Iran on their mind

In fact, Israel was sufficiently worried by the report, which was compiled by 16 US intelligence agencies, that it decided to dispatch a team of security and military experts to Washington and a number of European capitals to try to convince their governments that the mullahs in Iran are continuing their efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. The argument now being put out from Jerusalem to coincide with the just concluded Bush visit is that Iran did indeed stop its nuclear weapons project some four years ago, but it has now started up again.

This is the same programme that has its roots in the military understanding reached by Iranian officials and Pakistani President Zia ul Haq in 1987 and which the late Benazir Bhutto confirmed was necessitated by Pakistan’s need for ‘strategic depth’. For the Israelis, Iran is a strategic threat to their very existence, underlined by the threats from Iranian President Ahmedinejad to eliminate the Jewish state.

The Americans are said to have been especially annoyed by statements from Police Minister Avi Dichter, who warned that US ‘misconceptions’ regarding Iran could trigger a new Middle East war. “We were unable to convince the US of the immediacy and proximity of the Iranian nuclear threat,” he explained. “The area threatened by Iranian missiles is now within its strike range, and includes most North African, as well as European, countries.”

A former Shin Bet chief and current minister, Ami Ayalon, urged the Israeli government to work toward forming a regional anti-Iranian alliance. He said Israel should consider Iran as a “threat to all pragmatic players in the region.” Ayalon also mocked the US intelligence assessment, adding that Washington’s report on Iran’s nuclear programme is “probably wrong.”

The report has generated problems at home for Prime Minister Olmert, who is under attack from his political opponents for handling the Iranian threat in an ‘irresponsible manner’ by failing to convince the Americans about Tehran’s efforts to achieve nuclear weapons. Uri Ariel, a prominent member of one of Israel’s right-wing parties, said “the publication of the report testifies to the extent of the government’s irresponsibility. They have promised us for years that the Americans will take care of the Iranian nuclear issue, but now it is clear that they have shirked responsibility for the issue. Blame for this screw-up falls even more strongly on Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman as it is his paramount duty to guarantee coordination with the United States regarding this (threat).”

... contd.