Iran warns Washington
TEHRAN — Iran will hold the US responsible for any Israeli attack against the country, Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, has said.
His remarks came after Joe Biden, the US vice-president, said that Washington would not dictate the way Israel deals with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“We will consider the Americans responsible in any adventure launched by the Zionist entity,” Larijani said in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Monday during an official visit.
“No politician or person in the world can imagine that the Zionist entity can lead an operation without getting the green light from the United States.”
Larijani said the Islamic republic’s response to an attack would be “decisive and painful”.
Standing by Israel’s interests
Biden said in an interview on Sunday that the US would not stand in the way of Israel in its dealings with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” he told ABC television.
“Whether we agree or not. They’re entitled to do that … 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.”
Larijani said Biden’s comments was “political maneuver. We have heard a lot of these words in the past”.
“Biden, by saying that they (the United States) can’t prevent such an operation, has taken the wrong route and revealed his card”.
Asked about US calls for dialogue, Larijani said: “We want to work seriously. … But on one side they tell us ‘we want to resolve the problems and negotiate’, on another we hear what Mr, Biden says.”
‘We’re committed to Israel’s security’
Following the controversy triggered by Biden’s interview, the US administration denied that it was giving Israel any green light to attack Iran or that it was reconsidering plans to engage
diplomatically with Tehran.
“I certainly would not want to give a green light to any kind of military action,” Ian Kelly, the US state department spokesman, said late on Monday.
But he echoed Biden’s point that Washington considered Israel a “sovereign country” with a right to make its own military decisions.
“We’re not going to dictate its actions,” Kelly said.
“We’re also committed to Israel’s security. And we share Israel’s deep concerns about Iran’s nuclear program.”
Kelly brushed aside the idea that Biden was signaling a move by the Obama administration to drop its policy of diplomatic engagement with Iran, saying: “I wouldn’t read into it any more than what
you see.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/07/200977602190659.html
Saudis reported ready to allow Israeli raid on Iran
By UZI MAHNAIMI & SARAH
The Sunday Times, London Sunday, 5 July 2009
TEL AVIV — The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any
future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility.
The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
‘Common interests’
“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,” a diplomatic source said last week.
Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defense source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis.
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.
Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”
Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said.
Earlier attack on Syrian site
Referring to the Israeli attack on an alleged Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, Bolton added: “To this day, the Israelis haven’t admitted the specifics but there’s one less nuclear facility in Syria … ”
Recent developments have underscored concerns among moderate Sunni Arab states about the stability of the repressive Shi’ite regime in Tehran and have increased fears that it may emerge as a belligerent nuclear power.
“The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis,” said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence.
The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the center of the country and other locations for four years.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6638568.ece