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As Nuclear Talks Fail, U.S. Experts Urge Obama to Weigh Military Option on Iran
(Ha'aretz) - Natasha Mozgovaya - American officials and experts urged U.S. President Barack Obama this week to take a tougher stance on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, with some advising the administration to provide Israel with the arms needed for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. At the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee titled "Addressing the Iranian Nuclear Challenge: Understanding the Military Option," former Senator Charles Robb of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) urged in his testimony that "the dual approach of diplomacy and sanctions simply have not proved to be enough. We need the third track, and that is credible and visible preparations for a military option." Robb explained that judging by past behavior of Iran, the best chance to induce it to concessions is when it is "in a dire and military threat." He gave some examples of what he called "credible military readiness" - "augmenting the 5th Fleet's capacity by procuring and deploying force protection munitions; defend U.S. naval forces against potential Iranian retaliation by pre-positioning military supplies across the region, including strategic bombers, bunker buster munitions and fuel; by exploring strategic partnerships with countries on Iran's northern perimeter such as Azerbaijan; by conducting broad military exercises with regional allies." Another suggestion was "augmenting Israeli offensive and defensive capabilities, including the sale to Israel of three KC-135 aerial refueling tankers and 200 GBU-31 bunker-busting munitions needed in whatever missile defense systems are needed." Robb stressed that "we are not urging Israel to take unilateral military action against Iran nuclear facilities, but we need to make their capability to do so stronger so that Iran will take that threat more seriously." "We are not advocating another war in this region. We'd like to see this perilous situation resolved peacefully. We applaud the president for offering an open hand to a closed fist in his very first few minutes as president, but diplomacy simply hasn't done the job," Robb added. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, who is currently on visit to Washington, said on Tuesday at the Washington Institute that if there will be no other resort with Iran but the military strike, U.S. and other Western powers should lead it. David Albright, President of the Institute for Science and International Security, said at the hearing that he sees the threat of military action by President Obama as "genuine", but argued that surgical strikes "will simply not work, at least by themselves." Albright added that he believes there will be enough time to detect an Iranian breakout - "sufficiently long to allow a response." Albright also explained that his institution recommended among other things "strengthening the credibility of the Israeli military threat against Iran, as well as the U.S. military threat."