| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Israeli Plans to Bomb Iran; MUST READ ARTICLE | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Jun 18 2008, 07:41 AM (460 Views) | |
| CAPS | Jun 18 2008, 07:41 AM Post #1 |
|
Member
  ![]](http://209.85.122.85/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
It appears that the Israelis believe that a bombing raid against Iran is only a matter of time. They still seem to be hoping that President Bush will do this for them, but they have concluded that one way or another, it must be done before President Bush leaves office. Please read the entire article/link below........some excerpts are below as well......... http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,559925,00.html "President Bush, however, has recently been sending out signals that are suspiciously reminiscent of the run-up to the Iraq war. Then, as today, he insisted that "all options are on the table." And then, as today, he sought to appease the Europeans by saying that all diplomatic channels would be exhausted first. But during his recent visit to Slovenia, Bush said: "There's a lot of urgencies when it comes to dealing with Iran, and the Israeli political folks ... if you go to Israel and listen carefully, you'll hear that urgency in their voice." "An Iranian nuclear bomb would overshadow all other threats that Israel has faced during the 60 years of its existence. As costly as its wars have been, and as horrific the suicide bombings of radical Islamists may be, they can never pose a serious threat to the existence of the Jewish state. But a single nuclear strike would have devastating consequences for this small country, which is only about half the size of Switzerland. In fact, international strategists commonly refer to Israel as a "one-bomb country." CAPS |
 |
 
|
| Wil | Jun 20 2008, 07:59 AM Post #2 |
Administrator
|
"to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium continued to falter. "They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know," the Pentagon official said. "There's a lot of signaling going on at different levels." Ahmadinejad: Iran Won The Nuke Standoff... - http://www.breitbart.com/ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday the West has failed to break Iran's will in the nuclear standoff, days after world powers presented Tehran with a new offer aimed at ending the crisis. "In the nuclear issue, the bullying powers have used up all their capabilities but could not break the will of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state television. World powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- on Saturday offered Tehran a new package of technological and economic incentives in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment activities. The Iranian government spokesman has already said Tehran will reject any offer demanding it suspends uranium enrichment. "Iran will never submit to such an illegal act." U.S. says exercise by Israel seemed directed at Iran By Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt Friday, June 20, 2008 WASHINGTON: Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military's capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran's nuclear program. More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said. The exercise also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, American officials said. Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise. A spokesman for the Israeli military would say only that the country's air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel." But the scope of the Israeli exercise virtually guaranteed that it would be noticed by American and other foreign intelligence agencies. A senior Pentagon official who has been briefed on the exercise, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the matter, said the exercise appeared to serve multiple purposes. One Israeli goal, the Pentagon official said, was to practice flight tactics, aerial refueling and all other details of a possible strike against Iran's nuclear installations and its long-range conventional missiles. A second, the official said, was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium continued to falter. "They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know," the Pentagon official said. "There's a lot of signaling going on at different levels." Several American officials said they did not believe that the Israeli government had concluded that it must attack Iran and did not think that such a strike was imminent. Shaul Mofaz, a former Israeli defense minister who is now a deputy prime minister, warned in a recent interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that Israel might have no choice but to attack. "If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack," Mofaz said in the interview published on June 6, the day after the unpublicized exercise ended. "Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable." But Mofaz was criticized by other Israeli politicians as seeking to enhance his own standing as questions mount about whether the embattled Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, can hang on to power. Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that Mofaz's statement does not represent official policy. But American officials were also told that Israel had prepared plans for striking nuclear targets in Iran and could carry them out if needed. Iran has shown signs that it is taking the Israeli warnings seriously, by beefing up its air defenses in recent weeks, including increasing air patrols. In one instance, Iran scrambled F-4 jets to double-check an Iraqi civilian flight from Baghdad to Tehran. "They are clearly nervous about this and have their air defense on guard," a Bush administration official said of the Iranians. Any Israeli attack against Iran's nuclear facilities would confront a number of challenges. Many American experts say they believe that such an attack could delay but not eliminate Iran's nuclear program. Much of the program's infrastructure is buried under earth and concrete and installed in long tunnels or hallways, making precise targeting difficult. There is also concern that not all of the facilities have been detected. To inflict maximum damage, multiple attacks might be necessary, which many analysts say is beyond Israel's ability at this time. But waiting also entails risks for the Israelis. Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed fears that Iran will soon master the technology it needs to produce substantial quantities of highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Iran is also taking steps to better defend its nuclear facilities. Two sets of advance Russian-made radar systems were recently delivered to Iran. The radar will enhance Iran's ability to detect planes flying at low altitude. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said in February that Iran was close to acquiring Russian-produced SA-20 surface-to-air missiles. American military officials said that the deployment of such systems would hamper Israel's attack planning, putting pressure on Israel to act before the missiles are fielded. For both the United States and Israel, Iran's nuclear program has been a persistent worry. A National Intelligence Estimate that was issued in December by American intelligence agencies asserted that Iran had suspended work on weapons design in late 2003. The report stated that it was unclear if that work had resumed. It also noted that Iran's work on uranium enrichment and on missiles, two steps that Iran would need to take to field a nuclear weapon, had continued. In late May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran's suspected work on nuclear matters was a "matter of serious concern" and that the Iranians owed the agency "substantial explanations." Over the past three decades, Israel has carried out two unilateral attacks against suspected nuclear sites in the Middle East. In 1981, Israeli jets conducted a raid against Iraq's nuclear plant at Osirak after concluding that it was part of Saddam Hussein's program to develop nuclear weapons. In September, Israeli aircraft bombed a structure in Syria that American officials said housed a nuclear reactor built with the aid of North Korea. The United States protested the Israeli strike against Iraq in 1981, but its comments in recent months have amounted to an implicit endorsement of the Israeli strike in Syria. Pentagon officials said that Israel's air forces usually conducted a major early summer training exercise, often flying over the Mediterranean or training ranges in Turkey where they practice bombing runs and aerial refueling. But the exercise this month involved a larger number of aircraft than had been previously observed, and included a lengthy combat rescue mission. Much of the planning appears to reflect a commitment by Israel's military leaders to ensure that its armed forces are adequately equipped and trained, an imperative driven home by the difficulties the Israeli military encountered in its Lebanon operation against Hezbollah. "They rehearse it, rehearse it and rehearse it, so if they actually have to do it, they're ready," the Pentagon official said. "They're not taking any options off the table." http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=13846577 Edited by Wil, Jun 20 2008, 08:05 AM.
|
|
|
| Israeli | Jun 20 2008, 08:47 AM Post #3 |
Advanced Member
|
It sure would be helpful if the U.S. would be involved militarily in any deterrent action against Iran by the IDF. It is extremely risky; this time Iran is too prepared and has too much help from Russia. Last week we were leaving town and saw hidden under the trees in a little forest outside Karmiel these, I mean HUGE wongin' rocket launchers. We both did a double take and said in unison: what the heck are those!? but realized after a second they were dummies. Took several minutes for my pulse to slow down to normal. Anyway, I believe any attack by Israel will open a pandoras box, and life never to be the same. Either way, it will have an effect on the U.S. whether it is involved or not. |
|
|
|
| Israeli | Jun 20 2008, 04:12 PM Post #4 |
|
Advanced Member
|
The Consequences Of An Attack On Iran: How Iran Would Retaliate http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0620/p07s04-wome.html Edited by Israeli, Jun 20 2008, 04:13 PM.
|
|
|
|
| Wil | Jun 21 2008, 03:22 PM Post #5 |
|
Administrator
|
Exclusive: Uproar, military alerts, oil price surge over apparent Israeli air drill for Iran attack June 20, 2008, 9:34 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile’s military sources report that an oil price surge of 5 percent to $135.92 was triggered by the report leaked by US government officials of an Israeli air force drill over Greece for an apparent strike against Iran, Friday, June 20. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a war alert in the Revolutionary Guards and armed forces, with the Israeli and US Gulf forces following suit. Tehran made no immediate comment, while Iranian leaders were reported puzzled by the Bush administration’s motives in leaking the report to the New York Times. The most extreme reaction came from the UN nuclear watchdog’s director Mohamad ElBaradei, who threatened to resign if there was a military strike on Iran, warning such an attack would turn the region into a “fireball.” “A military strike would be worse than anything possible,” he warned. “..it will mean that Iran, if it is not already making nuclear weapons, will launch a crash course to build them…” Russian foreign minister Sergei Ivanov maintained that neither Israel nor the United States had produced proof that Iran was developing nuclear weapons and said the issue must be dealt with by diplomacy and talks with Tehran. The American UN ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad agreed. While