"While they are passing through the designated Iraqi air corridor we will need to send up our tankers and quietly refuel them as at this moment they (Israelis) do not have the capability to do a "there and back" strike without refueling, nor do they have any refueling tankers in their inventory."
Think geography....what is on the other side of Iran? Afghanistan.
If Israel used an old Soviet airbase there for a refuel and rearm, they could strike coming and going. If they did it covertly, we could deny knowledge of the base.
I did. Interestingly enough its about the same distance Tehran to Baghram Afghanistan as it is Israel to Tehran.
Roughly 1000 miles each leg. The distance from Tehran to the Afghan border is deceptive. It a lot longer than my "minds eye" had it.
This from an Israeli Defence Force site: " In addition, the cockpit of the F-16I has been expanded to provide for the addition of an onboard weapons officer situated behind the pilot. It has a 820 non-refueling radius of operation."
http://www.israeli-weapons.com/israeli_weapons.html
The 820 figure isn't specified as km or mi - but since other references are to miles - I assume its 820 miles. So 1640 mi range looks a bit dicy to go 2,000!! Its not clear if that is before addition of the "conformal fuselage tanks" and bigger underwing tanks. Maybe the IDF wants to keep Ahmadinejad guessing.