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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have “almost finally” decided on an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities this fall, and a final decision will be taken “soon,” Israel’s main TV news broadcast reported on Friday evening. Channel 2 News, the country’s leading news program, devoted much of its Friday night broadcast to the issue, detailing the pros and cons that, it said, have taken Netanyahu and Barak to the brink of approving an Israeli military attack despite opposition from the Obama administration and from many Israeli security chiefs. Critically, the station’s diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal said,...

Dateline: Tel Aviv, sometime in the next six weeks From this moment the State of Israel declares a state of war exists between the State of Israel and the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Because Israel views the threats by the government of the IRI in conjunction with its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and means of delivery as existential threats, Israel will take all actions necessary, specifically including unilateral and preemptive military action, to protect its citizens from the threats posed by representatives of the government of the IRI and to assure Israel's continued survival. To minimize...

Barack Obama is fond of insisting that he "has Israel's back." Maybe he should mention that to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In remarks to journalists in London quoted by the Guardian, General Martin Dempsey warned that any Israeli attack on Iran would "clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran's nuclear programs." He also said economic sanctions on Iran were having an effect and needed more time to work, but that the good they were doing "could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is determined to attack Iran before the US elections,” Israel’s Channel 10 News claimed on Monday night, and Israel is now “closer than ever” to a strike designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive. The TV station’s military reporter Alon Ben-David, who earlier this year was given extensive access to the Israel Air Force as it trained for a possible attack, reported that, since upgraded sanctions against Iran have failed to force a suspension of the Iranian nuclear program in the past two months, “from the prime minister’s point of view, the time for action is getting...

In Israel this week, people are lining up for gas masks, a new Homeland Defense has been set to work to deal with the task of readying the country for the possibility of attacks from Iran, Lebanon and Gaza, and pundits are working overtime trying to figure out whether the nation’s political leadership is serious about launching a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities sometime this fall. Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, is doing his best to convince Americans that the saber-rattling coming out Jerusalem is not a bluff aimed at forcing the West to toughen sanctions on...

Israeli PM Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Ehud Barak may be on the verge of making a decision to attack Iran against the views of many in their own country and abroad. ... the Israeli leadership may feel compelled to act, because of its concerns regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, and because rhetoric has boxed the leaders in: they either strike or look like they have been crying wolf. Of course, many view the noise from Israel as a ploy aimed at ensuring the preferred option: an American strike (and that ploy is working); however, many keen observers of Israel believe...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu got into a diplomatic shouting match with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro over US President Barack Obama's handling of Iran's nuclear program, saying "time has run out" for diplomacy, Yediot Aharonot cited a source as saying on Friday.

The U.S. military's top officer made statements Thursday which appear to warn Israel that it should not expect U.S. assistance if it chooses to attack Iran's nuclear weapons program. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said such an attack would "clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran's nuclear program," The Guardian reported Thursday. He added: "I don't want to be complicit if they [Israel] choose to do it." Dempsey said he did not know Iran's nuclear intentions, seeing as intelligence does not reveal intentions. What was clear, he said, was that the "international coalition" applying pressure...

A US-Israeli ballistic missile exercise postponed until this autumn will involve fewer US military personnel than initially planned, the Pentagon said on Friday, but it rejected a media report portraying the decision as a sign of US mistrust. The exercise is being planned amid rising war talk in the Israeli media and reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are debating a unilateral attack on Iran to knock out its nuclear installations. Washington has cautioned Israel against going it alone. .... Time magazine reported on Friday that initially about 5,000 US troops were planned to be...

Seven months ago, Israel and the United States postponed a massive joint military exercise that was originally set to go forward just as concerns were brimming that Israel would launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The exercise was rescheduled for late October, and appears likely to go forward on the cusp of the U.S. presidential election. But it won’t be nearly the same exercise. Well-placed sources in both countries have told TIME that Washington has greatly reduced the scale of U.S. participation, slashing by more than two-thirds the number of American troops going to Israel and reducing both the...

The largest-circulation newspaper in the United States, the Wall Street Journal, has penned a scathing editorial against the Obama Administration's handling of the crisis with Iran, saying that its attitude is pushing the Jewish state to strike Iran on its own. Following Gen. Martin Dempsey's statement that "I don’t want to be complicit" if Israel chooses to attack Iran, the Journal writes acidly: ”We don’t know what exactly Gen. Dempsey thinks American non-complicity might entail in the event of a strike. Should the Administration refuse to resupply Israel with jets and bombs, or condemn an Israeli strike at the U.N.?...

