(AP/Miami Herald) Peter Enav - Israel's national security adviser, Giora Eiland, told Maariv Monday that Iran will reach the "point of no return" in its nuclear weapons program by November rather than next year as Israeli military officials had said earlier. Israel would not be able to destroy Iran's nuclear installations with a single air strike as it did in Iraq in 1981 because they are scattered or hidden and intelligence is weak, Israeli and foreign analysts say. Cliff Kupchan, vice president of the Nixon Center in Washington and a former Clinton administration Iranian expert, said IAEA threats to impose sanctions on Iran are unrealistic because UN members, including those with fledging nuclear programs such as Brazil, would be reluctant to back them. Sanctions against Iranian oil production are also unlikely when world demand and prices are sky-high.
2004-09-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive