‘US armed Israel for Iran attack’

A New York Times article says the US has armed Israel in case the regime decides to launch an attack against Iran (file photo).

The United States has provided Israel with the military technology and arms to aid Tel Aviv in a possible attack against Iran nuclear facilities, a prominent American journalist says.

“Arm the Syrian rebels! And, while we’re at it, give the Israelis the tools they need - bunker-busters, refueling aircraft - so that if they decide to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, they’ll get it right the first time,” David Sanger wrote in The New York Times.

The article says although “the White House has been deliberately vague on what kind of technology it has shared with the Israelis,” it has been aimed at sabotaging Iran’s nuclear energy program which the West claims contains a covert military dimension by using “bombs, sanctions or covert action.”

Sanger says from the perspective of many US politicians, “Syria and Iran are hardly unrelated problems,” as nothing would undermine Iran’s influence in the region more than the overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the article, this approach stems from the fact that Americans are fed up with their government's warmongering around the globe and also from the White House talks of “nation-building at home.”

“There is something tempting about handing off weaponry to the rebels and the Israelis, wishing them good luck and reminding them to drop a line back to the White House if any of it works,” Sanger says.

Israeli officials have recently ramped up their war rhetoric, threatening Iran with military strikes in case the US-engineered sanctions against the country fail to force Tehran into abandoning its civilian nuclear energy program.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program, using this pretext to impose sanctions against Iran and threaten the country with military attack.

This is while the International Atomic Energy Agency has never found any evidence indicating that Tehran's nuclear energy program has been diverted towards nuclear weapons production. 

Putin puts words of caution against strike on Iran

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has expressed concern over the growing threat of a military strike on Iran, saying such an attack will have catastrophic repercussions.

“Russia is alarmed by the growing threat of a military strike” against Iran, Putin wrote in article in the daily Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper on Monday.

“If this happens, the consequences will be truly catastrophic, their real scope impossible to imagine,” he added.

“We propose to recognize Iran’s right to develop a civilian nuclear program, including the right to enrich uranium” in exchange for placing the country’s nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Russian premier further said.

Putin added that in this case, all unilateral and international sanctions imposed against Iran need to be lifted.

In 2011, Russia proposed a “step-by-step” approach that would enable Iran to adopt measures to address IAEA questions on Tehran's nuclear program.

According to the plan, Iran can revive negotiations to alleviate individual concerns of the IAEA about its nuclear activities and be rewarded along the way by a partial removal of sanctions.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program, using the pretext to impose sanctions against Iran and threaten the country with a military attack.

Iran has denied the allegations and promised a crushing response to any military strike against the country, warning that any such measure could result in a war that would spread beyond the Middle East.