Maybe, but I still dont see Obama as having what it takes to move against Syria. I think the action against Libya was a one time thing-perhaps motivated by the need to protect his friends and allies in Europe who needed Libyan oil, who knows ? It’s just that I cant possibly see Obama as doing something like giving authorization to level Syria. And it just gets more unlikely, again, that Israel would strike because of what they think Iran might do as Syria falls. As it is, Israel was pushing the limit on what level of initiative it can take in 67, even though it was perfectly necessary for Israel to do that.
And as far as announcing the Iranian plan against the Saudi embassy ? Well I doubt that means a lot. Like it or loathe it-needless to say I loathe it-diplomatically the US and Saudi Arabia are still very close so it would be natural to announce a plot like that regardless of what happened.
In any event, I do think one good thing is that while Europe of course would come down on Israel, in the unlikely event of a strike, they would quite possibly have support from unlikely places. Sunni Arab states for example, terrified of a nuclear Shiite Iran dominating the Middle East, would ultimately not have too many qualms with this.
In any event, I imagine the strike would be somewhat like this one : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera
That is about the limit of what Israel could conceivably get away with. And only if they know they can do it without starting a full scare war. Because I really dont know if Israel can afford a definite full scael war with Iran, which would of course spill out over the whole Middle East, over what they think Iran might do in 5 or 10 or more years from now.
If it happens it won’t be an exclusively Israeli production.
All the Basij will know is,”...they’re here, and the world as we know it is ending, violently...”.
Once it does, the smack talking former mayor of Tehran
may share the fate of all those senior Shah-ist officers executed by the Ayatollah Khomeini.