Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday told Army Radio that Israel was “very far off” from making a decision on a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The remarks appeared to be part of an effort to allay American concerns that Israel is preparing for an attack despite Washington’s objections.
Barak’s comment came a day ahead of a visit by the chairman of the US. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, on Thursday. While the agenda for Dempsey’s visit has not been disclosed, it is expected to focus on potential responses to Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons.
The downplaying of a potential pre-emptive strike by Israel against Iran has broadly been taken as an attempt to allay US concerns Israel will act without informing the Obama administration in advance.
Dempsey has expressed concern that Israel, not sold on sanctions as an effective deterrent, may act without informing Washington of its intentions in what could prove to be a repeat of Israel’s strike on Iraq’s Osirik reactor in June 1981.
“I’m not sure the Israelis share our assessment of that. And because they don’t and because to them this is an existential threat, I think probably that it’s fair to say that our expectations are different right now,” Dempsey said.
Barak told Army Radio, “We haven’t made a decision to go ahead with this matter. We have no date for making decisions. The whole thing is very far off…I don’t want to provide estimates. It’s certainly not urgent…I don’t suggest that we deal with this as if it’s about to happen tomorrow.”
Barak added that both Washington and Israel “respect one another’s freedom of decision.”
Analysts say the choice of Barak to allay US concerns is not a coincidence. Reports late last year indicated Barak has been pressing for a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Barak has gone on record saying Israel will be forced to act militarily if an Iranian bomb becomes imminent.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said Iran’s economy is “wobbling” and called for stringent economic sanctions on Tehran from Washington, but they have not been forthcoming amid rising tensions with Iran in the Persian Gulf.
However, sources in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee say Netanyahu on Monday referred to sanctions as being “ineffective.” Netanyahu is said, like his close confidant Barak, to favor military action vis-a-vis Iran.
Nor, analysts say, is the history of acrimony and mistrust between Netanyahu and Obama, likely to reassure Israelis facing a potentially nuclear-armed Iran of Washington’s good intentions.
On Tuesday Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affair, Moshe Yaalon, expressed “disappointment” with US president Barack Obama saying that policy in Washington was being driven by “re-election considerations,” rather than global security.
Yaalon said Obama was trying to avoid triggering a rise in oil prices during an election year.
Iran has threatened to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant portion of the world’s oil flows, should its oil industry be targeted with sanctions. The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet responded that a move to close the strait would be “an act of war.”
However, analysts say Obama is desperate to avoid a election-year confrontation with Iran at all costs and has, despite his tough rhetoric, failed to take decisive action.
In addition, a major joint Israeli-American missile defense exercise was postponed in a move widely interpreted as an effort to defuse tensions with Tehran, which recently held naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz.
For Washington curtailing Iran’s nuclear program is rooted in averting further nuclear proliferation in a region where, should Tehran obtain an atomic bomb, other nations have vowed to follow suit.
For Israel, however, an Iranian nuclear weapon raises existential concerns. Officials in Tehran have referred to Israel as “a one bomb state.”
And that, analysts say, makes Netanyahu the joker in Obama’s re-election deck.
Should Israel launch a pre-emptive strike, Obama could find his worst election season fears – skyrocketing gas prices and open conflict with Iran – realized.
