<font size="5"><center>
Israel rehearses strike on Iran nuclear sites</font size><font size="4">
Israel has carried out a full rehearsal of a massive air assault
on Iran's nuclear sites involving scores of aircraft</font size></center>
The Telegraph (UK)
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
June 20, 2008
While Israeli officials remained silent on the matter today, sources in Washington at the Pentagon and other US government agencies confirmed that the exercise was staged two weeks ago over the eastern Mediterranean.
The target of the exercise was 900 miles from Israel, roughly the same distance as Iran's nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.
A Pentagon official told the New York Times the exercise was deliberately designed by Israel to send a clear signal about the seriousness of its intentions towards Iran.
"They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know," the official said.
"There's a lot of signalling going on at different levels."
As many as 100 F16 and F15 warplanes were involved in flying long-range missions supported by air refuelling tankers. They were alongside specially configured Israeli helicopters with long-range fuel tanks which practised rescuing downed combat aircrew.
The exercise, in the first week of June, came as President George W Bush and Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, both used the same language in public to put pressure on Tehran, saying that a nuclear Iran was "unacceptable".
No Israeli attack mission would be possible without the tacit approval of Washington as it controls the airspace – over Iraq – through which Israeli planes would have to fly on a direct attack path.
Having created so much domestic political opposition with the US-led attack on Iraq, President Bush is unlikely to be able to cobble together in the last seven months of his presidency the necessary support at home for a US-led attack.
But an Israeli-led attack, tacitly allowed by US commanders responsible for Iraqi airspace, is something that would not need domestic American political support.
Israel has twice acted by itself to stop its regional enemies developing a nuclear capability, in Syria last year and Iraq in the 1980s.
Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East, a monopoly it wishes to maintain especially as its enemies in the Islamic world, most significantly Iran, regard the Jewish state as an anathema.
Asked to comment on reports of the rehearsal exercise, the Israeli military issued a statement saying only its air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel."
The Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev offered no comment beyond the military's statement.
The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said he prefers that Iran's nuclear ambitions be halted by diplomatic means, but has pointedly declined to rule out military action.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published on Wednesday, Mr Olmert said the current international sanctions against Iran would probably not succeed alone, saying there were "many things that can be done economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily."
Asked if Israel was capable of taking military action against Iran, Mr Olmert said, "Israel always has to be in a position to defend itself against any adversary and against any threat of any kind."
The reaction in Iran to reports of the exercise was one of defiance.
"If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior cleric, said in his weekly prayers sermon held on Friday.
Ayatollah Khatami, whose speech was broadcast live on state radio, stressed that the Iranian nation's mentality was "to fight foreigners".
"Given this mentality, if you make a hostile look at the Islamic Iran, you will witness such a united roar by our nation that it will definitely make you regret any vicious move forever," the conservative cleric added.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...l-rehearses-strike-on-Iran-nuclear-sites.html
Israel rehearses strike on Iran nuclear sites</font size><font size="4">
Israel has carried out a full rehearsal of a massive air assault
on Iran's nuclear sites involving scores of aircraft</font size></center>
The Telegraph (UK)
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
June 20, 2008
While Israeli officials remained silent on the matter today, sources in Washington at the Pentagon and other US government agencies confirmed that the exercise was staged two weeks ago over the eastern Mediterranean.
The target of the exercise was 900 miles from Israel, roughly the same distance as Iran's nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz.
A Pentagon official told the New York Times the exercise was deliberately designed by Israel to send a clear signal about the seriousness of its intentions towards Iran.
"They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know," the official said.
"There's a lot of signalling going on at different levels."
As many as 100 F16 and F15 warplanes were involved in flying long-range missions supported by air refuelling tankers. They were alongside specially configured Israeli helicopters with long-range fuel tanks which practised rescuing downed combat aircrew.
The exercise, in the first week of June, came as President George W Bush and Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, both used the same language in public to put pressure on Tehran, saying that a nuclear Iran was "unacceptable".
No Israeli attack mission would be possible without the tacit approval of Washington as it controls the airspace – over Iraq – through which Israeli planes would have to fly on a direct attack path.
Having created so much domestic political opposition with the US-led attack on Iraq, President Bush is unlikely to be able to cobble together in the last seven months of his presidency the necessary support at home for a US-led attack.
But an Israeli-led attack, tacitly allowed by US commanders responsible for Iraqi airspace, is something that would not need domestic American political support.
Israel has twice acted by itself to stop its regional enemies developing a nuclear capability, in Syria last year and Iraq in the 1980s.
Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East, a monopoly it wishes to maintain especially as its enemies in the Islamic world, most significantly Iran, regard the Jewish state as an anathema.
Asked to comment on reports of the rehearsal exercise, the Israeli military issued a statement saying only its air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel."
The Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev offered no comment beyond the military's statement.
The Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said he prefers that Iran's nuclear ambitions be halted by diplomatic means, but has pointedly declined to rule out military action.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel published on Wednesday, Mr Olmert said the current international sanctions against Iran would probably not succeed alone, saying there were "many things that can be done economically, politically, diplomatically and militarily."
Asked if Israel was capable of taking military action against Iran, Mr Olmert said, "Israel always has to be in a position to defend itself against any adversary and against any threat of any kind."
The reaction in Iran to reports of the exercise was one of defiance.
"If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a senior cleric, said in his weekly prayers sermon held on Friday.
Ayatollah Khatami, whose speech was broadcast live on state radio, stressed that the Iranian nation's mentality was "to fight foreigners".
"Given this mentality, if you make a hostile look at the Islamic Iran, you will witness such a united roar by our nation that it will definitely make you regret any vicious move forever," the conservative cleric added.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...l-rehearses-strike-on-Iran-nuclear-sites.html
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