Skip to main content

Israel, S. Arabia planning joint Iran strike - report



Are Israel and Saudi Arabia working together against Iran? "The Sunday Times" reports that Mossad agents met top Saudi officials to draw up contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran if an agreement is signed with Tehran that is not acceptable to the two countries.

According to the report, which is based on diplomatic sources, Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow Israel to use its air space and to provide Israel with assistance in the form of drones, rescue helicopters, and air-to-air refueling tankers. The report quotes a source as saying that Saudi Arabia is furious at the West and that it is prepared to give Israel whatever assistance in needed for a military confrontation with Iran.

"Both the Israeli and Saudi governments are convinced that the international talks to place limits on Tehran’s military nuclear development amount to appeasement and will do little to slow its development of a nuclear warhead," "The Sunday Times" report states. It adds that both countries believe that the military option should stay on the table, because Iran is not showing flexibility.

"Once the Geneva agreement is signed, the military option will be back on the table," "The Sunday Times" quotes the source as saying. "The Saudis are determined against Iran and are prepared to give Israel the support it needs."

Today's report from "The Sunday Times" follows earlier reports that, in secret talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia, it was agreed that the Saudis would allow Israeli jets to use its air space to attack Iran. However, "The Sunday Times" report indicates that there has been substantial progress in the relations between the two countries - progress based on a common Iranian enemy.

This rapprochement is happening amid a crisis in Israel's relations with the US over the Iranian negotiations. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterates that the Iranians cannot be trusted, the Americans and other Western parties are determined to reach a deal and scale back the sanctions imposed on Iran.

Despite the crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry sought to allay Israel's fears about the talks. "We're having a very friendly and civil conversation about this," Kerry said of the dialogue with Netanyahu in an interview with MSNBC, "I respect completely his deep concerns - as a prime minister of Israel should have - about the existential nature of this threat to Israel. We understand that."

French President Francois Hollande is arriving in Israel on Sunday. Netanyahu is expected to ask that France should continue its support for the Israeli position that there should be no agreement. France has thus far supported the Israeli position, and scuttled an agreement with Iran that was against Israel's interests as presented by Netanyahu.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 17, 2013

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why States Still Use Barrel Bombs

Smoke ascends after a Syrian military helicopter allegedly dropped a barrel bomb over the city of Daraya on Jan. 31.(FADI DIRANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Barrel bombs are not especially effective weapons. They are often poorly constructed; they fail to detonate more often than other devices constructed for a similar purpose; and their lack of precision means they can have a disproportionate effect on civilian populations. However, combatants continue to use barrel bombs in conflicts, including in recent and ongoing conflicts in Africa and the Middle East, and they are ideally suited to the requirements of resource-poor states. Analysis Barrel bombs are improvised devices that contain explosive filling and shrapnel packed into a container, often in a cylindrical shape such as a barrel. The devices continue to be dropped on towns all over Syria . Indeed, there have been several documented cases of their use in Iraq over the past months, and residents of the city of Mosul, which was re...

Russia Looks East for New Oil Markets

Click to Enlarge In the final years of the Soviet Union, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev began orienting his foreign policy toward Asia in response to a rising Japan. Putin has also piloted a much-touted pivot to Asia, coinciding with renewed U.S. interest in the area. A good expression of intent was Russia's hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012 in Vladivostok, near Russia's borders with China and North Korea. Although its efforts in Asia have been limited by more direct interests in Russia's periphery and in Europe, Moscow recently has been able to look more to the east. Part of this renewed interest involves finding new export markets for Russian hydrocarbons. Russia's economy relies on energy exports, particularly crude oil and natural gas exported via pipeline to the West. However, Western Europe is diversifying its energy sources as new supplies come online out of a desire to reduce its dependence on Russian energy supplies . This has ...

LONDON POLICE INDIRECTLY ENCOURAGE CRIMINALS TO ATTACK RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC PROPERTY

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE A few days ago an unknown perpetrator trespassed on the territory of the Russian Trade Delegation in London, causing damage to the property and the vehicles belonging to the trade delegation , Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during the September 12 press briefing. The diplomat revealed the response by the London police was discouraging. Police told that the case does not have any prospects and is likely to be closed. This was made despite the fact that the British law enforcement was provided with video surveillance tapes and detailed information shedding light on the incident. By this byehavior, British law inforcements indirectly encourage criminals to continue attacks on Russian diplomatic property in the UK. Zakharova’s statement on “Trespassing on the Russian Trade Mission premises in London” ( source ): During our briefings, we have repeatedly discussed compliance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, sp...