nuclear-news

Israel agrees that Iran has not decided to develop nuclear bomb

[includes video]  Israel: Iran Nuclear Bomb Construction Not Yet Decided On, Huffington Post,18 Mar 12,   JERUSALEM (AP) — Despite saber-rattling from Jerusalem, Israeli officials now agree with the U.S. assessment that Tehran has not yet decided on the actual
construction of a nuclear bomb, according to senior Israeli government and defense figures.

Even so, there is great concern in Israel about leaving Iran “on the
cusp” of a bomb — explaining why Israel continues to hint at a
military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations before it moves enough
of them underground to protect them from Israel’s bombs…. The United
States is playing up its assessment that Iran has not made its final
decision in a public campaign to persuade Israel to call off any
attack plan and allow the increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran
time to persuade Tehran to back down.

The concern — which is widely shared in Israel as part of a complex
calculation — is of an Iranian retaliation that might spark regional
conflict and send oil prices soaring, at a time when the world economy
is already struggling and U.S. presidential elections loom.

Also in the equation are concerns about the ability of the Israeli
home front to withstand a sustained barrage of Iranian missiles fired
in retaliation. Iranian surrogates Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in
the Gaza Strip could also bombard Israel with thousands of rockets,
and U.S. troops in the Gulf region could also become targets.

Several senior Israeli officials who spoke in recent days to The
Associated Press said Israel has come around to the U.S. view that no
final decision to build a bomb has been made by Iran…..  Israel
itself is widely believe to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, though
it has a policy of neither confirming nor denying that….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/18/israel-iran-nuclear-bomb_n_1357940.html

March 19, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, Israel, politics international