US Warns Israel Against Pre-Obama Attacks On Iran Or Hamas

As a matter of disclosed public record, Iran has enough nuclear material for a bomb. All signs indicate that they will massively increase their capabilities in 2009 even if the Bushehr reactor doesn't go online - which it will. They've been smuggling high tech missile parts from rogue regimes, they've been building up their conventional arsenal, and they may very well be developing other weapons of mass destruction:
U.S. intelligence agencies, think tanks, and non-governmental organizations just can't shake the suspicion that Iran may be trying to assemble other weapons of mass destruction, too: an arsenal of chemical and biological arms... U.S. observers still have a nagging feeling that Iran has been up to something... [They've] backed off of earlier claims in 2003 that Iran is definitely developing and stockpiling CB weapons to more conservative statements in this year that Iran has the capability to do so, and is suspected of engaging in CB weapons research and development.
Meanwhile the most recent round of new sanctions were a total bust. So obvious is the Iranian menace that Britain's FM took a break from his groveling apologias to radical Muslims in order to acknowledge that Iran is an immediate threat. As in right now:
Britain's foreign policy chief says Iran's nuclear program presents an immediate threat to the Middle East and the rest of the world. The comments Monday by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband come a few days after a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency said its investigation into Iran's nuclear program was "deadlocked."
Luckily the IAF seems to think that it can degrade Iran's nuclear facitilies - so maybe there's a slight chance that somone can stop nukes from falling into the hands of the apocalyptic Iranian regime. Oh - except for one thing:
The US has requested that Israel refrain from embarking on any large-scale operations during the last weeks of the George W. Bush administration... The magazine quotes an unnamed Israeli source at the Defense Ministry as saying, "We have been warned off." IDF officials hinted in the past that a preemptive attack on Iran's nuclear installations might be timed to take place before the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama... The request, reportedly relayed to Israeli officials by senior US counterparts, was likely to be reiterated on Monday during Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's last meeting with Bush with both leaders still serving as of heads of state.
The usual warnings about how we don't really know anything regarding US or Israeli intentions applies. Olmert is saying this morning that no warning got passed to him. Which is probably not true - but wouldn't it be great if it was?
References:
* Inevitable: Iran Has Enough Material For A Nuke (Plus: US Foreign Policy Sophisticates Urge Obama To Abandon Sanctions Because "Threats" Don't Work) [MR]
* 'Iran to make big nuke program strides' [JPost]
* Iran wants Bushehr operational in 2009 [JPost]
* Newsweek: US foiled missile shipment to Iran [JPost]
* Iran Building Up Its Conventional Arsenal Too [MR]
* Talks yield no new sanctions against Iran's nuclear program [LAT]
* Chemical, Biological Arms: Iran's Other WMDs [Danger Room]
* Miliband calls for Muslim support [Yorkshire Post]
* Britain's Miliband calls Iran an immediate threat [JPost]
* Israel displays airpower it could use against Iran [Reuters]
* 'US warns Israel against large IDF ops' [JPost]
* Helpful Reminder - We Don't Know Anything About US And/Or Israel Plans To Hit Iran [MR]
* Olmert: U.S. never advised Israel to use restraint against Iran [Ha'aretz]
* Obama's Top NSA And CIA Picks: Harsh On Israel, Sympathetic To Iran And Hezbollah [MR]
Previously:
* Iran: We're Going To Preemptively Attack Israel
* New EU Court Rulings Mean That Obama's "Strong Carrots, Strong Sticks" Iran Strategy Now Only Carrots
* Israeli Newspapers Not Very Hopeful About Impending Change In US-Israel Alliance








