US administration denies giving Israel the OK to attack Iran

Tuesday July 07, 2009 09:33 by IMEMC & Agencies

The US Administration said that it did not give the green light on an Israeli attack against Iranian sites believed to be nuclear reactors.

The Administration said that US vice president, Joe Biden, stated that the United States cannot tell Israel what to do while facing the Iranian nuclear ambitions, and that Israel is a sovereign state that has the right to make it own military decisions.

The US also said that the it is committed to ensuring Israel’s security, and understands Israel’s concern regarding the ‘Iranian nuclear project’, but did not OK an attack against Iran.

On its side, Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Speaker, Ali Larijani, Iran said that Tehran holds Washington responsible for any Israeli attack in light of the statements of Biden.

Larijani added that Iran's response would be painful and harsh.      

As Iran Lashes Out Over Biden’s Remarks, Saudis Deny They Would Allow Israel Overflight

Tuesday, July 07, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) –

US Vice President Joe Biden’s weekend remarks about Israel’s right to act against Iran’s nuclear activities as it sees fit are resonating in the Middle East.
 
Israel’s foreign minister acknowledged them while Tehran’s supreme leader warned outsiders against trying to take advantage of the internal turmoil in Iran following the disputed presidential election.
 
“Beware – the Iranian nation will react,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech Monday. “In the event of enemy intervention, the Iranian nation, despite differences of opinion, will unite and become an iron fist against them,” Iran’s Press TV quoted him as saying.
 
Biden’s comments to ABC News were aired on the same day a British newspaper reported that the Saudi government would not prevent Israeli warplanes from flying over its territory during any future bombing raid against Iran.
 
The Sunday Times reported that the head of the Israeli Mossad had held secret talks with Saudi officials. It quoted a diplomatic source as saying the kingdom had tacitly agreed to Israeli jets crossing its airspace on a mission supposedly in both countries’ interests. Riyadh and Jerusalem denied the report.
 
Biden’s statement – “Israel can determine for itself, it’s a sovereign nation, what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else” – appeared to indicate a shift from his stance last April that an Israeli strike against Iran would be “ill-advised.”
 
Both the White House and State Department denied that it reflected any policy change, or that it amounted to a go-ahead for Israel to act.
 
“We are certainly not going to give a green light to any kind of military strike,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told a media briefing. “But Israel is a sovereign country and we’re not going to dictate its actions,” he added.
 
Kelly said the U.S. shared Israel’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, but its focus now was on getting Tehran to fulfill its international obligations and cooperate fully with the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.
 
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CBS News on Sunday that he was concerned a strike against Iran would be “very destabilizing” and have “unintended consequences.” He said that Iranian possession of nuclear weapons would also be “very destabilizing.”
 
Aside from Khamenei’s response, further Iranian reaction came from parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, who warned during a visit to Qatar that Iran “will consider the Americans responsible in any adventure launched by the Zionist entity.”
 
Another senior lawmaker, national security and foreign policy committee head Alaeddin Broujerdi, said that both the U.S. and Israel were aware of the likely consequences of any “erroneous decision.”
 
“I believe our response will be real and decisive,” Iranian media quoted him as saying, without elaboration.
 
Warning signals
 
Israel views Iran as a serious military threat because of the regime’s hostility towards the Jewish state, its support for anti-Israel resistance groups in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, its increasingly sophisticated ballistic missile capability, and a nuclear program which Israel and other Western governments believe to be a cover for attempts to develop an atomic bomb. Tehran says its uranium enrichment activities are for peaceful electricity-generation purposes.
 
Still, it was not clear that the Israeli government regarded Biden’s remarks as particularly helpful. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office declined to comment, and the response that did come from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman merely suggested that what Biden had said was self-evident.
 
“Israel is a sovereign state and at the end of the day, the government of Israel has sole responsibility for its security and future, not anybody else,” Lieberman agreed.
 
Israel, which maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity about its own nuclear weapons capability, tends to prefer to send warning signals to hostile states. Military officials said an Israeli Navy submarine had navigated the Suez Canal in recent days, sailing from Israel’s Mediterranean coast to the southern Red Sea port of Eilat, then returning after maneuvers. The German-built submarines are reported by defense analysts to be capable of launching cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.
 
