A major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month has given rise to the speculation of a possible military aggression against Iranian nuclear establishments by Israel. Rumors doing the rounds in media are strongly supported by US officials. Greek air force’s central command too has come up with the revelation that it had taken part in a joint exercise with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete on May 28 and June 12. It was code named “Glorious Spartan 08.” The exercise involved 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters.
While this report warrants a serious scrutiny, media assigned it a form that demonstrated Israel’s serious concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The result was that senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned Israel of a strong repercussion if it nurtured armed designs against Iran. Most probably, the report of this joint military exercise brought the June 6 statement of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz to the fore of his brain, in which Mofaz had warned that Iran would face attack if it did not halt its nuclear weapons program.
To prevent this scenario from collapsing into a state of international political conflagration, the UN too switched into its hyperactive mode. However, the impression of the US ambassador in the UN Zalmay Khalilzad made one suspect the whole issue. He referred simply to media reports while making his point in the house. Speaking to media, he improvised, “We’re in the phase of diplomacy, we want a diplomatic settlement of this issue.”
The US administration too subtly whipped up unpleasantries by its behaviour. Veiled indecision of President George Bush was clear when he murmured that he prefers a diplomatic solution though he did not ruled out using force (against Iran). Back at home, spokesman Sean McCormack of the State Department in Washington was circumspect.
Sensing acrimony in the air, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was gurgling his nation’s marked dichotomy of “no-proof-Iran-is-developing-nuclear-weapons” in a Moscow speech.
In the meantime, a strong talk about what happens if Israel really attacks Iran is raging the world. A strategy analysis says that If force is used by Israel, their options would be several raids on the scale of Operation Eldorado Canyon or the Osirak Raid with almost no chance of permanently stopping the Iranian nuclear program or even significantly delaying it. Then, blocking Iranian trade and preemptive nuclear attacks too have been reached at with the conclusion that the first two will not stop Iran and the third will likely be too politically costly for Israel.
This whole episode needs to be discussed in a class of the political art of whipping up mutual hatred and distaste among nations. No one can say that such exercises of reading unnecessary messages between the lines have helped anyone since the days of German unification under Bismarck.
Image Credit: Doctorbulldog
Source: The Raw Story
