessarily minimize the chances of a missile attack on Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

“I would prefer that the US attack Iran, but the likelihood of that is small,” he said. “In any case – even if the US attacks, missiles will be fired at Israel.”

This scenario is not as grave as the possibility that Iran obtains a nuclear weapon, he said. “Even if missiles fall, it’s still preferable to an atom bomb over our heads. If Iran obtains an atom bomb it’ll be over Israel’s head, not anyone else’s.”

The prime minister countered the claim that a military strike will set back Iran’s nuclear program just a couple of years. “They said the same thing about the Iraq reactor,” he noted. “They said the (Iraqis) could rebuild the reactor within two years, they still don’t have a bomb.”

‘Sanctions ineffective’

Netanyahu estimated that Iran is a few months away from becoming nuclear. “The time frame isn’t measured in days or weeks, but not in years either.” He credited Israeli policy with the toughening of the sanctions but noted that other than hurting Iran’s economy they have yet to compromise the nuclear program.

Addressing the “day-after” debate, he said: “I’m tired of this atmosphere. Stop talking ‘for the record’. I am responsible and if a commission of inquiry is established it will be on me. I take full responsibility.”

Sources in the meetings got the impression that a decision about a strike has yet to be made, but that the prime minister is trying to create the impression he is determined to act. Netanyahu insisted that he is being completely rational in considering the matter.

The prime minister’s bureau said in response, “We don’t comment on reports from closed meetings, even when the quotes are inaccurate.”

Iran: Zionists feel fear

Meanwhile, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani warned Israel to drop its recently intensified war rhetoric against Tehran, but pointed out that the Israelis’ hawkish remarks indicate their fear of the Islamic Republic, the Fars news agency reported.

“Today, the Zionists have uttered words against Iran and Hezbollah bigger than their mouths, but reading between the lines one can find out that Zionists feel fear,” Larijani said on Sunday.

He made the remarks, addressing an open session of the parliament in Tehran.

It has also been reported that senior ministers are claiming they are not being briefed on the Iranian issue. “We are expected to serve as a rubber stamp,” said a member of the political-security cabinet.

“It’s an event of historic and strategic importance. How does one expect us to vote yes or no when the day arrives,” one minister said.

The prime minister’s bureau dismissed the claims. “The discussions on the most sensitive issues over the past three years have been unprecedented in scope, frequency and depth,” a statement said.

Dudi Cohen and Tova Tzimuki contributed to this report

Kidnapped Iranians are Revolutionary Guards, FSA says in Al Arabiya video.

( Surprise, surprise… – JW )

Sunday, 05 August 2012

Syrian rebels claim that the 48 Iranians it kidnapped on Saturday are members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards and not pilgrims as Iran alleges, in footage aired exclusively by Al Arabiya TV.

The rebels “captured 48 of the Shabiha (militiamen) of Iran who were on a reconnaissance mission in Damascus,” said a man dressed as an officer of the Free Syrian Army, in the video aired by Al Arabiya.

“During the investigation, we found that some of them were officers of the Revolutionary Guards,” he said, showing ID documents taken from one of the men, who appeared in the background with a large Syrian independence flag held by two armed men behind them.

Abdel Nasser Shmeir, interviewed later by Al Arabiya and presented as the commander of Al-Baraa Brigade, gave similar details.

“They are 48, in addition to an Afghani interpreter,” he said, claiming that the captives were members of a 150-strong group sent by Iran for “reconnaissance on the ground.”

Iran has appealed to Turkey and Qatar, both with close relations with the Syrian opposition, for help in securing the release of the hostages it claims were pilgrims visiting the Sayyida Zeinab shrine, a Shiite pilgrimage site in the southeastern suburbs of Damascus.

Shmeir said his men “have not yet entered into any contacts” about the hostages.

Israel Racing against War, Upgrades Missile Shield – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

An experiment on the Arrow

Israel news photo: IDF spokesman

Israel is racing against an attack by Iran and Syria and is upgrading its US-backed Arrow missile shield in the wake of a possible a chemical weapon attack from Syria, a defense official told Reuters Sunday.

The new “Block 4” generation of guided interceptor rockets, radars and technologies for synchronizing Arrow with U.S. systems was being installed in deployed Israeli batteries, a process that would take several weeks, the official told the news agency.

The Arrow system, operational since 2000, is designed to blow up incoming missiles at altitudes high enough for non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely.

“It is part of the technological race in the region,” added the official, who insisted on anonymity,

Besides the threat of a nuclear threat for Iran in the next year or two, Israel is now preparing for a possible chemical warfare attack from Syria, where the civil war could spur Syrian President Bashar Assad to turn his missiles on Israel. The same situation could arise if Hizbullah, which is thought to have accessed part of the chemical arsenal, decides to attack Israel from Lebanon.

Israel has threatened to attack preemptively in both countries, a prospect that could trigger a wider war and clash with Washington’s efforts to resolve the crises diplomatically.

The Pentagon and U.S. firm Boeing Co. are partners in Arrow, an investment that the Obama administration hopes will help stay the Israelis’ hand, according to Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said last week that Arrow, like a similar Israeli interceptor for short-range guerrilla rockets, Iron Dome, was “designed to prevent wars”.

