Israeli TV report shows air force gearing up for Iran attack, says moment of truth is near. A major Israel TV station on Sunday night broadcast a detailed report on how Israel will go about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities in the event that diplomacy and sanctions fail and Israel decides to carry out a military strike. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign up! The report, screened on the main evening news of Channel 10, was remarkable both in terms of the access granted to the reporter, who said he had spent weeks with the pilots and other personnel he interviewed, and in the fact that his assessments on a strike were cleared by the military censor.
No order to strike is likely to be given before the P5+1 talks with Iran resume in May, the reporter, Alon Ben-David, said. “But the coming summer will not only be hot but tense.” Ben-David said the Israel Air Force “does not have the capacity to destroy the entire Iranian program.” Ben-David interviewed several squadron leaders, pilots and other officers. Israel's Secret Staging Ground - By Mark Perry. In 2009, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Baku, Donald Lu, sent a cable to the State Department's headquarters in Foggy Bottom titled "Azerbaijan's discreet symbiosis with Israel. " The memo, later released by WikiLeaks, quotes Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as describing his country's relationship with the Jewish state as an iceberg: "nine-tenths of it is below the surface.
" Why does it matter? Because Azerbaijan is strategically located on Iran's northern border and, according to several high-level sources I've spoken with inside the U.S. government, Obama administration officials now believe that the "submerged" aspect of the Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance -- the security cooperation between the two countries -- is heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran.
In particular, four senior diplomats and military intelligence officers say that the United States has concluded that Israel has recently been granted access to airbases on Iran's northern border. Israel's Secret Staging Ground - By Mark Perry. In 2009, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Baku, Donald Lu, sent a cable to the State Department's headquarters in Foggy Bottom titled "Azerbaijan's discreet symbiosis with Israel. " The memo, later released by WikiLeaks, quotes Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as describing his country's relationship with the Jewish state as an iceberg: "nine-tenths of it is below the surface.
" Why does it matter? Because Azerbaijan is strategically located on Iran's northern border and, according to several high-level sources I've spoken with inside the U.S. government, Obama administration officials now believe that the "submerged" aspect of the Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance -- the security cooperation between the two countries -- is heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran. In particular, four senior diplomats and military intelligence officers say that the United States has concluded that Israel has recently been granted access to airbases on Iran's northern border.
Hamas, Iran coordinate response to Israel strike. Lebanese paper says Haniyeh discussed Hamas' role in case of Israeli strike on Iran with Tehran officials Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal reported Tuesday that the purpose of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al-Zahar's recent visit to Iran was to define Gaza's role in the case Israel attacks Iran's nuclear facilities. Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Haniyeh visited Tehran last February while al-Zahar arrived at the Iranian capital earlier this month. According to the report, the parties discussed the introduction of missiles into the Gaza Strip in preparation for a conflict with Israel, which would enable Hamas to retaliate with rocket fire. Hamas has previously declared it will not take part in a conflict between Israel and Iran.
Related stories: According to the report, Iran pledged to increase financial aid to Gaza and as a first step provided Hamas with $33 million immediately after Haniyeh's visit. Haniyeh and Ahmadinejad (Photo: Reuters) Israelis Grow Confident Strike on Iran’s Nukes Can Work. In 2005, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then Israel’s finance minister, made an official visit to Uganda. For Netanyahu, visits to Uganda are weighted with sadness. It was at the airport in Entebbe that his older brother, Yonatan Netanyahu, was shot dead by a Ugandan soldier. Yonatan was the leader of an Israeli commando team dispatched by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in July 1976 to rescue Jewish hostages held by pro-Palestinian terrorists. The terrorists had diverted an Air France flight to Uganda, where the then-dictator, the infamous Idi Amin, gave them refuge. The raid was a near-total success.
The hijackers were all killed, along with dozens of Ugandan soldiers posted to the airport by Amin to protect the terrorists. Only three hostages died; 102 were rescued. In his 2005 visit, Benjamin Netanyahu was welcomed by the current president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, who was an anti-Amin guerilla leader at the time of the Entebbe raid. Unclothe the Emperor All-out War. CIA, Mossad Agree That Iran is Not Pursuing Nuclear Weapons. Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, agrees with the American intelligence assessments, even while Israeli political leaders have been pushing for quick, aggressive action to block Iran from becoming what they describe as an existential threat to the Jewish state. “Their people ask very hard questions, but Mossad does not disagree with the U.S. on the weapons program,” said one former senior American intelligence official, who, like others for this article, would speak only on the condition of anonymity about classified information.
