By Stan Goodenough
Jun 10, 2008
Israel will pay a "very painful price" for any attack that is launched against Iran's nuclear facilities, that country's defense minister reportedly warned at the weekend, further ratcheting up tension between the Tehran and Jerusalem.
Mostafa Mohammad Najjar was responding to a threat by Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who was quoted in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot Friday as saying that if Iran continues its plan to develop nuclear weapons, Israel will attack it.
"The window of opportunity has closed," Mofaz, a former IDF chief of staff and defense minister said. "The sanctions are not effective. There will be no choice but to attack Iran to stop its nuclear program."
Along with political figures in Washington, including President George W. Bush, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his Republican opponent John McCain, Israel's leaders have repeatedly voiced their total unwillingness to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has both vowed to pursue nuclear power and to see Israel wiped off the map of the Middle East.
Observers anticipate that either the US or Israel will have to strike Iran before the end of the year.
Time, and other options, appear to have run out.