US Gen. Martin Dempsey’s assertion Thursday, Aug. 30 that the US would not be “complicit” in an Israel strike against Iran, together with the drastic reduction in the scale of next month’s joint US-Israeli war game disclosed by TIME, add up to a blunt message from US President Barack Obama to Israel: You are on your own! See how you manage without special US weapons and US military backup, including a shield against missile counter-attack, if you decide to defy us and go through with a military operation against Iran. Instead of the 5,000 US troops originally assigned for Austere...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly shouted "Time has run out!" at U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro, as the two met in Israel earlier this week and discussed the Obama administration's position on Iran. The Jerusalem Post reported that Shapiro was in Israel for meetings with Netanyahu, and at some point the PM couldn't hold his frustration with President Obama in any longer: "Instead of pressuring Iran in an effective way, Obama and his people are pressuring us not to attack the nuclear facilities." Those present say Netanyahu then said assertively: "Time has run out!" Shapiro responded by alleging that Netanyahu...

Barack Obama is fond of insisting that he "has Israel's back." Maybe he should mention that to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. In remarks to journalists in London quoted by the Guardian, General Martin Dempsey warned that any Israeli attack on Iran would "clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran's nuclear programs." He also said economic sanctions on Iran were having an effect and needed more time to work, but that the good they were doing "could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely." And to underscore the firmness of his opposition to an Israeli strike, the Chairman added...

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT — US military chief General Martin Dempsey denounced ex-officers Tuesday for waging a campaign against President Barack Obama, arguing that soldiers had a duty to stay above the political fray. Wading into a potential minefield during a hotly contested White House race, Dempsey voiced his disapproval of a group of retired military members and CIA officers who have accused Obama of spilling sensitive national security details to help secure his re-election. Asked if the group's criticism was valid or useful, Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would not comment on...

US Senator John McCain backed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week in a growing divergence of views with Washington on how to confront Iran's nuclear program. On Tuesday, Netanyahu charged that US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey was "unwilling to aid Israel" in ensuring Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Netanyahu added that Dempsey's assertion a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be "destabilizing” for peace talks and “not prudent” for America’s efforts "served the Iranians." Siding with Netanyahu, McCain told reporters in Jerusalem “There should be no daylight between America and Israel in...

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that the United States can successfully attack Iran, if necessary. His biggest worry is that Iran will "miscalculate our resolve. Dempsey, speaking to CNN during a worldwide tour, spoke one day after Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that the American government will not allow Iran to produce a nuclear weapon. He said that if Iran continues to enrich high-grade uranium, it could produce a nuclear weapon within a year, an estimate formerly given by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. "My biggest worry is they [Iran] will miscalculate...

Top U.S. General: Military option on Iran 'executable if necessary' In an interview with CNN, General Martin Dempsey says miscalculation may draw the country into a prolonged conflict, which would be 'a tragedy for the region and the world.' By Haaretz Published 09:12 21.12.11 Latest update 09:12 21.12.11 The United States is capable of carrying out a military strike on Iran, according to U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey. In an interview with CNN, Dempsey stated that a military option would be "executable if necessary", but warned that the United States should not “miscalculate” its...

President Barack Obama moved Monday to complete an overhaul of the national security apparatus, selecting Army Gen. Martin Dempsey as his new Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman amid a winding down of the war in Iraq, protracted battle in Afghanistan and American assistance to the NATO-led effort against Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. Obama announced a new lineup of his top military leadership group in the Rose Garden of the White House just before venturing across the Potomac to pay tribute to the nation's war dead at Arlington National Cemetery. The Memorial Day announcements had been expected, although there was no immediate...

WASHINGTON — One of the Army's most Iraq-savvy generals is taking charge, at least temporarily, of arguably the most important command in the U.S. military, with responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a ceremony Friday at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey is to assume command of U.S. Central Command from Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, who announced unexpectedly on March 11 that he was quitting. Fallon cited press reports that he was at odds with President Bush over Iran policy. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has denied that Fallon was out of step...