Israel Cautions U.S. on Talking to Iran

[Purveyor]

March 10, 2009 11:15 AM ET | Larry Derfner

Israel now considers Iran to have "crossed the technological threshold" toward building a nuclear weapon, in the words of Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, head of Israeli military intelligence, who warned that U.S. and European diplomatic overtures to Iran will very likely backfire. The Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reports:

Iran's attainment of nuclear military capability is now a matter of "incorporating the goal of producing an atomic bomb into its strategy," OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the cabinet on Sunday.

"Iran is continuing to amass hundreds of kilograms of low-enriched uranium, and it hopes to exploit the dialogue with the West and Washington to advance toward the production of an atomic bomb," he said.

Yossi Melman, the highly regarded intelligence correspondent for the liberal daily Ha'aretz, lays out the details of how Israeli snoops see the American-Iranian quid pro quo shaping up:

The new U.S. administration has improved Tehran's position. The U.S. changed its approach after concluding that prior threats and sanctions had failed to have an effect. President Barack Obama intends to talk with the ayatollahs and to offer them a broad deal: a resolution in Iraq, a joint battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, recognition of Iran's regional position and economic incentives. In return, Washington hopes Iran will agree to cease uranium enrichment. The U.S. also hopes to rally Russian support for this policy, in return for not deploying an anti-ballistic missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic. However the chances that these international efforts will convince Iran to step down from uranium enrichment are slim. Iran's aim, as the MI chief said Sunday, is to gain time to improve its technological capabilities.

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USNEWS&WORLDREPORT: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/mideast-watch/2009/03/10/israel-cautions-us-on-talking-to-iran.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[polichick]

2. I hope President Obama slaps them down - time for Israel to stop calling the shots.

[spanone]

3. no one 'improved tehran's position' more than george w bu$h*....no one

[BuyingThyme]

4. That's for sure.

[DJ13]

5. When Israel pays for our politicians, then they can....err.....

.....my bad.

[frebrd]

6. Yup! n/m