US Denies Israeli Request For Bunker Busters
From yesterday…
Israel Asks U.S. For Arms, Air Corridor To Attack Iran
And now, today.
September 13, 2008
JERUSALEM - Israel has not received a “green light” from the United States to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to a report in the Haaretz newspaper.
Without citing where or how it received the information, the widely read Israeli daily said the U.S. had refused an Israeli request for deep penetration bombs, tanker refuelling aircraft and a corridor through U.S.-controlled airspace in Iraq that would provide the quickest secure route between Israel and Iran, the newspaper reported.
The “bunker buster” bombs that Israel was said to have sought could be particularly effective against Iran’s nuclear research centres, many of which have been built in underground shelters.
The Israeli government conveyed its requests to U.S. President George W. Bush when he visited Jerusalem in May, and repeated them several weeks later when Defence Minister Ehud Barak was in Washington, Haaretz reported.
“The Americans made very clear to the Israelis that for now they are sticking to the diplomatic option to halt the Iranian nuclear project, and that Jerusalem does not have a green light from Washington for an attack on Iran,” Haaretz said
However, the U.S. had agreed to place a sophisticated radar system in the Negev desert that would allow the Jewish state to track missiles launched as much as 2,000 kilometres away, the newspaper said.
The system, which would double the distance of Israel’s missile tracking capability, would be operated by a small number of U.S. civilian and military personnel.
There has been alarm in Israel about Iran’s nuclear program and intentions because of threats against the Jewish state from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
There has been persistent media speculation in Israel that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert might choose to launch an attack after U.S. elections in November and before Mr. Bush leaves office in January.
With wars to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and growing worries about Russian ambitions in eastern Europe and the Caucasus, senior U.S. military commanders are widely believed to be strongly opposed to any U.S. involvement in an attack on Iran.
Earlier this week, Israeli President Shimon Peres said he opposed an Israeli air strike on Iran because it might lead to a much wider war with unpredictable consequences.
The Haaretz report came as furore arose in Jerusalem over an interview the senior U.S. diplomat in Jerusalem gave to a Palestinian newspaper.
He was quoted in the interview as stating Israel was discussing giving eastern parts of the Holy City to Palestinian control as part of U.S.-sponsored talks about a future Palestinian state.
There is no more emotional subject in the Middle East than Jerusalem’s future, with Israelis and Palestinians claiming the city as their capital.
Israel captured Arab parts of Jerusalem in 1967 during the Six-Day War.
The claims made by Consul General Jacob Walles about what are supposed to be confidential talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were denied by Mr. Olmert.
The U.S. State Department also distanced itself from Mr. Walles’s remarks.
The U.S. had not taken any position on the borders of a Palestinian state, and Israel had not discussed Jerusalem in its peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, the State Department said in a statement.
 |
|
