The Iranian defense minister was quoted yesterday as warning Israel of a "very painful" response if it launched a military strike over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear program.
On Friday, Israeli Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told an Israeli newspaper an attack on Iran looked “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of UN sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential.
“Our armed forces are at the height of their readiness and if anyone should want to undertake such a foolish job, the response would be very painful,” a state-run Iranian daily quoted Iranian Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as saying.
Some Israeli political commentators have accused Mofaz — whose comments helped drive up oil prices to a record US$139 a barrel on Friday — of making them to advance his personal political ambitions.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked ministers at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday to refrain from discussing sensitive matters publicly, officials said.
Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal, has described Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence. Olmert last week said it must be stopped by “all possible means.”
The US, which is leading efforts to isolate Tehran over nuclear work the West fears is aimed at making bombs, says it wants a diplomatic solution to the row, but has not ruled out military action if that were to fail.
Israel bombed an Iraqi reactor in 1981 and an Israeli air raid on Syria in September razed what the US said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.
But many analysts say Iran’s nuclear sites are too numerous, distant and fortified for Israel to take on alone.
“Israel cannot do it on its own,” London-based defense analyst Andrew Brookes said. “It is beyond the capability of the Israeli air force to do it because of the distance involved and the dispersed nature of all the sites.”
“The only way it can be done is with the full assistance of the United States,” said Brookes, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
Iranian military leaders have threatened to attack Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state takes any military actions against Iran.
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