Time Maybe Running Out For Iran

In The Event You Need Targeting Help

Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday that Tehran was "prepared for the worst" and warned the United States against putting itself on "collision course" with his country.

 Minister Ali Akbar Salehi

On the sidelines of a news conference in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was asked about news reports of Washington accelerating plans for a strike on Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

"The US has unfortunately lost wisdom and prudence in dealing with international issues. It depends only on its power, They have lost rationality; we are prepared for the worst but we hope they will think twice before they put themselves on a collision course with Iran," Salehi said.

Benjamin Netanyahu 

Meanwhile ISRAEL has test-launched a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Iran, amid claims Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking cabinet support for a military strike.

The test, believed to have involved a long-range Jericho missile yesterday, came a week after Israeli warplanes practiced a long-range bombing mission in Italy - prompting speculation that the cabinet is considering a pre-emptive strike before Iran can complete its first nuclear weapon.

A Whitehall source yesterday said that Britain was reviewing its contingency planning for possible military action against Iran. This is thought to include the positioning of British naval ships and ways to keep the Gulf open should Iran retaliate against international oil shipments.

British Warships In The Persian Gulf

Washington and other Western powers suspect Tehran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. It says its nuclear program is for purely peaceful ends to which it has a right.

Washington insisted yesterday that it remains committed to a diplomatic solution of the nuclear standoff with Iran as talk mounted in Israel of a political push for a pre-emptive strike.

Jay Carney

"We remain focused on a diplomatic channel here, a diplomatic course in terms of dealing with Iran," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to publish a detailed report next week about Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak

An Israeli official said Mr. Netanyahu was working with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to win support from members of the cabinet who oppose attacking Iranian nuclear facilities, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

The report came after days of renewed public discussion among Israeli commentators about the possibility that the Jewish state would take unilateral military action against Iran.

Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Barak had already scored a significant win by convincing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to throw his support behind a strike. But the newspaper cited the Israeli official as saying those opposed to an attack still held "a small advantage" in the cabinet,  there was opposition from army and intelligence chiefs.

Major-General Hassan Fayrouz Abadi

Yesterday's test drew a menacing response from the regime in Tehran. Major-General Hassan Fayrouz Abadi, the chief of staff, was quoted as saying the Islamic Republic would cause "serious damage" to the US and to Israel if it were attacked.

The Israeli media said last week that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Barak favored a pre-emptive strike on Iran similar to that carried out on Iraq in 1981, when Saddam Hussein's fledgling reactor was bombed by Israeli jets.

Israel did the same to a suspected Syrian reactor in 2007.

Military analysts have warned that for any airstrike to have a chance of halting Iran's nuclear program, which is spread over a number of diverse sites - some built into mountainsides - a large strike force would be needed and heavy losses would be incurred.

There would also be the risk of a long war with Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Both have been provided by Tehran with missiles capable of striking across Israel.

Meir Dagan

Mr. Netanyahu has helped galvanize the West to apply pressure on Iran, but his campaign lost much of its urgency this year when MeirDagan, the respected outgoing head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, said Iran was not as close to completing a bomb as was generally believed.

This was partly because of the Stuxnet computer virus that disrupted its centrifuges, and which is thought to have been developed by the US and Israel.

The US, which like Israel has declined to rule out military action to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability, refused to be drawn on the Israeli media reports.

A poll showed the Israeli government would have support at home for a strike. The Dialog polling institute found 41 cent of 500 surveyed backed such an action while 39 per cent opposed the idea.