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Iran next target, warns Israeli diplomat

Iran next target, warns Israeli diplomat The Age  Jason Koutsoukis, Jerusalem * February 14, 2009

A SENIOR Israeli diplomat has warned that Israel is ready to launch a military offensive against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons.

In an interview with The Age, Dan Gillerman, who was Israel’s permanent representative at the United Nations from 2003 until last September, said time for diplomatic efforts to stop Iran acquiring a nuclear capability might have already expired……………………….Detailed military plans to bomb Iran’s nuclear enrichment plant have long been on the table of Israeli military commanders……………….

Israel has carried out two strikes on suspected nuclear sites over the past 30 years. In 1981, its jets bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak, and in September 2007, Israeli aircraft bombed a structure in Syria that was alleged to have housed a nuclear reactor.

Any new attack against Iran would be much more complicated, with the country’s uranium enrichment plants spread across many sites. Iran’s comparatively sophisticated military and its distance from Israel would present further complications for military planners and risk setting off a full-scale war.

Iran next target, warns Israeli diplomat | theage.com.au

February 14, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Israel, weapons and war