Haaretz
Adar 6, 5767
Israel is
negotiating with the United States over permission for an "air corridor"
over Iraq should an attack on that country's nuclear facilities become
necessary, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported
Saturday.
Military authorities would need permission from the U.S.
Department of Defense for any such operation, the report
said.
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) denied Saturday
that Israel was in negotiations with U.S. authorities on the
issue.
"International authorities, particularly in the West, who
want to avoid direct involvement with Iran are anxious to spread the story
that we will strike Iran," Sneh told Israel Radio.
"Those who do
not want to work politically, diplomatically and economically are
diverting attention to the operation that we are said to be conducting,"
he said.
"The international community's focus should be on imposing
economic sanctions on Iran for defying UN Security Council resolutions,"
he said.
The report cited a senior Israeli defense official who
said talks are currently underway between the two countries over the
possibility that Jerusalem decides to take unilateral action to prevent
Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
"We are planning for every
eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially
important," said the official, speaking under condition of
anonymity.
"The only way to do this is to fly through
U.S.-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could
have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at
each other," he said.
Contingency planning has accelerated
significantly, the newspaper said, since the beginning of the year in
light of Mossad estimates that Iran could have the necessary amount of
fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon by 2009.
Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert last week announced that Meir Dagan, head of Mossad
and a leading expert on Iran, would postpone his retirement until the end
of 2007 at the earliest.
Olmert also handed over coordination of military aspects of
the Iran nuclear issue to Israel Air Force Commander Eliezer
Shkedy.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council and Germany will meet Monday in London for an emergency session on
the matter. Officials will discuss arms control and a possible cutback in
the $25 billion in export credits which European countries use to trade
with Iran.
Iran ignored a UN deadline set for last Wednesday to
stop its uranium enrichment.
This would not mark the first time
IAF planes passed through Iraqi airspace. On June 17, 1981 an IAF air
strike demolished the Osirak nuclear reactor being constructed under
Saddam Hussein's regime.
Cheney: U.S. and allies must not Iran
to achieve nuclear capability
Also Saturday, U.S. Vice President
Dick Cheney said that the United States and its allies must not allow Iran
to become a nuclear power and raised concerns about Tehran's actions and
"inflammatory" rhetoric.
The stern comments from Cheney, who is
known for his hawkish views, followed Tehran's refusal to heed the UN
deadline to halt enrichment, and a vow by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to
stand up to the rest of the world and not show weakness by acceding to the
West's demands.
"They have made some fairly inflammatory
statements," Cheney said of Iran at a joint Sydney news conference with
Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "They appear to be pursuing the
development of nuclear weapons."
"We are deeply concerned and have
made it very clear we're deeply concerned about Iran's activities," he
said.
Cheney said he was concerned about Iran's "fairly aggressive"
role in the Middle East, not just its decision to ignore the UN
deadline.
He said "all options are on the table" on Iran. The Bush
administration has long maintained that it is focused on diplomacy but
tacitly acknowledges that the military option has not been ruled
out.
Still, the administration's tough comments on Iran have been
met with concern by some in the U.S. Congress and have even rattled
financial markets.
Cheney said that a peaceful resolution to the
nuclear standoff with Iran was "still our preference".
The Weekend
Australian newspaper reported on Saturday that Cheney had endorsed U.S.
Republican Senator John McCain's view that the only thing worse than a
military confrontation with Iran would be a nuclear-armed
Iran.
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