Israeli study exposes fallacy of Iran

threat
Tue, 12 May 2009 07:31:20 GMT
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The Israeli Air Force has been ordered to prepare for a military showdown with Iran.
A new Israeli assessment rejects oft-stated claims that Iran poses a missile threat to Israel and
suggests the country's rocket program to have other objectives.

After years of branding Iranian rockets as "an existential threat" to Israel, the former head of
the Israeli military Arrow missile project, Uzi Rubin, noted in a recent report that Tehran has
garnered missile know-how "to defend, deter and influence".

Rubin said Iran's ongoing scientific advancements and military breakthroughs show that the
Tehran government would stop at nothing to protect the Iranian people in the event of war.

According to the former security official, Israel's Air Force is counterbalanced by Iran's state-
of-the-art missile program. "Missiles are an equalizer, balancing the superiority of Israel's air
force," he observed.

Tal Inbar, the head of the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies who co-authored
the assessment with Rubin, noted the "noncontinuous progress" in Iran's missile project but
doubted that it would pose an actual threat to Israel's existence.

He, however, added that Iranian missiles would be capable of traveling 3,000 kilometers in
the near future, a prospect he deemed 'concerning'.

The study comes only a week after Israeli Air Force (IAF) reservists who operate the ballistic
missile destroyer, the Arrow, and the surface-to-air missile, Patriot, were ordered to spend one
day a week on duty to prepare for a future military showdown with Iran.

Israel, in recent years, has strived to portray Iran's missile program, space research and
nuclear activities as a "menace" and has thus managed to draw up a case for war against the
country.

This is while Tel Aviv is widely regarded as the sixth-largest nuclear power in the world and
the sole possessor of an atomic arsenal in the Middle East. Israel reportedly houses at least
100 bunker-busting bombs, which come in the form of laser-guided mini-nukes with the
ability of penetrating underground targets.
During the Kennedy administration, Israel allowed American inspectors to make visits to its
Dimona plant, but investigations eventually came to a halt in 1969 when former US president
Richard Nixon secretly endorsed Tel Aviv's atomic arsenal.

In the early 1970s, Israel had already developed missiles capable of delivering nuclear
warheads to most countries in the region, including Iran and Russia.

For years, senior Israeli political, military and intelligence figures have threatened to bomb
Iran's nuclear infrastructure out of existence, but the prospect of go-it-alone Israeli air strikes
has significantly risen since Benjamin Netanyahu took up the baton in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu's hawkish policies during his previous prime ministerial term (1996-1999) have
been described by The Economist as a "calamity" for the peace process.

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