U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden yesterday said that Israel does not need Washington's approval when it decides how to address Iran's disputed nuclear activities, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 2).
Israel, the United States and some European countries have expressed concern that Iran's uranium enrichment program could generate nuclear-weapon material, but Tehran has insisted the effort would only produce nuclear power plant fuel.
"We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they're existentially threatened," Biden told ABC News.
"The U.S., like Israel ... has determined unequivocally that Iran must not have nuclear military capability," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told Israeli army radio.
"A military operation in Iran is something difficult and complex and perhaps would have severe consequences and there could be serious damage, but this is much less dangerous and complicated than to allow a nuclear Iran," he added (JoAnne Allen, Reuters I, July 6).
An Israeli submarine moved up the Suez Canal to the Red Sea during a June naval exercise, demonstrating Israel's ability to target Iran, defense sources told Reuters on Friday.
Israel's three Dolphin-class submarines are widely presumed to carry nuclear armaments, according to Reuters (Dan Williams, Reuters II, July 3).
The Israeli air force is expected to join several flight exercises with allied nations this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported today. The drills are intended to help prepare Israeli flight crews to conduct longer-range missions, according to Israeli media (Xinhua News Agency, July 6).
Saudi Arabia secretly indicated earlier this year that it would not turn away Israeli military aircraft flying over the nation to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, the London Times reported yesterday.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” one diplomatic source said (Mahnaimi/Baxter, London Times, July 5).
The Saudi Foreign Ministry today rejected the report, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Of course this is not true. We don't have any kind of relationship with the Israelis," said agency spokesman Osama Nugali (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, July 6).
A prominent Iranian lawmaker today said his country was prepared for Israeli strikes, the Associated Press reported.
"Both the U.S. and Israel are aware of the consequence of an erroneous decision," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the national security and foreign policy committee of Iran's parliament.
"I believe our response will be real and decisive," he said without giving further details (Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press/Google News, July 6).
Meanwhile, Biden and U.S. President Barack Obama indicated this weekend that they would continue seeking to resolve the nuclear dispute diplomatically, the New York Times reported.
“We’ve got some fixed national security interests in Iran not developing nuclear weapons, in not exporting terrorism, and we have offered a pathway for Iran to rejoining the international community,” Obama said.
Any military attack on Iran "could be very destabilizing," added Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen. Either attacking Iran or allowing the nation to develop nuclear weapons would be "really, really bad outcomes," he said (David Sanger, New York Times, July 6).
The next leader of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that he was not aware of any proof that Iran was seeking the capability to produce nuclear weapons (see GSN, July 2).
"I don't see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this," Yukiya Amano said in response to a question. Amano is set to take office this fall, following the exit of IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.
"I'm not going to be a 'soft' director general or a 'tough' director general," he said when asked how he would address nuclear disputes with Iran and Syria (Sylvia Westall, Reuters III, July 3).