Perilous
Times
Iran's supreme leader vows to confront 'cancerous tumour' of
Israel
Iran's supreme leader vowed to confront and defeat the "cancerous
tumour" of Israel on Friday as international concern grew of a
pre-emptive Israeli strike on the Islamic regime's nuclear
installations as early as this April.
Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
By Alex Spillius
9:28PM GMT 03 Feb 2012
In a two-hour televised speech, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei defied
international sanctions aimed at his country's suspected atomic
weapons agenda and promised to retaliate if Israel or the United
States opted for military action.
His threats of retaliation came as Leon Panetta, the US defence
secretary, reportedly said that there was a "strong likelihood" of
Israel launching a unilateral strike against Iranian nuclear
facilities in "April, May or June".
Amid signs of a growing rift between Israel and Washington over
the use of military force to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, Mr
Panetta said: "Israel has indicated they're considering this, and
we have indicated our concerns".
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes Iran's
programme is entering an "immunity zone" which will put crucial
elements of it deep underground beyond the reach of Israel's
bunker-busting bombs unless his country acts.
Western allies are worried that the international coalition built
to impose tougher sanctions on Iran could be wrecked by an Israeli
air raid against Iran's nuclear facilities, which Tehran insists
are for peaceful purposes.
It would probably prompt immediate retaliation against Israel by
Iran or its proxies in the Middle East, and if major population
centres in Israel were hit, the US could then be drawn into a
conflict in defence of its close ally, sparking a new Middle East
conflict.
With the drumbeats of war growing louder from Tel Aviv, Ayatollah
Khamenei yesterday referred to Israel as a "cancerous tumour that
should be cut and will be cut", a comment illustrative of his
country's historic antipathy to the Jewish state.
"From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts
the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no
fear expressing this," said the ayatollah, speaking to mark the
anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah.
He also offered a rare affirmation of the open secret that Iran
assists the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.
"We have intervened in anti-Israel matters, and it brought victory
in the 33-day war by Hezbollah against Israel in 2006, and in the
22-day war" between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, he said.
Any statement by the Supreme Leader, who has final say on all
matters of state, makes it more unlikely that Tehran will switch
tack.
But Britain and the US, while maintaining the line that "no option
is off the table" regarding Iran, are united in trying to persuade
the Israelis to wait for sanctions to affect Iran's posture.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The UK is working 100 percent
towards a diplomatic solution and we remain committed to a dual
track policy of pressure and engagement."
Though some military and intelligence chiefs in Israel favour
caution, the patience of Mr Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the defence
minister, is running out.
"Whoever says 'later' may find that later is too late," Mr Barak
said at a security conference in Israel.
He added: "Today as opposed to in the past, there is wide world
understanding that in the event that sanctions won't reach the
intended result of stopping the military nuclear program, there
will be need to consider action."
In perhaps the most startling instance of sabre-rattling so far,
Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon, who heads the strategic affairs
ministry and is a former commander of the military, said all of
Iran's nuclear installations were vulnerable to military strikes.
His comments however appeared to contradict the assessments of
foreign experts and Israeli defence officials who regard the
uranium enrichment facility at Qom as too deep underground to be
hit effectively from the air. The site near the ancient holy city
is where the Iranians have begun purifying low enriched uranium
towards weapons-grade level.
Israeli plans for air strikes are already in place. They
reportedly envisage a five-day barrage that would attack the
uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz, other nuclear-related
installations and military sites.
Retaliation would most probably come first across Israel's
northern border from Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon.
Some Israeli planners however hold the view that the response
would not necessarily be overwhelming, as the unpopular regime in
Tehran would fear for its survival if drawn into an all-out war.
Dennis Ross, a former White House adviser on the Middle East, said
that although the regime would try to use an Israeli air strike to
rally domestic support it might be disappointed.
If a strike was "really surgical and only going after nuclear
weapons capability", he said, "given the high level of alienation
there they could exploit it for a little while but in the long
term I doubt it".