Israel to US: We reserve ‘right’ to bomb Iran
Press TV
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Obama administration that Tel Aviv “reserves itself operational freedom” on Iran, according to an aide.
The premier during his recent visit to Washington “clarified that Israel reserves itself operational freedom, and several of the most senior figures in the Obama administration said ‘of course’,” Netanyahu’s national security advisor Uzi Arad told Israel Army Radio.
The remarks came a day after CIA Director Leon Panetta said that Tel Aviv knows that launching a military attack on Iran would mean “big trouble”.
The CIA director acknowledged that he had recently visited Israel to warn its leaders against staging an attack on Iran.
“The Israelis are obviously concerned about Iran and focused on it. But [Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu] understands that if Israel goes it alone, it will mean big trouble. He knows that for the sake of Israeli security, they have to work together with others,” Panetta said.
Arad, however, claimed that the US acknowledged that “it would not necessarily receive forewarning of an Israeli strike against Tehran’s nuclear facilities.”
He explained that even in the past “Israel did not update the United States regarding military operations.”
Netanyahu, after his meeting with Barack Obama, declared that he had “reached a great understanding on Iran” with the US president.
Israel — the sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal in the Middle East — accuses Iran of making efforts to develop atomic bombs, maintaining that a “nuclear Iran” is the prime existential threat to its security.
Iran, which conducts a low-level enrichment program, is signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to install surveillance cameras at its facilities and to conduct nuclear inspections.
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