stating the view that Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons would be “unacceptable,” he stressed: "We're in the phase of diplomacy; we want a diplomatic settlement of this issue. The ball is frankly in Iran's court." DEBKAfile’s political sources comment that if a reported air maneuver simulating an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities raised so much international, financial and military dust, how much more extreme would the world response be to a real attack. The Greek Air force confirmed its participation in the Israeli military exercise held three weeks ago, but did not confirm the claim by Washington officials that it was a rehearsal for a potential attack on Iran. The Greek source stated no ground targets were involved as the drill was mainly aimed at personnel training. It was the first large-scale exercise between Israel and the air force of Greece, a member of NATO. UP to 40 Israeli Air force F-15 and F-16 warplanes were based at the Greek Air Force Station at Souda on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete for the duration of the exercise, said the source. http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5363 |
|
|
|
| Israeli | Jun 23 2008, 08:41 AM Post #6 |
|
Advanced Member
|
Mossad Chief Empowered to Prepare Groundwork for Iran Strike DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 23, 2008 Meir Dagan appointed to seventh year as Mossad Director By extending the Mossad director, Meir Dagan’s tenure for another year until the end of 2009, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has put in place a vital constituent for a possible eleventh-hour unilateral strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities. In his six years on the job, the 61-year old external intelligence has proved his covert mettle in a variety of counter-terror operations, graduating most recently to a highly successful intelligence coup leading up to the demolition of Syria’s North Korean plutonium reactor in al Kebir last September. Appointed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2002, Dagan’s first four years as the Mossad’s tenth chief were dedicated to counterterrorism rather than tracking Iran’s nuclear activities or monitoring Iran’s burgeoning strategic ties with Syria and Hizballah. From mid-2006, the former general shifted the agency’s priorities to include these targets, while the Mossad continued to show its fearsome counter-terror paces in Damascus, Beirut and other Arab capitals. Not all the Mossad’s operations have seen the light of day, but it has been credited in the past two years with hits against high-profile Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islami operatives in Syria and Lebanon. The operation against Syria’s plutonium reactor last year was one of the most complex operations ever performed by the Mossad. For the Israeli raiders to put the facility out of commission and lift out the evidence of a working nuclear collaboration between Syria, Iran and North Korea, they needed from the Mossad precise data on the facility’s inner and outer defenses. It had to include the air defense systems in place across Syria, the whereabouts of the materials and equipment the Israeli team was assigned to appropriate from the site and transfer to the United States, and the nature and numbers of the Syrian, Iranian and North Korean personnel present. It was not until April 2008, seven months later, that the US Central Intelligence Agency released news of the operation in Washington, providing graphics attesting to the depth of Mossad’s penetration of the of the most secret and well-protected facility in Syria. Examination of those visuals attested to one or more agents having been planted solidly enough in the Syrian nuclear project to have photographed the different stages of the reactor’s construction and the North Korean equipment installed there – a feat which drew the respect of Dagan’s undercover colleagues in the West. The other outstanding feature of the Al Kebir operation was one that has come to be associated with the spy chief’s method of operation: No leads or clues were left for the Syrian, Iranian and North Korean investigators to find –even after the photos were published. His spy or spies proved untraceable. Dagan, a hands-on spymaster, demonstrated this skill earlier in the operation to eliminate one of the longest-running and most dangerous enemies of Israel and America, the head of Hizballah’s special security apparatus, Imad Mughniyeh, in Damascus on February 12. It followed similar methods in the preceding two years - usually explosives planted under a driver’s seat or headrests of vehicles driven by Hizballah, Hamas and Jihad Islami operatives. Neither Hizballah nor Syrian intelligence has been able to prevent these liquidations or catch the hit-teams. The intelligence operation for aborting Iran’s aspirations to acquire a nuclear bomb would undoubtedly ratchet up the Mossad’s targets for its most formidable mission ever. It would be undertaken in the full knowledge that a nuclear bomb in the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran would constitute the most dangerous threat to Israel’s survival in 60 years of statehood, as well as a menace to the free world. It would be up to Meir Dagan, a Holocaust survivor born in the Soviet Union, to rise to the Mossad’s motto: "Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety" (Proverbs XI/14) The Mossad chief has his critics at home. In Israel’s clandestine agencies, some find his style excessively individualist, secretive and highhandedly confined to fields which he finds interesting rather than objectively important to national security. He is faulted with shunning the close collaborative relations traditional in the undercover world. The Mossad’s structure is also said to be antiquated and in need of an extensive overhaul, although it recently launched a website for recruitment. But Dagan has the full trust of his boss, the prime minister. The timing chosen for extending the Mossad chief’s tenure – early summer of 2008 – is indicative. Israeli intelligence estimates the summer months are critical for acting against Iran’s nuclear advances, especially uranium enrichment which Iran refuses to forego. If it is not stopped by September or October of 2008, it will be too late; Iran will have crossed the threshold to the last lap of its military program. Israeli intelligence and its armed forces have three months to finish the job which has long been in preparation. http://debka.com/article.php?aid=1355 Edited by Israeli, Jun 23 2008, 08:43 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Wil | Jun 23 2008, 08:52 AM Post #7 |
