Is Israel building up for a strike againt Iranian nuclear facilities.

[Joseph Anton]

Israel has made it clear that an Iranian government with its finger on a nuclear trigger is not an option in the region.

If Iran doesn't back down on its determination to build nuclear weapons will Israel attack it's facilities? If so would the USA and Britain become involved?

[DeathAxe]

Leave them both to kill eachother, then the middle east problem will be solved.

[lizmachin]

Leave them both to kill each other, then the middle east problem will be solved.

 

I'm not quite sure that it works like that. I think that events would most likely follow the following script.

 

Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran retaliates with strikes against Israel and US/UK interests in the region.

US and UK retaliate with strikes on Iran.

[rossyrooney]

My neighbour is half Israeli and half Palestinian

 

If I'm being honest he's his own worst enemy

[L00b]

If so would the USA and Britain become involved?

Israel is not part of NATO.

 

From that point forward, the question then boils down to the state of domestic politics in the US and the UK (and others).

 

My "immediate" £0.02 says no. Unless Tehran does something really stupid... like retaliating with a nuke, tactical or otherwise.

 

But then my "tinfoil hat" £0.02 says, 'let's see how bad the planned US Treasury crisis gets to be in 2013'...since this could influence that (nothing like a big war, a 'proper one' rather than the few bushfires of the past decade, to jump-start a moribund economy).

[lizmachin]

Israel is not part of NATO.

 

From that point forward, the question then boils down to the state of domestic politics in the US and the UK (and others).

 

My "immediate" £0.02 says no. Unless Tehran does something really stupid... like retaliating with a nuke, tactical or otherwise.

 

But then my "tinfoil hat" £0.02 says, 'let's see how bad the planned US Treasury crisis gets to be in 2013'...since this could influence that (nothing like a big war, a 'proper one' rather than the few bushfires of the past decade, to jump-start a moribund economy).

 

 

Israel doesn't need to be part of NATO. If Israel strikes at Iran, it is likely Iran would strike at the USA. Then the question arises would USA hit back. What do you think?

 

I think things moved forward this week with the attack on Iranian arms factories in Sudan which are widely viewed as having Mossad's finger prints all over them.

[Mecky]

A better question is is Iran building a bomb?

[matsalleh]

A better question is is Iran building a bomb?

 

On BBC this morning I half heard something about America want to use RAF bases in Cyprus,but were turned down.

[lizmachin]

On BBC this morning I half heard something about America want to use RAF bases in Cyprus,but were turned down.

 

There is certainly something in the air following the destruction of Iranian arms factories.

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/Israel+Iran+conflict+behind+bombing+arms+factory+Sudan/7450638/story.html

 

Sudan has for several years been a front-line battlefield in the slow-burn conflict between Israel and Iran.

 

And although the Jerusalem government as usual refuses to confirm or deny its involvement, the attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning that destroyed a complex of arms factories at Yarmouk in Sudan's capital Khartoum has the hallmarks of an Israeli operation.

[L00b]

A better question is is Iran building a bomb?

There's less doubt about that, than about Saddam's WMDs. It's a valid point all the same.

Israel doesn't need to be part of NATO.

It doesn't for purposes of first-striking Iran.

 

But the OP's query was whether the US and the UK would join in at some stage. My point is that:

 

(i) the US and the UK would have to, after an Iranian retaliatory strike, if they were (NATO-) treaty-bound. Which they are not.

 

(ii) since they are under no obligation in view of (i), it then becomes a political question, of "would their constituents let them?" (figuratively speaking)

If Israel strikes at Iran, it is likely Iran would strike at the USA.

That's a big assumption.

 

If Iran heads are smart (and they have shown themselves to be in realpolitik contexts 'that matter'), more likely they'd actually exclude US/UK interests from their retaliatory strikes, to stoke the above political quandary.

Then the question arises would USA hit back. What do you think?

Same as above/before. I don't believe Obama has enough political traction now, nor is likely to get enough, for intervention - short of Iran nuking mainland US.

 

Mossad offing underground/fundamentalist/muslim state-sponsored arms R&D locations in mainland Africa and the Middle East is nothing new. Top-draw Iranian nuclear scientists have been repeatedly offed within Iran itself in the past 2 years or so, in assassinations that bore just as much of a hallmark. In that respect, there's been "something in the air" for donkeys now. And the Israelis are unlikely to make waves on the run-up to the US presidential elections: they missed their window of opportunity for 2012 (IMHO)