The United States government reportedly began coordinating with NATO its plans for a possible military attack against Iran.
The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel collected various reports from the German media indicating that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are examining the prospects of such a strike.
According to the report, CIA Director Porter Goss, in his last visit to Turkey on December 12, requested Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to provide military bases to the United States in 2006 from where they would be able to launch an assault.
The German news agency DDP also noted that countries neighboring Iran, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, and Pakistan were also updated regarding the supposed plan. American sources sent to those countries apparently mentioned an aerial attack as a possibility, but did not provide a time frame for the operation.
Although Der Spiegel could not say that these plans were concrete, they did note that according to a January 2005 New Yorker report American forces had entered Iran in 2005 in order to mark possible targets for an aerial assault.
Iran promises crushing response if US or Israel attack
Tehran: Iran has warned of a "crushing" response if its nuclear and military facilities were attacked by the US or Israel. Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Sunday, however, that talk of such an attack most likely was "psychological warfare."
"Iran has prepared itself ... they will get a crushing response if they make such a mistake," Larijani said on state-run television late on Sunday night. Larijani said Israel would "suffer greatly" if it launched an attack. "If there is any truth in such talks, Israel will suffer greatly. It's a very small country within our range. Our (defence) preparedness is a deterrence," he said. He also said, a Russian proposal that the two nations enrich uranium in Russian territory could not ignore Iran's right to carry out enrichment at home.
"It's not logical for a country to put the fate of its nation at the disposal of another country even if it's a friend. You can meet part of your fuel needs from abroad. But is there a guarantee that nuclear fuel producers won't play with you over price or other things? History and experience show that if you don't have technology, you will damage your independence,'' he said.
Larijani's remarks coincided with Tehran's announcement that it had produced equipment for separating uranium from its ore, a fresh development in Tehran's drive to control the whole nuclear fuel cycle _ from mining uranium to enriching it for use in atomic reactors.
A nuclear armed Iran will trigger a mad dash by its neighbors to also acquire the bomb'. That's the reaction of a senior Israeli official to the specter of a nuclear arsenal at the command of the Ayatollahs in Teheran. This is David Essing reporting:
The story in the German magazine Der Spiegel indicates Israel is not the only country worried about Iran passing the point of no return in the not too distant future. Der Spiegel writes that U.S. President George Bush is planning an attack on Iran's nuclear installation in coming months. Bush has reportedly sent senior envoys to Middle East states to coordinate such an offensive; CIA director Porter Goss was said to have visited Turkey three weeks ago seeking Turkish support.
Goss reportedly revealed Iran's involvement in al Qaeda. In return for Turkey's cooperation, the U.S. promised to act rigorously against the Kurdish PKK based in northern Iraq which is fighting for Kurdish independence in Turkey. The Americans were also said to have approached Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan and Oman. However, the U.S. had not presented any detailed time-table; it only sought agreement in principle for action to curb the Iranian nuclear threat.
A senior Israeli official says there are mounting signs that Iran's Middle East neighbors are also apprehensive about the Iranians getting their hands on nuclear weapons. The Ayatollahs espouse an Islamist revolution throughout the region and if the radical regime arms its missiles with nuclear warheads, the Middle East would be hurled into even greater instability. Egypt, where Iran has tried to export its Khomeini ideology, would likely try to counter the Iranian nuclear threat by developing its own nuclear weapons.
In a new twist, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres proposes that Israel seek 'an American umbrella' from the U.S. to cope with the Iranian nuclear threat. Peres made the comment in a Channel two interview, but his two interviewers failed to take notice and follow up his idea.
The Der Spiegel expose could be designed to exert American pressure on Iran not to develop a nuclear weapons capability. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna has been dithering about sending Iran's uranium enrichment program to the U.N. Security Council for the imposing of sanctions on Teheran. If the Der Spiegel report is true, it is a warning to Iran not to start up its centrifuges for enriching uranium and also to the IAEA that time is running out. (In a recent briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense, Mossad chief Meir Dagan said Iran could acquire nuclear independence within 'a number of months' after launching its uranium enrichment program. Then it would not be a question of IF but When, Iran acquired its own bomb. Dagan made clear 'the Iranians do not want to enrich uranium for producing electricity'.
A strike on Iran's nuclear facilities would be in keeping with Bush administration policy of pre-empting perceived threats to the U.S. On this score, although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has spoken about the Jewish state being 'wiped off the map', Israel is still the 'little Satan ' compared to the 'great Satan' America. Official U.S. policy is that Washington will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Footnote: Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once referred to how timely intervention can avert historic calamities. His case in point was the failure for the free world to react forcefully when it was still possible to deter Adolph Hitler when as he began his step by step aggrandizement of territory in the prelude to World War II. Kissinger contended that by so doing, Nazi Germany might have been deterred from launching the near 'Armageddon' of the twentieth century.
