As Nuclear Talks Resume, Israel Threatens Military Option. Iran Foreign Minister 'All Smiles' Over Nuke Concessions From U.S.

As Nuclear Talks Resume, Israel Threatens Military Option

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said Thursday that all options including military action were on the table in the face of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Speaking to Israel Radio as crunch talks on Iran’s nuclear program continued in Switzerland, Steinitz said Israel would seek to counter any threat through diplomacy and intelligence but “if we have no choice we have no choice… the military option is on the table.”

Asked about possible US objections to Israeli military action, Steinitz pointed to Israel’s unilateral attack against the Osirak nuclear reactor in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1981.

“That operation was not carried out in agreement with the United States,” he said.

Steinitz, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli leader had left no doubt as to the country’s response to nuclear-armed Iran.

“The prime minister has said clearly that Israel will not allow Iran to become a nuclear power,” Steinitz said.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, weary negotiators hoped to see the light at the end of the tunnel Thursday after talking until dawn, but cautioned they were still haggling over the last details to clinch a ground-breaking Iran nuclear deal.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif talked through the night, going line by line over their differences in a bid to seal the outlines of a framework accord to cut back Iran’s nuclear ambitions, diplomats close to the talks said.

They made “significant progress,” but there is no “final result yet,” Zarif told reporters at the luxury lakeside Lausanne hotel hosting the marathon negotiations for the past eight days.

Iranian Foreign Minister 'All Smiles' Over Nuke Concessions From U.S.

Why wouldn’t he be “all smiles”? He’s achieved total victory. “Iranian Foreign Minister ‘All Smiles,’” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, April 1, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, said late Wednesday that he is “all smiles” as talks with Western powers over the country’s nuclear weapons program run past a self-imposed deadline and Tehran pushes the United States to make more concessions.

When asked by a reporter whether he was feeling less optimistic following tension in the negotiating room, Zarif responded, “I am all smiles.”

Zarif also demanded that negotiators stop pressuring him and the Iranian side lest the talks stall without an agreement.

“Any agreement and pressure will not go together,” Zarif said. “They are mutually exclusive. So our friends need to decide whether they want to be with Iran based on respect or that they want to continue based on pressure. They have tested the other one. It’s high time to test this one.”

Secretary of State John Kerry will remain in town until Thursday morning in a bid to patch over remaining disagreements with Iran over what an initial political agreement will look like.

The extension in talks appeared to rile Western reporters and opened questions about just how many concessions Iran is angling to receive.

Air Force: Israel Still Mulling Preemptive Strikes On Foes

The option of carrying out preemptive airstrikes against countries posing an impending security threat to Israel is still on the table, Israeli Air Force Commander Amir Eshel stated Wednesday.

He added that the military must ensure that its pilots possess the skills necessary to follow through with such a mission should it be ordered.

“In pure military terms, there is a very big advantage [to preemptive strikes], as they produce results, assuming that you have the capability,” Eshel said during a conference in Tel Aviv organized by the The Kinneret Center on Peace, Security and Society.

“In order to reach the [enemy] targets, you have to pass through [advanced surface-to-air missile defense systems], though not necessarily physically. But it’s definitely a challenge, to attack the targets and pass through all that protects them,” he acknowledged.

Eshel said Israel may be forced to choose between properly defending itself from an enemy missile attack and carrying out a preemptive strike, as deployment of defense systems across the country would give away the element of surprise and significantly harm the air force’s efforts to carry out its covert missions successfully.

“If the enemy has the capacity to hurt us with shooting and rockets, to what extent are we willing to be less protected from such an attack? This is a very difficult dilemma,” he said.

Eshel did not specify which countries may be the target of a preemptive Israeli strike, but said that at any rate, “[I am] convinced that Israeli air bases will be the number one goal for [Lebanese terrorist group] Hezbollah as soon as such a conflict begins.”

In March, Israel’s recently retired chief of staff, Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz hinted that he helped prevent a possible Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Also see:

U.S. And Iran Said To Have Played Chicken With Deal Deadline

Iranian FM Signals 'Significant Progress' As Nuclear Talks Enter 8th Day

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