Israel, obviously facing the greatest threat from a nuclear-armed Iran, is on the verge of drawing a line in the sand.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has told French lawmakers that Iran is at “the point of no-return” on building nuclear weapons, according to a transcript of his remarks to the National Assembly.
Mofaz, who warned openly in London this week that Iran would not be permitted to build a nuclear bomb, has in the past said that Israel has operational plans in place for a strike against Iranian targets.
Mofaz told the French National Assembly’s defense commission that “he ardently hoped that a recourse to military action would not be necessary” in Iran, according the transcript of the Tuesday meeting.
But he said that to avoid this, there would have to be careful inspections aimed at removing any ambiguity about the existence of a military nuclear project.
Even if Iran recognized Israel’s existence, Mofaz said “the possession of a nuclear weapon by an extremist regime is not acceptable.”
“The danger is great,” he said. “The possession of non-conventional weapons could allow Iran to carry out terrorist actions with complete impunity and destabilize the free world.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned earlier this week that any attack against the country would be met with an “astonishing” retaliation.
The last portion about retaliation against a possible Israeli strike is not just idle bluster. That Iran has missiles that can reach Israel and could wage a vicious terrorism campaign against the Jewish state are a certainty; Israel would have to weigh these against the level of danger based on Iran’s feared nuclear capabilities. Desperation would indeed have to be the decisive factor. This is multiplied by the complexity and difficulty behind any Israeli move — this would be no raid on Osiraq. The Iranian nuclear facilities are said to be dispersed and would be assuredly better protected.