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Bush Warns Military Strike Option Against Iran

AP
June 11, 2008

President Bush said Wednesday that his first choice is to solve a nuclear standoff with Iran by using diplomacy, but “all options are on the table.”

The president reinforced the possibility of military strike against Iran, even as a last resort, during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to world peace, and he is rallying European allies to back sanctions.

The president is pushing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment in a verifiable way. Iran insists it is enriching only for peaceful purposes.

Bush said, “I told the chancellor my first choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically.” He quickly added, “all options are on the table.”

Merkel said if Iran does not agree to suspend its enrichment program, additional sanctions would be needed.

“The offer has been put on the table to Iran, but … if Iran does not meet its commitments, then further sanctions will simply have to follow,” she said.

Europeans want to wait on stiffer sanctions until after the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Tehran to present a package of incentives in exchange for stopping its enrichment program. The offer, an updated version of one that Iran ignored a few years ago, was developed by the United States, along with Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China.

The diplomatic pressure came as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday said Bush’s era “has come to an end” and he has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad said pressures and sanctions won’t succeed in forcing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. “If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong,” he said.

Bush, in the midst of a farewell trip through Europe, visited with Merkel and addressed reporters in another session dominated by Iran.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel or materials for bomb. Iran continues to defy them.

Bush on Tuesday won new European promises to tighten pressure on Tehran, possibly with new sanctions. The president had not mentioned the prospect of “all options” on Tuesday in Slovenia when discussing Iran, although he has before.

“Our position is that we ought to enforce the sanctions in place and we ought to work with our allies to levy additional sanctions if they choose — if the Iranians choose to continue to ignore the demands of the free world,” Bush said.

Merkel said she favors having sanctions decided through the U.N. Security Council, but that doesn’t preclude any discussion within the European Union about whether there are other punitive measures, perhaps in the banking sector.

Addressing opponents of taking certain sanctions, Merkel said “Let us think of the people in Iran. This is what is essential. I think these people deserve a better outlook. … And we would hope that the leadership in Iran would finally see reason.”

Bush also was asked about the war in Iraq, and he said the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 was the right decision:

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Israel launches ‘Iran Command’ for war

Press TV
June 10, 2008

Israel has reportedly started to set up an ‘Iran Command’ within its air force as part of preparations for a possible war against Iran.

According to reports by unnamed Israeli military sources, the regime’s air force has launched ‘Iran Command’ to coordinate operations to ‘confront the growing threat from Tehran’.

The command’s operations are aimed at improving coordination among Israeli ballistic missiles and air and missile brigades which deploy the Arrow and Patriot missile systems.

The report comes amid ramped up Israeli rhetoric against Iran over the country’s nuclear program.

Earlier this week, Israeli deputy prime minister Shaoul Mofaz accused Iran of running a nuclear weapons program and threatened to launch a military strike on Iran with the help of US if Tehran continues with its nuclear program.

This is while Iran insists that it is conducting its nuclear program under the regulations of the UN nuclear watchdog and insists that its program is aimed at generating electricity for a growing population.

Israel, believed to be the sole possessor of ‘at least 150 nuclear warheads’ in the Middle East, seeks to persuade US President George W. Bush to halt Iran’s nuclear program by military rather than diplomatic means before the end of his term in office.

Mofaz: Israel attack on Iran ‘unavoidable’

Reuters
June 6, 2008

An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s deputies said on Friday.

“If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable,” said the former army chief who has also been defence minister.

It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert’s government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end.

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