US fears Israeli strike against Iran over latest nuclear claim
A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country’s nuclear facilities.Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large number could be a “tipping point”, triggering an Israeli air strike. The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but officials say that Israel is a “different matter”. Amid the international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear facility were backing out of their Iran trip.
Even before President Ahmadinejad’s announcement, a US defence official told The Times yesterday: “Israel could do something when they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded to wait a little longer.” US experts say 3,000 machines running for long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb within a year.
I hope that Israel doesn’t have to take this step alone, although I would certainly understand their reasoning for it. In a bad situation, it seems to me that the best solution is to acknowledge that diplomacy has failed in this case, and that U.S. forces should attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapon production capability. Partially because the U.S. has a better chance of succeeding, and partially because for all the problems that an American attack would cause in the region, and Israeli attack would cause more.
If we can succeed in delaying the Iranian bomb for a few years through air power, that might allow a diplomatic initiative to succeed and a more permanent resolution to the problem. Obviously attacking Iran,isn’t a risk free proposition, but allowing Iran to gain nuclear weapons or hoping that Israel makes the problem go away seems to me to be more risky.
In any event, it seems clear that time is running out on a decision here.
