Monday 6 July 2009

The Israeli submarine that didn’t go through the Suez canal came back through it Sunday? A green light from US while Iran warns

Link

July 6, 2009

More denials (Saudi Denies Would Let Israeli Jets Pass for Iran Attack) that some “moderate” Arab states are collaborating with the Israelis to attack Iran.

Mossad’s director holds secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss "flying over the kingdom"?...


In the London Times, here

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 3:23 AM

"...The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week..."



Yet, the Israeli submarine went back to the Mediterranean sea through the canal, amid US green light and Iranian warnings.

Biden Says US Won’t Stand in Israel’s Way on Iran, Tehran Warns


Al manar
06/07/2009 US Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the United States would not stand in the way of Israel in its dealings with Iran’s nuclear program.
“Israel can determine for itself — it’s a sovereign nation — what’s in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else,” Biden told ABC television’s “This Week.” “Whether we agree or not. They’re entitled to do that… We cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination, that they’re existentially threatened.”
But the top US military officer meanwhile warned of the dangers posed by any military strike against Iran. “It could be very destabilizing, and it is the unintended consequences of that which aren’t predictable,” Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff told “Fox News Sunday.”
However, he added: “I think it’s very important, as we deal with Iran, that we don’t take any options, including military options, off the table.”
“If the (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice,” Biden said. “But there is no pressure from any nation that’s going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed.”
Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state, claims — as does the West — that Iran is seeking to acquire a nuclear arsenal, despite Tehran’s repeated denials.
Biden also confirmed that the Obama administration remains open to pursuing negotiations with Tehran. “If the Iranians respond to the offer of engagement, we will engage,” Biden said. “The offer’s on the table.” Mullen declined to say whether the danger posed by a “nuclear-armed Iran” would be sufficient to outweigh the negative consequences of a US military strike on Tehran’s weapons program.
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official, reacting to Biden’s comments, on Monday said his country would respond “in a very full-scale and very decisive way” if it were attacked by Israel.
The Iranian official was speaking in Japan hours after US television broadcast Biden’s interview. In Tokyo, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said: “I think that America and Israel are fully aware what kind of result such a wrong judgment will entail.”Israel showed its military power sufficiently in the 22-day war,” its offensive in Gaza early this year, he told reporters.
“That kind of erroneous judgment poses a threat to the entire Middle Eastern region and the world.” He added: “If (an Israeli attack) occurred, then the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond in a very full-scale and very decisive way.”

Iran: Israel attack triggers full-scale response
Mon, 06 Jul 2009, Press TV
A senior Iranian official has warned that any aggression against his country would trigger a “decisive and full-scale response”.
“I think that America and Israel are fully aware what kind of result such a wrong judgment will entail,” said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, in Japan on Monday.
“That kind of erroneous judgment poses a threat to the entire Middle Eastern region and the world,” he added.
“Israel showed its military power sufficiently in the 22-day war,” he explained. “If (an Israeli attack) occurred, then the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond in a very full-scale and very decisive way.”
Boroujerdi’ remarks come after the US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington would not stop Israel if it wants to bomb Iran.
Israeli officials have frequently threatened Iran with military action to halt its nuclear program. Tel Aviv and its Western allies have been accusing the Islamic Republic of developing nuclear weapons.
Tehran however dismisses the allegations and asserts that as a signatory to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) it is entitled to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear armed-power in the Middle East.


Egypt Denies Israeli Report Saying Submarine Enters Suez Canal

05/07/2009 An Israeli submarine used the Suez Canal for the first time recently to get to military exercises in the Red Sea, a paper said on Sunday, adding the move was aimed as a message to arch-foe Iran.

The Dolphine submarine entered the canal that connects the Mediterranean and the Red Seas during the day and was escorted by Egyptian navy vessels sometime in June, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said.

Previously Israeli submarines rounded the whole of Africa to get to exercises in the Red Sea, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper said. The Israeli daily said that with the move "Egypt and Israel wanted to show their coordination in the face of Iran pursuing its nuclear program."

Meanwhile, an anonymous Egyptian security source denied the report saying that there is no military cooperation between Tel Aviv and Cairo stressing that Egypt would never cooperate with Israel against any strike on Iran.

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power with more than 200 nuclear heads, suspects Iran of trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program, a charge Tehran has vehemently denied saying it is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) while Israel is not a signatory for this treaty.

Israeli submarine crosses Suez Canal with eye on Iran

"An Israeli submarine crossed through the Suez Canal last month as a part of a military training exercise, defense officials said on Saturday.

The move is believed to have been made as a warning to Iran of the Jewish state's capabilities and and to show that Israel and Egypt, are cooperating against a shared threat. The two countries share a peace agreement but have had cool relations for years. .....

Israel owns three dolphin-grade submarines, which can carry nuclear warheads. Israeli defense officials do not discuss the type of missiles that can be fired from the submarines, nor their range. ......

The Jerusalem Post reported this was the first time Israeli vessels had crossed the Egyptian canal since 2005...."

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 2:52 AM

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