“There is not a lot of dispute between the U.S. and Israeli intelligence communities on the facts.” In trying to evaluate the potential perils of Iran’s nuclear program, the United States’ spy agencies have spent years trying to track its efforts to enrich uranium and develop missile technology, and watching for any move toward weaponization — designing and building a bomb. The United States and Israel share intelligence on Iran, American officials said. Israel asks U.S. for arms that could aid Iran strike. US offered Israel advanced weaponry in exchange for delaying Iran attack: report. WASHINGTON — The US offered to give Israel advanced weaponry — including bunker-busting bombs and refueling planes — in exchange for Israel’s agreement not to attack Iranian nuclear sites, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported Thursday.
President Obama reportedly made the offer during Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week. Under the proposed deal, Israel would not attack Iran until 2013, after US elections in November this year. The newspaper cited unnamed Western diplomatic and intelligence sources. Netanyahu said Monday that sanctions against Iran had not worked, adding that “none of us can afford to wait much longer” in taking action against Iran’s controversial nuclear program. However, Netanyahu told FOX News Channel on Wednesday that he did not think war with Iran was inevitable. “The paradox is that if they actually believe that they are going to face the military option, then you probably will not need the military option,” Netanyahu said. Southern Exposure: Iran, Terror Groups Setting Up Shop in South America - DOTMIL. Iran and Middle East-based extremist groups are stepping up their activities in South America, aiming to make friends and score cash, a senior U.S. military official says.
Tehran intends to build military drones in Washington's backyard for the Venezuelan military led by Hugo Chavez, U.S. Southern Command chief Gen. Douglas Fraser told reporters Wednesday during a breakfast meeting in Washington. Pressed by DOTMIL about the unmanned aerial vehicles' capabilities, Fraser dubbed it "a fairly limited-capacity UAV. " "I would put it in the Scan Eagle class of UAV," Fraser said. [Photo Gallery: Iran Flexes Military Muscle in Persian Gulf.]
The Southern Command chief was referring to two U.S. Fraser said it's unclear what kinds of missions Venezuelan officials will send the Iranian drones. His best guess? In, 2006, Israeli officials said they shot down at least three Iran-backed Hezbollah drones during a war in Lebanon. So what is Tehran up to? [U.S. Israel’s Channel 2: U.S. Officials Believe Netanyahu Has Already Decided to Strike Iran# Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday.
Photo: Israel PM Office. Channel 2 in Israel, sourcing a “senior American official”, says that the decision has already been made by the Israeli government to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. “All U.S. intelligence officials are confident the Israeli leadership has already decided to attack Iran, unless a significant change happens in the coming weeks or months with the Iranian nuclear program,” Channel 2 reports. The report comes just hours ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC in Washington. AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and is widely considered the most powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the United States. American officials have warned their Israeli counterparts about a regional war following an attack on Iran, along with the collapse of Israel’s stock market and an arms race in the Middle East, according to the report.
Oil leaps to highest level since mid-2008. Iran’s underground nuclear sites not immune to U.S. bunker-busters, experts say. U.S. officials say they have no imminent plan to bombard the site, and they have cautioned that an American attack — or one by its closest Middle Eastern ally, Israel — risks devastating consequences such as soaring oil prices, Iranian retaliation and dramatically heightened tension in a fragile region. Yet as a matter of physics, Fordow is far more vulnerable than generally portrayed, said current and former military and intelligence analysts. Massive new “bunker buster” munitions recently added to the U.S. arsenal would not necessarily have to penetrate the deepest bunkers to cause irreparable damage to infrastructure as well as highly sensitive nuclear equipment, probably setting back Iran’s program by years, officials said.
The weapons’ capabilities are likely to be a factor in discussions with a stream of Israeli leaders arriving in Washington over the next week. ‘How many turns do you get?’ The U.S. To U.S. military planners, a “zone of immunity,” if it exists at all, is years away. Russia upgrades radar station in Syria to aid Iran. JERUSALEM — Russia has upgraded a surveillance station it maintains in Syrian territory in order to provide Iran early warning of an Israeli attack, according to the Israeli security-related blog Debkafile.
