U.S. won’t dissuade Israel from launching an attack on Iran
06.07.2009 10:07 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Vice President Joe Biden said it is up to the
Israeli government to decide if Iran constituted an existential threat
and that the nation is `entitled’ to launch a military strike against
the nation if they want to.
Biden said the United States will make no effort to dissuade the
Israeli government from launching an attack on Iran, but was
deliberately evasive on the question of whether the U.S. would provide
Israel with access to Iraqi airspace for the strike, saying he doesn’t
want to `speculate.’
Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran over the past several
years, and the right-wing coalition government elected earlier this
year won largely on a platform of taking an even more hawkish position
toward Iran than previous administrations had.
At issue is Iran’s civilian nuclear program, which despite a lack of
evidence Israel claims is being used to construct a nuclear weapon in
violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel is itself not
a signatory of the NPT, and has a large, undeclared nuclear arsenal.
U.S. defense officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have
warned that a military attack on Iran, whether by the US or Israel,
would be blamed on the U.S. and would create a `disastrous backlash,’
antiwar.com reports.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress