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Israel Alarmed Over Prospect of US-Iran Diplomacy

Israel Alarmed Over Prospect of US-Iran Diplomacy

Neocons in the United States and Likudniks in Israel are freaking out over the prospect that the United States and Iran may engage in diplomacy and defuse tensions between the two countries.

Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Friday there is no time left to negotiate with Iran. “There is no more time to hold negotiations,” Steinitz told the Israel Hayom daily on Friday. Steinitz is reportedly close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said Iran has used negotiations to improve its atomic capabilities.

“If the Iranians continue to run, in another half a year they will have bomb capability,” he warned.

On Thursday, Netanyahu called Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, a liar. “One must not be fooled by the Iranian president’s fraudulent words,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The Iranians are spinning in the media so that the centrifuges can keep on spinning.”

On September 30, Netanyahu will meet with Obama and the talks are expected to center on Iran and its nuclear program.

In August, Netanyahu told a congressional delegation led by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner that Iran is exploiting negotiations as a cover. “I know that some place their hopes on Iran’s new president… and yesterday he called for more talks,” he said. “And while everybody is busy talking to him… the centrifuges will keep on spinning.”

Steinitz said the United States must continue to act aggressively if it wants Iran to back down from its nuclear program.

“I am sure that had there been three aircraft carriers with an American declaration that in the event the Iranians do not honor the Security Council decisions, the Americans are expected to attack by 2013, they would have acted differently,” he said.

“Today the Iranians take into account that they have room to maneuver, and that is the most dangerous thing,” he added.

The new diplomatic approach by Iran is viewed as a disturbing by pro-Israel neocons in the United States as well. On Saturday, a prominent neocon in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, called for the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program.

“We may be confused as a nation on what to do with the chemical weapons in Syria, but we’re not confused as a nation as to what to do with the nuclear program in Iran,” Graham told former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on his Fox News program.

“Everyone believes the Iranians cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon, and we have to send that signal,” said. “Israel feels abandoned after Syria — and I want to send a signal to Tehran, and Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv that we’re not going to leave our friends in Israel behind.”

“And to the ayatollahs, If you march toward a nuclear weapon, all options are on the table, including the military option.

Intelligence agencies in the United States admit there is scant evidence Iran has produced or is currently producing a nuclear weapon. James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, David H. Petraeus, the former CIA director, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have all stated that Iran does have a nuclear weapon.

“They are certainly moving on that path, but we don’t believe they have actually made the decision to go ahead with a nuclear weapon,”Clapper told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February.

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