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Iran's nuclear ambitions pose the next big test
By Uzi Mahnaimi
01/08/06 "The
Times" -- -- Israel's acting leader has already been
briefed on plans to strike at atomic facilities
DECIDING how to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme will be one of
the main challenges faced by Ehud Olmert, who has taken over as
acting prime minister at a time when Tehran appears to be stepping
up its attempts to make an atomic bomb.
There have been persistent suggestions in Israel that, in the weeks
before his stroke, Ariel Sharon was involved in talks with the
military about a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities,
perhaps even before Israel’s election this March. Sharon reportedly
visited special force and strategic airforce squadrons and was given
details of military plans.
Although Israeli authorities have neither denied nor confirmed such
plans, the mood in the country appears to be hardening.
A columnist in The Jerusalem Post, noting the rumours, described
Iran’s nuclear weapons programme last week as “the greatest
challenge facing the state of Israel today”.
“There is no room for doubt,” wrote the columnist, Caroline Glick.
“The need to conduct a military strike against Iran’s nuclear
programme increases with each passing day.”
Concerns have been intensified by the announcement last week by
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s hardline president, that he will press
ahead with atomic fuel research and development shelved more than a
year ago at the insistence of the West.
Security sources said that since taking over as acting leader,
Olmert has been given details of the attack plans. Unlike Sharon,
however, he does not have a military background and any decision on
action would be taken by an ad hoc three-man body set up this
weekend, which also includes Shaul Mofaz, the defence minister, and
General Dan Halutz, the armed forces chief of staff.
The precise nature of any Israeli attack is a secret, but a security
source said it would employ highly sophisticated weaponry and
involve the targeting of at least 10 Iranian installations.
There is a precedent in Israel’s strike on Iraq’s Osirak plant in
1981, credited with destroying the nuclear programme of Saddam
Hussein.
No such move would be taken without consulting Shimon Peres, 83, the
former prime minister and the country’s senior statesman. “It all
depends on Peres’s influence,” said one source. “It is unlikely that
Olmert will make such a decision against his recommendations.”
Peres, who opposed the attack on Osirak, is believed still to oppose
an attack on Iran. It is thought his position may change, however,
if Ahmadinejad continues to try to realise his nuclear ambitions.
The tense relations between Israel and Iran have been further
poisoned by Ahmadinejad’s reaction to Sharon’s stroke. The Iranian
president called him a criminal and said he hoped news that he “has
joined his ancestors is correct”.
Amid growing international concern, it emerged this weekend that the
world’s five major nuclear powers — America, Britain, France, Russia
and China — are working on a joint statement urging Iran not to go
ahead with enrichment but to return to the negotiating table. Their
statement, known as a démarche, is not expected to contain specific
threats but officials said it could still have significant political
impact. According to one American official it would allow the five
to “show unity and cohesion, which has not always been there”.
Any decision on referring Iran to the security council and possible
sanctions would be taken by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Its next scheduled meeting is not until March 6, but an emergency
session could be called before then.
Hopes of a solution, in the meantime, have been pinned on a possible
compromise under which Russia would enrich uranium mined in Iran to
ensure that it is processed only into the low-grade fuel needed for
power stations.
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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