As If We Did Not Have Enough Problems: Israel Once Again Hinting That It May Launch Preemptive Airstrike on Iranian Nuclear Installations

Israel mulls preemptive attack on Iran as nuclear talks falter

Cheryl K. Chumley

Washington Times, November 24, 2014

The deadline for the P5+1 powers and Iran to reach a deal on nuclear power is Monday, but Israel — hardly confident — is starting to talk about a preemptive strike as the only logical solution.

The P5+1 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany.

"Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of a crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit," unnamed government sources said in an article in The Jerusalem Post.

The plan on the P5+1 table now would limit Iran’s nuclear program for the next decade and put a cap on its ability to make any type of weapons-grade material, the Post reported.

Iran would have to give all of its existing stock of weapons-grade materials to Russia for conversion into a peaceful use and also agree to inspections, Newsmax said.

But Israel isn’t satisfied with that agreement, with one official noting in the Post report that “our intelligence agencies are not perfect.”

The official also said that “inspection regimes are certainly not perfect. They weren’t in the case in North Korea and it isn’t the case now — Iran’s been giving the [International Atomic Energy Agency] the run around for years about its past activities,” the Post reported.

Israel’s biggest worry with the deal now facing the P5+1 is the “sunset clause,” the Post reported.

"You’ve not dismantled the infrastructure, you’ve basically tried to put limits that you think are going to be monitored by inspectors and intelligence," the Israeli official said, to the Post. "And then after this period of time, Iran is basically free to do whatever it wants."

The White House says that’s not true — that “following successful implementation of the final step of the comprehensive solution for its duration, the Iranian nuclear program will be treated in the same manner as that of any non-nuclear weapon state party to the [Non-Proliferation Treaty] — with an emphasis on non-nuclear weapon,” in an email to the Post.

But Israel might take stronger steps now, the Post reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has actually sought to take military force against Iran several times since 2009 — and even asked for the OK from his cabinet in 2011, the Post said.

The Associated Press, meanwhile, reported that the United States is seeking to extend the deadline for talks.