|
Administrator
|
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121417597798795327.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Israel on the Iran Brink June 23, 2008; Page A16 Israel isn't famous for welcoming public scrutiny of its most sensitive military plans. But we doubt Jerusalem officials were dismayed to see news of their recent air force exercises splashed over the front pages of the Western press. Those exercises – reportedly involving about 100 fighters, tactical bombers, refueling planes and rescue helicopters – were conducted about 900 miles west of Israel's shores in the Mediterranean. Iran's nuclear facilities at Bushehr, Isfahan and Natanz all fall roughly within the same radius, albeit in the opposite direction. The point was not lost on Tehran, which promptly warned of "strong blows" in the event of a pre-emptive Israeli attack. The more important question is whether the meaning of Israel's exercise registered in Western capitals. It's been six years since Iran's secret nuclear programs were publicly exposed, and Israel has more or less bided its time as the Bush Administration and Europe have pursued diplomacy to induce Tehran to cease enriching uranium. It hasn't worked. Iran has rejected repeated offers of technical and economic assistance, most recently this month. Despite four years of pleading, the Administration has failed to win anything but weak U.N. sanctions. Russia plans to sell advanced antiaircraft missiles to Iran and finish work on a nuclear reactor at Bushehr, though spent fuel from that reactor could eventually be diverted and reprocessed into weapons-usable plutonium. Chinese companies still invest in Iran, while the U.N.'s chief nuclear inspector, Mohamed ElBaradei, has repeatedly downplayed Iran's nuclear threat. As for the U.S., December's publication of a misleading National Intelligence Estimate that claimed Iran had halted nuclear weaponization signaled America's own lack of seriousness toward Iranian ambitions. Barack Obama is leading in the Presidential polls and portrays as a virtue his promise to negotiate with Iran "without precondition" – i.e., without insisting that Tehran stop enriching uranium. All the while Iran continues to enrich, installing thousands of additional centrifuges of increasingly more sophisticated design while it buries key facilities underground. No wonder Israel is concluding that it will have to act on its own to prevent a nuclear Iran. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief of staff, warned that "if Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack." Other officials distanced themselves from those remarks, but September's one-shot raid on Syria's nuclear reactor ought to be proof of Israel's determination. An Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear sites would of course look nothing like the Syrian operation. The distances are greater; the targets are hardened, defended and dispersed; hundreds of sorties and several days would be required. Iran would retaliate, with the help of Hezbollah and Hamas, possibly sparking a regional conflict as large as the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Mr. ElBaradei predicted this weekend that such an attack would turn the Middle East into a "ball of fire," yet his own apologies for Iran and the West's diplomatic failures are responsible for bringing the region to this pass. They have convinced the mullahs that the powers responsible for maintaining world order lack the will to stop Iran. Israelis surely don't welcome a war in which they will suffer. Yet they have no choice but to defend themselves against an enemy that vows to obliterate them if Iran acquires the weapon to do so. The tragic paradox of the past six years is that the diplomatic and intelligence evasions offered in the name of avoiding war with Iran have done the most to bring us close to this brink. Appeasement that ends in war is a familiar theme of history. |
|
|
|
| Wil | Jun 24 2008, 08:24 AM Post #8 |
|
Administrator
|
Iran: EU 'Carrots and Sticks' Won't Stop Our Nuke Pursuit Tuesday , June 24, 2008 TEHRAN, Iran — Iran said Tuesday that additional sanctions by the European Union will not affect Tehran, while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed the formation of a special court to punish the world "tyrants" for their attempt to thwart Iran's nuclear program. Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying to a group of judges that "a court should be formed to try and punish all world criminals who invade the rights of the Iranian nation," according to the state IRNA news agency. Ahmadinejad's remarks were his first following a move by the EU which on Monday approved additional financial and travel restrictions for Iranian companies and individuals — including the country's largest bank, Bank Melli Iran. Also Tuesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement that the "carrot and stick policy" by the 27-nation EU bloc won't stop Iran's "pursuit to realize its nuclear rights." http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,370562,00.html Jun 23, 2008 23:43 | Updated Jun 24, 2008 12:53 Mike Mullen to arrive on surprise visit By YAAKOV KATZ In a visit likely to fuel speculation about possible Israeli military action against Iran, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen will touch down briefly in Israel at the end of the week for talks with IDF Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, top defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy. Adm. Michael Mullen. Photo: AP Slideshow: Pictures of the week A few weeks after Mullen's visit, Ashkenazi will fly to Washington DC for several days on his first visit to the US as chief of staff. Mullen's visit to Israel is part of a European tour. Officials said the US military chief had a free day in his itinerary and instead of remaining in Europe decided to fly to Israel. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214132666160&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |
