Report: Gulf states give Israel ok to use
airspace for strikes against Iran
By israelinsider staff and partners
02/25/07 "Israelinsider" -- February 25, 2007 --- Israel
requested permission from the United States to fly through Iraqi
airspace, in case Jerusalem should decide to attack Iran's
nuclear facilities, a Ynet article reported, citing a report
Saturday in the Daily Telegraph.
A senior Israeli defense official said negotiations were
underway for the US to provide an 'air corridor' over Iraq.
However, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh denied the report
Saturday and said any talk of an Israeli offensive against Iran
was speculative alone.
Sneh said the reports apparently came from sources that did not
want to uphold responsibility for the diplomatic inaction
regarding Iran's possible nuclear armament.
In the event that Israel should target Iran's nuclear
facilities, Israeli war planes would have to fly across Iraq to
reach their targets, for which they need authorization from the
Pentagon.
The Israeli defense official who spoke to the Telegraph said
Israel was "planning for every eventuality, and sorting out
issues such as these are crucially important."
"The only way to do this is to fly through US-controlled air
space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a
situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting
at each other," he added.
Meanwhile, on Sunday the Kuwaiti daily al-Siyassah reported that
the Gulf states of Oman and the UAE would allow Israel to use
their airspace should the Jewish state decide to launch
preemptive strikes against Iran. The report quoted European and
Arab diplomats.
The newspaper also quoted a Pentagon official said saying that
Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan would assist Israeli raids on
Iran.
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