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Monday, July 19, 2010

TIME Report: Israel convinces Obama to plan for credible Iran strike

According to a report in Time magazine Israel has managed to convince Washington to put the option of a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities back on the table.

Israel has long argued that all of the international sanctions against Iran are pointless unless Western powers are prepared to back them up with the threat of force.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pressing that point since US President Barack Obama pushed through a new package of sanctions at the UN Security Council last month.

In the past few weeks, Time reported that US Central Command has been devising a thorough plan of targeted air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. The article claimed that Israel has been brought into that planning process.

Israel is also reportedly still revising its own independent plan of attack, should a solo mission against Iran become necessary.

“Without [a military option], the sanctions will likely not work,” a senior defense official said. The Israeli defense establishment cites Iran’s cessation of its nuclear activities in 2003 concurrent with the US invasion of Iraq, though since then, lacking a military threat from the Americans, Iran has continued on its nuclear course.