Is Iran Blinking?
I don’t know how accurate this article in the Times of London is, but if true, the Iran/Israel rhetorical battle is reaching the crisis stage:
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed.
The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations.
Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern.
The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran.
A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: “What next?” That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said.
Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the “point of no return” after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years.
“Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.”
…The date set for possible Israeli strikes on Iran also coincides with Israel’s general election on March 28, prompting speculation that Sharon may be sabre-rattling for votes.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the frontrunner to lead Likud into the elections, said that if Sharon did not act against Iran, “then when I form the new Israeli government, we’ll do what we did in the past against Saddam’s reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquillity”.
The entire article is a must…
There are signs, however, that Iran may be beginning to blink:
Iran opened the door Sunday for U.S. help in building a nuclear power plant — a move designed to ease American suspicions that Tehran is using its nuclear program as a cover to build atomic weapons.
The offer, which did not seem likely to win acceptance in Washington, was issued as Israel said it had not ruled out a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
…While it was unclear how the Americans would react to the Iranian proposal, relations between Tehran and Washington, which were severed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, have seldom been worse. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, preventing American companies from doing business in Iran.
The United States also has ratcheted up pressure against Iran, accusing it of pursuing a nuclear weapons program and supporting anti-Israeli militants. Iran says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity.
Still, the United States is pushing for Tehran to be hauled before the U.N. Security Council, where it could face economic sanctions for violating a nuclear arms control treaty.
I have no doubt Israel means what it says – and I’m sure Tehran is equally confident of Israeli resolve. It appears that movement on this story will be rapid…this one could move to the frontburner very, very quickly…
You’re convinced of Israeli resolve, as am I. And I’d bet that Iran is most worrried about Israel’s reaction than that of any other country.
Now, I wonder why that is? Could it be that the Israelis say what they mean, and mean what they say? Could it be that they know that moral correctness isn’t a popularity contest?
All Things Beautiful TrackBack ‘ If Israel Is The Tumor Then Iran Is The Metastasizing Cancer’:
“If “Israel is the tumor”, according to the hysterical and deranged Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then Iran is the cancer, and it’s metastasizing….Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations….”
Fascinating article (the London Times one) on many levels.
Interesting gem: “Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA.”
Just think about everything packed into that sentence. It’s enough to give me hope that everything’s going to work out in the end.
The Iranians offered the US bidding on construction because they believe that the US represents the greedy Satan figure they demonize us with.
That means they think they can bribe us into looking the other way.
That says some disturbing things to me… They DO believe they are still fighting the crusades, they DO believe that the US is the Great Satan, they DO believe that Satan is greedy enough to be bought off, and they DO believe they will be successful in isolating Israel to destroy it.
What really bothers me is that even some idiot republicans might go for it, if not as fast as the democrats.
i seriously doubt USA allow such an attack with its troops next door at the mercy of shities in Iraq.If you think insurgency is bad ,wait till shities join the party.The most logical option is a nuclear-free zone in middle east Israel included.
Cyrus, with all due respect, Israel will never disarm, nor should they. It is Israel that is surrounded by enemies that swear to drive them into the sea, not the reverse. Israel has had nukes for years and years, and no one doubts they are for a defensive deterrent – could you say the same about Iran?…
A Nuclear Free Zone? Hey, they’ve got one of those not far from my neighborhood, near Oak Park, IL. No doubt that’ll prevent those nasty terrorists from trying to blow up anything there, eh?