28 Mar 2024
Wednesday 30 January 2013 - 17:56
Story Code : 18951

Netanyahu hints Israel cant destroy Iran nuke program


Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses the foreign media in JerusalemIsrael can inflict significant damage to Iranian facilities, but the US military is perfectly capable of destroying them, PM says
Israel could do significant damage to Irans nuclear program in a militarystrike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, seeming to admit that Jerusalem would need help from the US or another country if it wanted to fully demolish Tehrans nuclear drive.

Speaking before the board of theAmerican Jewish Committee, Netanyahu said the United States was perfectly capable of knocking out Irans enrichment program, widely believed to be for military purposes, Maariv reported.

Netanyahus statement seems to falls in line with past assessments by US officials and other experts that a unilateral Israeli strike would fall short of destrying the Iranian program. Official Jerusalem has maintained that it could proceed on its own should the world not act before the Iranian program crosses the red line beyond which it can build a nuclear bomb.

Netanyahu told theAJC delegation,inIsrael for a three-day visit, that Western economic sanctions against Iran, which were a result of Israeli pressure on the international community, would only be effective if the Iranians have a credible threat over their heads.

To be a credible threat, you have to mean it, Netanyahu said. That is, if the sanctions are not effective, and they are not so far, you will use it.

This is a specific task that the US is able to do perfectly, and we are able to cause significant damage, the prime minister said, adding that2013 was the year of decision because of Irans continuing efforts to acquire enough highly-enriched uranium to create a nuclear bomb, despite sanctions.

Last week,a massive explosion was reported at Irans Fordo nuclear facilityand reportedly confirmed by unnamed Israeli sources, although Iran denied that the incident took place,as did the US and the IAEA.

Iran is enriching uranium at Fordo to a level that is just a technical step away from nuclear warhead material, althoughTehran says it is enriching only for reactor fuel and for scientific purposes and denies accusations it wants nuclear arms.

By The Times of Israel

 

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