Israel unlikely to strike Iran this year

PanARMENIAN.Net - Robert Gates, U.S. Defense Secretary, has said Israel is unlikely to attack Iran this year to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.



In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Gates said there was still enough time to persuade Iran to abandon what is widely perceived to be a nuclear weapons program.



Mr Gates said he does not expect Israel - which believes the U.S. estimate for when Iran could develop a nuclear weapon is too sanguine - to take military action this year.



"I guess I would say I would be surprised…if they did act this year," he said.



As he was sworn in as the new Israeli prime minister this week, Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the greatest danger to Israel was Iran's attempt to develop nuclear weapons. But asked whether Iran would cross a nuclear "red line" this year, Mr Gates said: "I don't know, I would guess probably not".



"I think we have more time than that. How much more time I don't know," said Mr Gates. "It is a year, two years, three years. It is somewhere in that window."



Israel raised the specter of war last year by conducting a large scale military exercise that some experts saw as a practice run for an attack on Iran. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs, later delivered an unusual public warning following a visit to Israel, saying "this is a very unstable part of the world, and I don't need it to be more unstable".



Speaking before U.S. President Barack Obama meets NATO leaders in France and Germany this weekend, Mr Gates urged Europe to boost its commitment to Afghanistan in the wake of the new US strategy.



Mr Gates, who has made multiple frustrated trips to Europe to get more combat troops, said the U.S. would request resources that were more politically palatable to the European public. He urged Europe to provide money for the expansion of the Afghan army, civilian experts in areas such as agriculture, health and clean water, and trainers for the Afghan police.



Extrapolating from analyst assessments that the most advanced Jerichos carry 1,650-lb conventional warheads, Abdullah Toukan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said 42 missiles would be enough to "severely damage or demolish" Iran's core nuclear sites at Natanz, Esfahan and Arak.