Israel is considering a military strike to destroy the nuclear programme of Iran, now regarded as Tel Aviv's number one enemy. The Israeli daily Haaretz cited defence minister Shaul Mofaz as telling Israel radio's Persian service last week that if a decision was made to destroy Iran's nuclear capability, "necessary steps will be taken so that Iranian citizens will not be harmed".
| How do you target only the turbans? |
Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq, Israel has come to regard the Islamic government in Tehran as its number one enemy.
| Hey, wotta coincidence! Us, too! Might have something to do with all that AQ money and tough guys flowing through there. And I think the Turks might be getting the idea, too... |
This is despite Iran's acceptance of a tough new international inspections regime for its nuclear facilities last week. Meir Dagan, head of Israel's Mossad overseas intelligence service, told MPs last month that Iran's nuclear programme posed the biggest threat to the existence of Israel since its creation on the land of Palestine in 1948. Dagan said Israel had discovered in recent months that Iran was close to finishing construction of a uranium enrichment plant in the central Kashan area, which could eventually give it the capacity to build around a dozen nuclear bombs. The Iranian-born Mofaz said in a speech at a security conference near Tel Aviv that Iran was "a terror-supporting country". In a visit to Washington in November Mofaz called Tehran's nuclearisation "insufferable". |