The surveillance station, located south of Damascus, had been able to monitor air traffic in Israel as far south as Tel Aviv, as well as northern Jordan and western Iraq. Since the upgrade, its range reportedly extends to all parts of Israel and Jordan and as far south as the northern part of Saudi Arabia. According to the report, Russia has introduced cutting-edge technology to the station and expanded its manpower. Russia has taken a firm stand against any military attack on Iran or any attempt to force Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said this week that Russia is concerned about the threat of an attack against Iran. “If it happens, the fallout would be truly catastrophic,” he said, also warning that any outside attempt to displace Mr.
Israel faces resistance over Iran strike. IRAN: US/Israeli False Flag Attack May Be Underway. Several warnings of an imminent “false flag” attack by the Israeli-influenced United States on one of its own warships, which will be attributed to Iran, have been reported by several reliable sources. In recent years “false-flag” terrorism has been utilized multiple times by US and Israeli political actors to provide pretexts for otherwise unjustifiable, anti-Islamic military excursions. The plan is to justify an all-out assault on Iran based upon a new fabricated “Pearl Harbor”. Israel is the primary motivator behind the attempts to destabilize Iran. US traditional foreign policy was one of attempting to foster stability in the Middle East for oil markets.
Thus, since the fraudulent events of 9/11, we’ve seen a policy of Middle East disintegration being pursued by Israeli-influenced American politicians. Perry asserts: “[an] Iranian attack on an American military vessel will serve as a justification and a pretext for a retaliatory move by the US military against the Iranian regime.” Israel, Kurdish fighters destroyed Iran nuclear facility, email released by WikiLeaks claims. Putin: Iran nuclear issue must be settled peacefully. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said the consequences of a military strike against Iran would be disastrous.
If Iran cooperates, sanctions must be lifted, Putin saysWestern sanctions target Iran's financial and oil sectorsNow the prime minister, Putin is running for president againThis would be Putin's third term as president (CNN) -- The consequences of a military strike against Iran would be disastrous, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wrote in a wide-ranging editorial Monday. "Russia is worried about the growing threat of a military strike against Iran," Putin said in an editorial carried by the RIA Novosti news agency. "If this happens, the consequences will be disastrous.
It is impossible to imagine the true scope of this turn of events. " The former Russian president, who is running for the post again, said he's convinced the issue must be settled by peaceful means. Explain it to me: Iran Nuclear site Iran wants to keep hidden Vladimir Putin's rise to power. Iran prepares for kamikaze attacks. Text smaller Text bigger Even as it continued to talk with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Iran continued to prepare for war over its nuclear weapons program, training for kamikaze attacks in the Persian Gulf with both planes and speedboats, sources within the Iranian armed forces report. Tuesday the International Atomic Energy Agency called its recent talks with Iran a failure.
And just days before, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the Revolutionary Guards, along with the army, on high alert, ready with conventional and unconventional means to respond to any aggression by the U.S. or Israel over its nuclear weapons program, the sources say. The Guards’ missile commanders, in their preparation for a fierce counterattack, have mapped out all U.S. bases in the region to strike with their missiles in order to disrupt America’s air sorties, believing they will be the main thrust of any attack by America. Iran, Lebanon talk defence ties, slam Israel. 'US to announce aerial blockade on Syria' US readies for possibility of intervention without UN resolution, Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing US military official; plan to include humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees on Turkey's border The Pentagon is readying for the possibility of intervention in Syria, aiming to halt Syrian President Bashsar Assad's violent crackdown on protesters, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing a US military offical.
According to the official, the intervention scenario calls for the establishment of a buffer zone on the Turkish border, in order to receive Syrian refugees. The Red Cross would then provide the civilians humanitarian aid, before NATO crews would arrive from Turkey and join the efforts. Related articles: The measure would pave the way for the US to declare an aerial blockade on Syria. The intercession is to be modeled after NATO's efforts in Kosovo, which brought an end to the Serbian control of the region.
'Iran ready to wipe Israel off the map' Iran uncooperative, International Atomic Energy Agency says. Iran. Iran suspends oil exports to France, UK. Will Iran tensions lead to war? Iran threatens pre-emptive action against 'enemies' - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Iran. News Headlines. Iran stops oil sales to British, French companies. US officials believe Iran sanctions will fail, making military action likely | World news.