US fears Israeli strike against Iran over latest nuclear claim (London Times)

I can see Israel sucking US into war with Iran this way as well. Can
keep an eye on the latest about the coming war with Iran via the
following URL and via http://neoconzionistthreat.blogspot.com too as
the London Times article is included below as well):

War with Iran real risk according to former CIA operative

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0...ic.php?t=71055

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2827787.ece


From The Times
November 8, 2007
US fears Israeli strike against Iran over latest nuclear claim

Tom Baldwin in Washington, James Hider in Jerusalem and Francis
Elliott, Deputy Political Editor
A claim by President Ahmadinejad that Iran has 3,000 working uranium-
enriching centrifuges sent a tremor across the world yesterday amid
fears that Israel would respond by bombing the country's nuclear
facilities.
Military sources in Washington said that the existence of such a large
number could be a "tipping point", triggering an Israeli air strike.
The Pentagon is reluctant to take military action against Iran, but
officials say that Israel is a "different matter". Amid the
international uproar, British MPs who were to have toured the nuclear
facility were backing out of their Iran trip.
Even before President Ahmadinejad's announcement, a US defence
official told The Times yesterday: "Israel could do something when
they get to around 3,000 working centrifuges. The Pentagon is minded
to wait a little longer." US experts say 3,000 machines running for
long periods could make enough enriched uranium for an atomic bomb
within a year.
Israel responded by serving notice that it would not tolerate a
nuclear Iran. "Talks never did, and never will, stop rockets," said
Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, after talks with the security
cabinet.
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The US and Western allies believe that Iran is using its civilian
nuclear programme as a cover for weapon development. Tehran says that
it merely wants to generate electricity.
Concern about Israel's intentions has been heightened by its recent
air strike on a suspected nuclear plant in Syria. In 1981 Israel
destroyed Saddam Hussein's Iraqi nuclear reactor, and as the sole - if
undeclared - nuclear power in the region, it now considers Iran the
most serious threat to its security. Mr Ahmadinejad has called for
Israel to be "wiped off the map".
Efraim Inbar, of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies in Tel
Aviv, said that the figure of 3,000 centrifuges would signal the
ability of Israel's arch-foe to produce the nuclear material needed
for a warhead. "I wouldn't be surprised if we do something if the
international community leaves us alone," he said. "I think we
[Israel] are preparing for it. For Israel this is a critical
technological moment."
Tehran says it plans to expand its enrichment programme to up to
54,000 centrifuges at Natanz in central Iran, which would amount to
industrial-scale uranium enrichment.
Mr Ahmadinejad, speaking yesterday at a rally, said that UN sanctions
had failed to halt uranium enrichment. "The world must know that this
nation will not give up one iota of its nuclear rights . . . if they
think they can get concessions from this nation, they are badly
mistaken," he said. He has in the past claimed that Iran succeeded in
installing the 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility
but yesterday's speech was the first time he had said all of them were
now operational.
The International Atomic Energy Authority recently put the figure at
closer to 2,000, with another 650 being tested. The IAEA said
yesterday: "We will be publishing a report next week. We will not make
any comment about this until then." Javier Solana, the EU foreign
policy chief, is shortly to report on Iran's willingness to give up
uranium enrichment in exchange for political and trade incentives.
In London, at least five members of the Commons Foreign Affairs
Committee were refusing to take part in the planned trip to Iran,
arguing that it would hand the regime a propaganda coup. The visit, to
begin on Sunday, would be the first by a select committee since 15
British Service personnel were held in March. That incident and
evidence that the regime is supporting insurgencies in Afghanistan and
Iraq and planning to build a nuclear bomb has strained relations with
Britain.
About eight MPs, from all three main parties, are still planning to
spend four days in Iran next week.
Eric Illsley, a Labour MP who is one of those to have pulled out,
said: "I really don't fancy having pictures of me next to an Iranian
nuclear facility beamed around the world."
- Intelligence agencies have begun to vet all foreign postgraduates
applying to study sensitive scientific subjects in Britain. The aim is
to prevent Iranian students getting expertise in fields related to
producing weapons of mass destruction. Sixty Iranians have been
refused university places this year.
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James Petras: Deadly Embrace: Zion-power and War

http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0...ic.php?t=81331

http://NEOCONZIONISTTHREAT.BLOGSPOT.COM

http://NOMOREWARFORISRAEL.BLOGSPOT.COM