Is Israel preparing for a military strike against Iran’s nukes? AP says they are.
Israel’s defense minister hinted Saturday that the Jewish state is preparing for military action to stop Iran’s nuclear program, but said international diplomacy must be the first course of action. “Israel will not be able to accept an Iranian nuclear capability and it must have the capability to defend itself, with all that that implies, and this we are preparing,” Shaul Mofaz said.
His comments at an academic conference stopped short of overtly threatening a military strike but were likely to add to growing tensions with Iran.
Germany’s defense minister said in an interview published Saturday that he is hopeful of a diplomatic solution to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program, but argued that “all options” should remain open. Asked by the Bild am Sonntag weekly whether the threat of a military solution should remain in place, Franz Josef Jung was quoted as responding: “Yes, we need all options.”
French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France could respond with nuclear weapons against any state-sponsored terrorist attack.
Israel’s military planners are surely planning for all contingencies, given how much is at stake. At the end of the day, though, I doubt very much that they are going to launch a strike.
While I have no doubt that they would do whatever was necessary to provide for their own security, world opinion be damned, I have yet to see a credible analysis that concludes that an aerial strike alone would be enough to end Iran’s nuclear program.
