(Ha'aretz) Gideon Alon and Amos Harel - IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told Army Radio Thursday, "I do not believe an IDF operation against the Iranians will be necessary soon." Halutz said he believes Iran will achieve its goal - a nuclear bomb - in the next decade. He differentiated between the "point of no return" when Iran acquires the independent technological capability to make the bomb, and completing the process. Mossad chief Meir Dagan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week that Iran could cross the point of no return in a matter of months. Halutz also said that all political options to torpedo the Iranian nuclear program should be exhausted before any other action is considered. He said those efforts have successfully delayed Tehran's plans by two years. Halutz said that because Iran doesn't yet have a nuclear bomb, it does not constitute an existential threat to Israel. "When there is an existential threat, a country must take every action to ensure its existence."
2005-12-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive