End Times Watch 180
U.S. seeks to delay, not block Israeli plans to strike Iran nukes sites
End Times Watch 180 - U.S. seeks to delay, not block Israeli plans to strike Iran nukes sites - www.geostrategy-direct.com
WASHINGTON — Western diplomatic sources said the administration of President Barack Obama has quietly ended open opposition to an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. They said the administration, which already reviewed military options against Iran, has instead focused on military and intelligence coordination with Israel as well as reducing dangers of a global oil crisis.
"Israel has to make its own decisions," Anthony Blinken, a White House security official, said. "We are not in the business of telling our allies and partners what to do when it comes to their own national security." End times watch.
In an address to the Israel Policy Forum, Blinken was said to express the new administration policy. Blinken, the national security adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden, said Israel and the United States were in close coordination regarding Iran and did not rule out a surprise for the Teheran regime.
"It [administration policy] is about buying time and continuing to move this problem into the future," Blinken said. "And if you can do that strange things can happen in the interim. You never know."
The diplomats said the administration's new policy continued to caution publicly against any attack on Iran. But in private meetings, they said, U.S. officials and diplomats were discussing war scenarios on the assumption that Israel was prepared to destroy Iran's nuclear infrastructure by the end of the year. End times watch.
"I got the sense that Israel is incredibly serious about a strike on their nuclear weapons program," House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers said in a U.S. television interview. "It's their calculus that the administration is not serious about a real military consequence to Iran moving forward. They believe they're going to have to make a decision on their own, given the current posture of the United States."
Rogers returned from a visit to Israel in late February and met Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak discussed Iran with administration officials while Netanyahu planned his meeting with Obama on March 5.
"We are committed, as Israel is, to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Feb. 29. "We do, however, believe that there is time and space to pursue diplomacy." End times watch.
A report by Israel's leading strategic center, the Institute for National Security Studies, asserted that Washington could have dropped its opposition to an Israeli attack on Iran. In a report by Israeli analyst Zaki Shalom, the institute cited statements by Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who assessed that Israel could strike Teheran as early as April.
"These statements reflect a different attitude, in terms of phrasing and general tone, than the one characterizing American official pronouncements in recent months," said the report, "The U.S. on an Israeli Military Strike against Iran: A Change in Position?"
Shalom, regarded as close to the Israeli government, said Obama and Panetta appeared to have ended efforts to persuade Israel to support international sanctions on Iran. He said the Israeli leadership was interpreting the new U.S. tone as a "certain loosening of the reins on Israel should it decide to attack Iran, even if the statements were not intended as such."
On Feb. 18, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stressed that he was not urging Israel against an attack on Iran. Dempsey, who recently held talks with the Israeli leadership, told the Senate Budget Committee that he has sought to coordinate with Jerusalem. End times watch.
"We've had a conversation with them about time, the issue of time," Dempsey said.
The diplomats said the new administration policy was not meant to encourage an Israeli attack, particularly over the next few months. But they said the administration preferred to play down differences with Israel amid growing support in Congress for the destruction of Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities.
"People are giving Israel a lot of advice here lately from America," Sen. Lindsay Graham, who introduced a resolution against a U.S. containment policy of a nuclear Iran, said. "I just want to tell our Israeli friends that my advice to you is never lose control of your destiny. Never allow a situation to develop that would destroy the Jewish state." End times watch.
Return FROM: End Times Watch 180 TO: Home
