Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister issued a blunt warning to European leaders assembled in Davos, Switzerland. Time is running out, and soon Iran will have entrenched its nuclear development facilities beyond the point where a single precision strike will not suffice to stop them. The London Daily Telegraph quoted Barak as follows.
“We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table.
It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them.”
The “framework of immunity” has long lurked in the background of dicussions of Iran and its nuclear capabilities, but a recent announcement earlier this month by the Iranians lent such discussions a new urgency. The Iranians announced that they will soon be enriching their uranum at a plant in Fordow. The plant is buried so deep inside a mountain that Iranians fear it may be beyond the reach of any sort of air strike, either by missile or by airplane.
Israel’s assessment of Iran’ nuclear capabilities is considerably more pessimistic from the United States, which believes that Iran is years away from being able to launch a nuclear missile. The case laid out by Barak at the international summit seems to be one designed to lay out a case for an Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear installations. In all likelihood, there would be pro forma denunciations of the attack and expressions of “grave concern”. Such token expresions of western disapproval would probably mask behind the scenes relief that would greet news of Iran being denuked. Whatever the norms of national sovereignty that Iran uses to defend its nuclear program, Iran is in the family of nations like the demented uncle who is not supposed to be left alone around sharp objects. Whatever Israel does will be condemned. If it does nothing, it will be taunted for is cowardice.And if it strikes Iran, it will be condemned for aggression.
