U.S. Criticizes Report Israel Likely To Attack Iran
WASHINGTON, Jul. 1, 2008 (Reuters) — The U.S. State Department on Tuesday criticized reported comments by a senior defense official who said there was an increasing likelihood Israel would attack Iran over its nuclear program.
The unidentified U.S. defense official told ABC News it was increasingly likely Israel would attack Iran, prompting retaliation against both Israel and the United States.
“I have no information that would substantiate that, and I think it’s rather foolish of people who often have no clue what they’re talking about to assert things and not even have the courtesy to do so on the basis of their name,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
The defense official told ABC News one red line that could trigger an Israeli offensive would be when Iran’s nuclear facility had produced enough enriched uranium to create an atomic weapon. That could happen in 2009 or later this year, ABC News reported, citing U.S. and Israeli intelligence assessments.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said “I don’t comment for Israel” when asked about the ABC News report.
“We are going to address the concerns that we have with Iran diplomatically and with international organizations that can bring some pressure to bear on this issue,” he said. “That is the focus of the U.S. effort.”
Asked if he had noticed increasing concern within the Pentagon in recent weeks about the possibility of an Israeli strike, Whitman told reporters: “You guys have all worked here long enough, you can find somebody with just about any opinion you want in this building.”
In Tel Aviv, a Western diplomat said there was unlikely to be any Israeli or U.S. attack on Iran in the next six months “because the military option is the last thing that we need to do and it will not be used easily.”
He also said he expected France, which took over the presidency of the European Union on Tuesday, to be tougher on Tehran because President Nicolas Sarkozy has a strong position against Iran.
The diplomat said there was no consensus in Israel in favor of an attack and that the United States was unlikely to take action because it estimated Iran’s nuclear program would not reach a point of no return for about two years.
“I don’t think there will be an attack in the next six months,” the diplomat said.
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So…. what does Israel have to do? Wait till they get “wiped off the face of the map”?
July 1st, 2008 at 11:38 amI am a hell of alot more inclined to believe the defense department official who said this than i am the state department official who is trying to discredit the statements.
think about it. they are trying their best to keep this a secret so Iran wont know its coming and have every piece of AA equipment ready to fire. Israel is going to attack them, there is no doubt about it. the only question is when
July 1st, 2008 at 12:01 pmIt’s all intentional, we are whipsawing Ahmanutjob until he finally snaps. The only question is weather he will go before or after the election.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:02 pmWTF is this supposed to mean(other than ElBaradei, the idiots in our IC and State have really fck’ed-up…again.)?
Now come-on…Iran’s literally telling us to go piss-up-a-rope, they’re going nuclear, now…fast, and period(.)
…and we’re sitting with our thumbs-up-our-asses? Really.
From the Cape of Good Hope all-the-way-over to the China Sea the oceans and seas are filled literally filled with pirates that can take-over ships and make them disappear. Ship happens! …or maybe not. Hell… Somalia makes a living in piracy.
Don’t pay the ransom.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:22 pmIsrael will do what it needs to do when it needs to do it.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:39 pmWe all know that!