Iran threat drives Israeli buildup
JERUSALEM – Israel is expanding its military arsenal to deal with what it views as the greatest threat to its existence: a nuclear attack by Iran.
It has acquired dozens of warplanes with long-range fuel tanks to allow them to reach Iran and signed a deal with Germany for two submarines reportedly capable of firing nuclear missiles.
Though Israeli security officials say a strike against Iran is not on the horizon, senior Israeli politicians have begun openly discussing the possibility of a military option – either alone or with other countries.
Such a mission would be far more complicated than the 1981 Israeli raid that destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor. It would require heavy precision bombs that can blast through underground bunkers, manned aircraft to bombard multiple targets and possibly ground commandos to make sure weapons materials are destroyed, experts say.
“It’s not a target that you can find on the map, send two F-15s and solve it,” said Itamar Yaar, deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council.
Both the United States and Israel refuse to say whether a strike plan is in the works.
Hard feelings between Israel and Iran date to just before the 1979 Islamic Revolution when the Israelis joined the United States in siding with the Shah before he was deposed.
Israel’s animosity toward Iran stems not only from the Iranian leadership’s anti-Israel statements, but also its support of armed groups like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map” in October also set off alarms. On Thursday, the Iranian leader said the Jewish state should be moved to Europe and questioned whether the Holocaust took place.
Both Israel and the U.S. say diplomatic options should be exhausted before any military action is contemplated.
Some experts argue a military strike would not be feasible because of a lack of good intelligence on targets, the existence of multiple atomic installations scattered throughout Iran, some underground or bored into mountains, and the country’s increasingly sophisticated defense systems.
But others say the capability is there: a combination of precision missiles, bunker-buster bombs, airpower and elite ground forces to penetrate the most difficult sites.
The U.S. – with cruise missiles that can deliver high-explosive bombs to precise locations and B-2 bombers capable of dropping 85 500-pound bombs in a single run – could take on the task, several experts said.
Whether Israel could is an unanswered question. However, the country already has received about half the 102 American-built F-16I warplanes it ordered, with extra fuel tanks to let them reach Iran.