Officials also disclosed to The Jerusalem Post Monday that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) will take part in exercises in the U.S. this month, and in an unnamed NATO member-state later this year, in both cases providing pilots with training for long-range missions.
 
Last summer, Israeli jets took part in exercises over the Greek island of Crete featuring multiple mock strikes and in-flight refueling, both practicing and demonstrating its ability to operate at a distance from home.
 
When the IAF bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak, south of Baghdad, in 1981, eight jets traveled some 600 miles across Jordanian and then Saudi airspace. They returned safely after the mission, though low on fuel. The 1976 operation to rescue Israeli hostages held by Palestinian fighters at Entebbe, Uganda, required a flight of more than 2,500 miles one-way, but the Israeli C-130 Hercules used in the mission were able to refuel in Nairobi, Kenya before the return run.
 
Military analysts say a strike against Iran’s nuclear sites would be difficult, for reasons including the distance and the fact Iran’s facilities are scattered and in some cases, concealed.
 
“The capabilities of the IAF have grown dramatically in the past two decades, yet the Iranian facilities are a significantly more challenging target than Osirak,” the authors of an MIT Security Studies Program paper on the subject wrote in 2006.
 
Supposing the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran was the target (others considered critical to a potential weapons program are located at Arak and Ishafan), a bombing mission launched from Israel would require flights of around 1,000 miles one-way. Israeli F-15 variants have a combat range of more than 1,300 miles when carrying ordnance, and fitted with fuselage-hugging tanks to extend range. They can also refuel in midair.
 
The most direct route would cross Jordanian, Saudi and Iraqi airspace, although other scenarios put forward over recent years include a strike launched from Turkey – improbable now given the poor state of relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.
 
(Alert to Israeli initiatives in its neighborhood, Iran bristled at the recent improvement in ties between Israel and another of its northern neighbors, Azerbaijan. Tehran lobbied hard, but unsuccessfully, to prevent a visit to Baku last week by Israeli President Shimon Peres.)
 
‘Extremely surprised’
 
Saudi Arabia on Monday denied the Sunday Times report’s claims about talks with the Mossad and an agreement regarding overflight by Israeli jets.
 
“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia categorically denies a report published in a British newspaper saying that there were contacts between the kingdom and Israel and that the kingdom would allow Israel to use the kingdom’s airspace for any kind of hostile activity,” the official Saudi Press Agency quoted an official source as saying.
 
“The source said the kingdom is extremely surprised at and categorically denounces the publishing of such false news that contradict its firm and transparent policy towards the Israeli occupational authorities or towards preventing the use of the kingdom’s territories or air space for aggression against any other country.”
 
A foreign ministry spokesman said such reports were aimed at eroding Arab unity. Saudi Arabia, like most Arab states, does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.
 
In Jerusalem, Netanyahu’s office called the report baseless.
 
Israel’s 1981 attack on the Osirak reactor was criticized at the time by the U.N. and many foreign governments, including the U.S.
 
Ten years later, shortly after the Gulf War ended, then Defense Secretary Richard Cheney said publicly that thanks to Israel’s action a decade earlier, the U.S. had not faced a nuclear-armed Iraq

Biden says Israel has ‘sovereign right’ to tackle nuclear Iran

France 24,

Monday 06 July 2009

Striking a tough note during an interview with a US TV station, US Vice-President Joe Biden suggested that Washington will not restrain Israel if it decided to take pre-emptive military action to remove a nuclear threat from Iran.

REUTERS -

Israel has a sovereign right to decide what is in its best interest in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions whether the United States agrees or not, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that he agrees with U.S. President Barack Obama's end-of-the-year deadline for progress in efforts to engage Iran diplomatically to resolve dispute over its nuclear program.

In an interview on ABC's "This Week" program, Biden said Israel can determine for itself how best to deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

"We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they're existentially threatened," Biden said.

Netanyahu, who took office in March, has said Israel cannot allow Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons and has not ruled out a possible military strike against Iran.

