Posted on 04/07/2010 9:34:30 AM PDT by Strategy
Israel will be compelled to attack Iran's nuclear weapons facilities by this November unless the U.S. and its allies enact "crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran," former deputy defense minister Brig. Gen. Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv.
The sanctions currently being discussed with Russia, China, and other major powers at the United Nations are likely to be a slightly-enhanced version of the U.N. sanctions already in place, which have had no impact on the Iranian regime.
And despite unanimous passage of the Iran Petroleum Sanctions act in January, the Obama administration continues to resist efforts by Congress to impose mandatory sanctions on companies selling refined petroleum products to Iran.
In an Op-Ed in the Israeli left-wing daily, Haaretz, Sneh argues that Iran will probably have "a nuclear bomb or two" by 2011.
"An Israeli military campaign against Iran's nuclear installations is likely to cripple that country's nuclear project for a number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but bearable."
Sneh believes that the "acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama's term would do him a great deal of political damage," but that the damage to Obama resulting from an Israeli strike on Iran "would be devastating."
Nevertheless, he writes, "for practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions, Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which means it would have to act around the congressional elections in November, thereby sealing Obama's fate as president."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I would be surprised if Saudi or any Muslim country ever would provide war materiel of any variety, and especially advanced weapons systems, to Israel to dispose of Iran. Iraq is also Shi’ite and it shares a border with Iran.
It would need to be stealth to not get Iraq excited.
I definitely agree with you that it had better be stealth.
Imagining an Israeli Strike on Iran. [NYT]
Not too far off your evaluation. The powers that be are conditioning the nation's psyche for this inevitability. I'm anticipating this going down sooner than November.
Eerie, isn’t it?
If the emirates/israel/us could pull off a defended bridgehead and eventual client state on the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf in the vicinity of Bandar, I think it would tame the Iranian nuclear beast without the need to conquer the entire nation.
The client state would have total air superiority and easy access to any Iranian target.
Less talk, more do.
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