Israel rehearses strike on Iran nuclear sites
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israel rehearses strike on Iran nuclear sites*
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 2:44AM BST 21/06/2008
Israel has carried out a full rehearsal of an air assault on Iran's
nuclear sites involving scores of aircraft, American officials have said.
Israel rehearses attack on Iran:
As many as 100 F16 and F15 warplanes were involved in flying long-range
missions as part of the operation
While Israeli officials remained silent on the matter today, sources in
Washington at the Pentagon and other US government agencies confirmed
that the exercise was staged two weeks ago over the eastern Mediterranean.
The target of the exercise was 900 miles from Israel, roughly the same
distance as Iran's nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.
A Pentagon official told the New York Times the exercise was
deliberately designed by Israel to send a clear signal about the
seriousness of its intentions towards Iran.
"They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they
wanted the Iranians to know," the official said.
"There's a lot of signalling going on at different levels."
As many as 100 F16 and F15 warplanes were involved in flying long-range
missions supported by air refuelling tankers. They were alongside
specially configured Israeli helicopters with long-range fuel tanks
which practised rescuing downed combat aircrew.
The exercise, in the first week of June, came as President George W Bush
and Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, both used the same language in
public to put pressure on Tehran, saying that a nuclear Iran was
"unacceptable".
No Israeli attack mission would be possible without the tacit approval
of Washington as it controls the airspace – over Iraq – through which
Israeli planes would have to fly on a direct attack path.
Having created so much domestic political opposition with the US-led
attack on Iraq, President Bush is unlikely to be able to cobble together
in the last seven months of his presidency the necessary support at home
for a US-led attack.
But an Israeli-led attack, tacitly allowed by US commanders responsible
for Iraqi airspace, is something that would not need domestic American
political support.
Israel has twice acted by itself to stop its regional enemies developing
a nuclear capability, in Syria last year and Iraq in the 1980s.
Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East, a monopoly it
wishes to maintain especially as its enemies in the Islamic world, most
significantly Iran, regard the Jewish state as an anathema.
Asked to comment on reports of the rehearsal exercise, the Israeli
military issued a statement saying only its air force "regularly trains
for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed
by the threats facing Israel."
The Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev offered no comment beyond
the military's statement.
The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said he prefers that Iran's
nuclear ambitions be halted by diplomatic means, but has pointedly
declined to rule out military action.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published on
Wednesday, Mr Olmert said the current international sanctions against
Iran would probably not succeed alone, saying there were "many things
that can be done economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily."
Asked if Israel was capable of taking military action against Iran, Mr
Olmert said, "Israel always has to be in a position to defend itself
against any adversary and against any threat of any kind."
The reaction in Iran to reports of the exercise was one of defiance.
"If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United
States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured
that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," Ayatollah Ahmad
Khatami, a senior cleric, said in his weekly prayers sermon held on Friday.
Ayatollah Khatami, whose speech was broadcast live on state radio,
stressed that the Iranian nation's mentality was "to fight foreigners".
"Given this mentality, if you make a hostile look at the Islamic Iran,
you will witness such a united roar by our nation that it will
definitely make you regret any vicious move forever," the conservative
cleric added.