Israel is developing Arrow III, which is due to be operational in 2014 or 2015, while deploying the current Arrow II. Unlike previous generations of the interceptor, Arrow III will engage incoming missiles in space, using detachable warheads that, turning into “kamikaze” satellites, will seek out and slam into the target.

Israel is also working on a more powerful rocket interceptor than Iron Dome, known as David’s Sling or Magic Wand, which is due out next year. Meshed together and with U.S. counterparts, the three Israeli systems would form a multi-tier shield providing several opportunities to intercept incoming missiles.

Rumsfeld: Israel needs to delay Iran’s nuclear program – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Former US defense secretary agrees with PM Netanyahu on lack of efficient sanctions on Iran; says ‘Israel’s intelligence on Iran is excellent, all Israelis need to do is delay them’

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON – While US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta attempted to convince top Israeli politicians and security officials not to launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities during his visit to Israel last week, his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld, seems more prepared for a possible attack.

In an interview with Fox News, the former US Defense Secretary said “the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, is probably correct. Sanctionstend not to work very well over a long period of time.”

Rumsfeld, who served as secretary of defense during both the Ford and Bush administrations, told Fox that “Israel’s intelligence on Iran is excellent.” He further denied the claims that an attack on Iran’s nuclearfacilities would not yield any results.

“I don’t think that Israel has to destroy all of Iran’s nuclear capability, said Rumsfeld adding that “Iran is a sophisticated country. They must have deeply buried sites. And I’m sure the Israelis know precisely what they currently have.”

“All the Israelis need to do is delay them,” the Republican official said, clarifying that Israel “wouldn’t need to destroy Iran’s facilities 100 percent, like they were able to do in Iraq or in Syria.”

Rumsfeld further criticized the pattern of leaks emerging from White House concerning Iran, and said that “If I were in the Israeli government, I don’t think I would notify the United States government of any intent to do anything about Iran. So my guess is, given the pattern of leaks out of the White House, that any prime minister of Israel would not call the United States and give clear intentions as to what they plan to do.”

While in Israel last week, Panetta assured both the prime minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barakthat the US would act when it becomes clear that military intervention in Iran is unavoidable.

During his visit, Panetta echoed President Barack Obama’s position that currently the international community should focus on curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions through harsh sanctions rather than considering a military strike.

Why Israel Could Attack Iran Before November – Defense/Security – News – Israel National News.

Prof Efraim Inbar

Yoni Kempinski

If the Obama administration still vehemently opposes an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities for fear of hampering Obama’s chances for reelection, the latest Debka’s report claimls that Teheran is close than ever to an atomic bomb.

“The months of negotiations with the six world powers were happily used by Iran for great strides toward bringing its nuclear weapon program to fruition”, explains Debka.

1. We knew that Tehran produced low-enriched uranium for four nuclear warheads in the fortified bunker in Fordo. We knew also that the centrifuges are enriching uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent. But according to Debka, uranium levels have crept past 20 percent in expanded quantities.

“The six powers are understandably reluctant to admit that in the time bought by negotiations, Iran was able to refine uranium up to 30-percent grade or even a higher and go into advanced preparations for 65 percent grade enrichment. Now the Iranians are well on the way to an 80-90 percent weapons grade”. This is the weaponization of the nuclear cycle.

That is why Israel could launch a preemptive operation against Iran before the US presidential election in November.

Or as the former Israeli Mossad director, Ephraim Halevi, said to the New York Times, “if I were an Iranian I would be very worried in the next 12 months”.

“The period before the US elections is the best for an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities”, asserts one of Israel’s leading analysts, Efraim Inbar, head of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and one of informal advisors of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview for Arutz Sheva.

“The diplomatic talks failed, the sanctions are not working, only a military operation can stop Iran’s atomic program. We already stopped Iraq and Syria’s nuclear programs. We will take in consideration only our security and Jewish survival, because a nuclearized Iran would be an immense threat for the Jewish State”.

Inbar attacks the “bizzarre red line” of Obama’s administration on Iran, which is an order by Iranian leadership to build a bomb. “If you wait so long, the Iranian program will become immune to an attack”, he says.

He also criticizes Europe, which used the talks to stop the Israeli strike than Iran’s atomic program. “It’s even worse than Munich’s 1938, then Europe was willing to use force, while today nobody wants to fight anymore”.

In Israel, Inbar explains, “nobody believes in the sanctions, while there are those, like the former Mossad’s head Meir Dagan, who believed that covert operations would have been better to abort the Iranian program. The Americans are now trying to be our babysitter, but the last decision will be taken in Jerusalem by Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu”.

“The two Israeli leaders have now to determine whether Israel can trust the recent US’ promise to thwart Iran’s atomic ambitions in case the sanctions prove to be insufficient – or launch a unilateral Israeli attack on the Islamic Republic.

“In the first case, everything would be postponed to the next spring. Otherwise, the sirens will wake up the Israelis one day within the next three months, food cans will quickly disappear from the supermarkets, doors and windows will be sealec and the Home Front Command will instruct Israeli to enter into shelters. The rest will be history.”