Israel has said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its existence, noting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls for Israel to be wiped off the map. Iran denies it is enriching uranium for military purposes, saying its nuclear development is aimed at generating electricity.

Israel bombed a site in Syria in 2007 that U.S. intelligence officials said was a nearly completed nuclear reactor being built with North Korean help. In 1981, Israel bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor.

"If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice," Biden said. "But there is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed."

The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions on Tehran for defying its demand to suspend uranium enrichment, which could also be used to produce nuclear weapons.

The United States has joined Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain in inviting Iran to talks to resolve the nuclear dispute.

Israel's Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan said last month a world embargo had altered the course of Tehran's nuclear program since 2003, but that Iran could have an atomic weapon by 2014 unless these steps were intensified.

Israeli FM praises Biden on Iran stand

By Mark Lavie, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jul 6, 2009, 1:38 pm ET

JERUSALEM –

Israel's hard-line foreign minister on Monday welcomed Vice President Joe Biden's statement that Israel can make its own decision about whether to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, calling it "logical."

But other Israeli leaders avoided comment, a low-key reaction that suggested Israel did not see Biden's comments as a green light to strike against its biggest Mideast rival. President Barack Obama underlined that diplomacy with Iran remains an option.

Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear program and long-range missile development, dismissing Iranian denials that it intends to build nuclear weapons. Israel has been nervous over the Obama administration's attempts to engage Iran, and Israel has pointedly sent clear signals of its military capabilities while urging world action to rein in Tehran.

Meanwhile, the U.S. goal of dialogue with Tehran has been rattled by Iran's heavy crackdown on protesters in the country's disputed presidential election, though Washington says it still hopes the policy will bear fruit.

Interviewed by ABC-TV on Sunday, Biden appeared to depart from his previous comment that an Israeli attack on Iran would be "ill-advised."

Asked about the possibility of an Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear facilities, Biden replied Sunday, "Israel can determine for itself — it's a sovereign nation — what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."

The White House said Biden's remarks did not signal a shift in U.S. policy. In an interview published by the New York Times on Monday, President Barak Obama indicated the diplomatic option was still viable. "We have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community," he was quoted as saying.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's response to Biden's comments was relatively measured. "I think he said things that are very logical," he said. "Israel is a sovereign state and at the end of the day, the government of Israel has sole responsibility for its security and future, not anybody else."

"Sometimes there are disputes between friends, but at the end of the day the decision is ours," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has refused to comment, underlining Israel's sensitive position on Iran and on U.S. policy toward Tehran.

Israel, which is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal of its own, says it would likely be targeted by Iran, based on repeated statements by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referring to Israel's destruction.

But even Israeli hawks like Lieberman recognize the limitations of an Israeli strike. Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor in a 1981 airstrike, but experts do not believe Israel can do the same with Iran's nuclear operations, which are spread around the country, some of them hidden and heavily fortified.

Israel would also have to take into account the desires of the U.S., Israel's most important political and military ally.

The top U.S. military officer, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned Sunday of the danger of an Iranian nuclear weapon — and of the fallout from an attack against Iran.

"I worry about it being very destabilizing not just in and of itself but the unintended consequences of a strike like that," he told CBS TV.

Netanyahu has been warning about the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program for years, calling for intensive world action to stop it. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, leader of the dovish Labor Party, speaks frequently of leaving all of Israel's options open.

Israel has sent several military signals to Iran.

This week an Israeli submarine said by foreign experts to have the capability of carrying nuclear-tipped missiles returned to the Mediterranean after crossing to the Red Sea in the direction of Iran, a mission seen as a warning. Also, Israel has held air force maneuvers that were described unofficially as practicing an attack on Iranian targets.

Lieberman, who has advocated radical military responses to a range of challenges over the years, could be expected to beat the drum for an Israeli attack on Iran.

Instead, he has voiced a contrasting concern — that Israel might be expected to do the world's dirty work by hitting Iran, leaving the world community free to criticize Israel afterward, as happened after the attack on Iraq in 1981.

During a visit to Russia, Lieberman said, "We do not intend to bomb Iran, and nobody will solve their problems with our hands."