[Thermalseeker]

Or, if Israel perceives a threat from that direction, they might take action.

I heard a blurb on the news yesterday that we either leased or sold a couple of KC-10 tankers to Israel this past week. Israeli fighter/bombers now have the range to carry out the mission on their own. I think Iran's nuclear program will be gone by years end, at least the stuff we know about.

[keysguy]

It would not be the first time they have helped the world out.

[Tommyjo]

The Israeli's already have Boeing 707s and KC-130s for air-air refuelling. They can also employ buddy-buddy air-to-air refuelling. They have had this capabilty for years. The problems with the strikes on the Iranian facilities is that the Iranians know that they are potential targets for such an attack.

It is common knowledge in the Gulf region amongst the Coalition forces that the Iranians are on high alert. The Iranians have swamped the area with air defences and keep combat air patrols up over the region. The raid maybe potentially costly for the Israeli's if they chose to enter Iranian airspace to conduct the missions. Stand-off capability would be one method to get round this. The Iranians have already threatened to use their Shahab ballistic missiles against Israel if the strike goes ahead.