Israel’s ambassador to the US said Wednesday that Israel would be willing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, even if doing so only set their program back a few years.
Speaking to Bloomberg in Washington, Michael Oren said that gaining even a little extra time would be worth a military operation against Tehran’s program, which Israel maintains is aimed at developing a nuclear weapon and not for civilian use as the Islamic Republic claims.
“One, two, three, four years are a long time in the Middle East — look what’s happened in the last year” Oren said, referring to the Arab Spring and the on-going political upheaval in the region. “In our neighborhood, those are the rules of the game.”
The comments were likely a brush back against statements made by US Joint Chiefs of Staff head Martin Dempsey the day before. Dempsey said that an Israeli strike would only set back Iran’s nuclear program by one year.
Oren said Israeli officials in 1981 believed a strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility would only set Baghdad back by one or two years. The Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s reactor on June 7, 1981, in an attack criticized around the world.
“To this day, Iraq does not have a nuclear weapon,” Oren said.
Officials, notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have used the Osirak case as proof that an Israeli strike can be effective.
Times of Israel has the full article
