Tuesday, November 17, 2009

US, Israel putting 'final touches' on anti-Iran plan

A team of CIA and US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials are meeting with the Israeli military and intelligence officials to discuss the "final touches" of a plan, which would involve both "diplomatic pressures" and "military options" against Iran.

The intelligence team arrived in Tel Aviv shortly after a meeting between the intelligence chiefs of the US, Israel, Egypt and Jordan in Amman, according to a report that appeared on the Israeli website DEBKA on Monday.

The meeting comes less than a week after the US and Israel held their largest-ever military exercise, code-named Juniper cobra 10.

According to DEBKA, which has close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the meeting put the "final touches" to the administration of the US President Barack Obama's strategy of "applying military heat to Iran as well as diplomatic pressure" to bring Tehran's nuclear program to a halt.

The two sides agreed to increase "direct interchanges" between the White House and the Israeli premier's office, and between high-ranking US and Israeli defense and intelligence officials, DEBKA said.

Reports of the US-Israel intelligence conferences come as Israel has stepped up its war rhetoric against Iran. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on November 7 that Tel Aviv's persistent threats to attack Iran were not just a bluff.

Israel and its staunchest ally, the US, continue to insist that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, while failing to provide any evidence to prove their claim.

The Monday report was posted on DEBKA hours before the UN nuclear watchdog issued its latest report on Iran's nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed in the report that Iran's nascent nuclear plant in Fordo corresponds to the design information provided by the country's nuclear officials and that Tehran had provided access to all areas of the facility to the IAEA inspectors during their October visit.

The IAEA report confirmed that no centrifuges had been introduced into the facility but added that the UN nuclear watchdog still had "questions about the purpose for which the facility had been intended and how it fit into Iran's nuclear program."

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