|
|
|
| Wil | Jul 3 2008, 10:06 PM Post #9 |
|
Administrator
|
You think... Iran's shift in nuclear tone may be to buy time Thu Jul 3, 2008 10:26am EDT By Edmund Blair - Analysis TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's softer tone towards an offer of nuclear incentives made by world powers may be a bid to buy time rather than a shift to accept a key demand to halt nuclear work, analysts and diplomats said. Despite an unusually public debate about how Tehran should respond involving some senior Iranian politicians, there have been no official indications of any readiness to suspend uranium enrichment -- the demand on which a deal ultimately hinges. "Signals seem to be a bit better (than before the proposal was presented) but we don't see any big change from the Iranian side," said one European diplomat. Iran initially sent a clear response to the offer. On June 14, the same day European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana handed over the offer from six powers in Tehran, a government spokesman rejected the suspension of enrichment, a process the West fears Iran wants to use to make atomic bombs. But Iranian officials now sound more conciliatory. Even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been uncharacteristically quiet after earlier insisting Iran would not give in to "bullying powers" over nuclear plans Tehran says are peaceful. Some Western diplomats detect a more positive approach from Iran and say any knee-jerk public statements have turned to more careful reflection. "There is a debate," said one. However the diplomat said it was not clear Iran would accept suspension or even a "freeze-for-freeze" idea to get preparatory discussions going, a step involving Iran freezing expansion of nuclear work in return for world powers halting moves to add to three rounds of U.N. sanctions already imposed. Continued:http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSBLA33437820080703 |
|
|
|
| Wil | Jul 6 2008, 09:46 AM Post #10 |
|
Administrator
|
'US doubts IAF can destroy Iran sites' Jul. 6, 2008 JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST US military commanders fear that Israel may feel forced to strike Iran within the year, though it may ultimately prove unable to do more than merely slow the development of Teheran's nuclear program, The Sunday Telegraph reported. The UK paper quoted an official well acquainted with recent discussions between Israeli generals and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, as saying that there were differences in the respective intelligence possessed by Jerusalem and Washington on Iran's nuclear facilities. The Sunday Telegraph reported that a former Mossad agency head told the paper that Israel had only a year to act before Iran would acquire nuclear arms. Also, the paper quoted an official as saying that while "the Israelis have a real sense of urgency" regarding a strike, "both sides are worried about the other's lack of intelligence." Specifically, the source said that "the Americans had spies in Iran until they were rounded up in 2003 and now they do not have much by way of humint [human intelligence] on the ground. The Israelis have better information. But the Americans went away from the meetings unconvinced that the Israelis have enough intelligence on where to strike, and with little confidence that they will be able to destroy the nuclear program." Mullen announced on Monday that, in his opinion, it would be "extremely stressful" to "open a third front" in the war on terror, especially in the wake of possible intelligence gaps regarding the development of Teheran's nuclear program. The admiral's statement is, according to the Telegraph "at odds with hawks in the Bush administration," especially Vice President Dick Cheney. The Telegraph further reported that, according to a former CIA officer and Iran specialist, the hawks believe that "the US would get the blame from Iran whether or not [it played] a major role in any attack so [they] might as well do the job properly," thereby suggesting that the US ought to take steps beyond what certain reports have said about a supposed recently-sanctioned increase in US special forces' covert operations in Iran. The former CIA officer told the UK newspaper that possibilities ranged from a full, overt strike on 2000 sites inside the Islamic republic to operational and intelligence assistance for a possible lone IAF strike. In addition to considering the possible results of various degrees of US involvement, considerations are also being made on how to deal with Iranian retaliatory measures aimed at disrupting oil supplies by blocking the Strait of Hormuz or assaults on American naval vessels in the Persian Gulf or on bases in Bahrain, the officer added. According to the Telegraph, the US Navy has altered its rules of engagement such that ships in the Gulf may be better able to prevent "swarming attacks" by groups of smaller boats, which are used by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726219623&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Endtime News · Next Topic » |
11:20 AM Aug 20