Iran is determined to build nuclear weapons to threaten Israel. Last month Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that if Europe feels guilty about the Holocaust, they should give the "Zionists" some territory in Europe. Previously, in October, he said that Israel should be "wiped off the map."
In February 2005 the Bush administration announced its intention to sell 500 bunker-busting bombs to Israel. It seems that the United States wanted Israel to solve the Iran problem. After all, Israel is a regional power with a reputation for swift and decisive action. The Muslims already hate Israel, so there isn't much love to be lost. Let the Israelis do the deed and take the heat. Then America can manage the aftermath, and pacify angry Muslim nations by promising to push Israel, face first, into the peace table.
Undoubtedly tempted by Washington's offer of 500 bombs, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon knows that Israel would be economically and diplomatically isolated following a preemptive strike on Iran. The negatives in this situation are unacceptable. So Israel hasn't bombed Iran, and keeps to the prescribed peace process while the West attempts to "deal" with Iran diplomatically. Of course, diplomacy won't work on crazy militants who think that Jews and Christians should be driven from the Middle East.
The Islamists in Iran know they are playing with fire. Fanatical but realistic, they've turned to Moscow for military-technical assistance. Russia has already agreed to sell powerful S-300 AMB/anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. The S-300 is effective against aircraft up to 90 miles away at an altitude as low as 10 meters. The S-300 can destroy ballistic missiles up to 25 miles away, provided their velocity does not exceed 6,000 miles per hour. It is a very impressive weapon, and Iran may be difficult to attack once it has been deployed and integrated into Iran's air defense system.
And now, as the Iran crisis deepens, Israel's prime minister has suffered a stroke. With a general election scheduled for March 28, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has formed a new political party by splitting his Likud Party and linking up with allies on the left to thwart a leadership challenge from those who see the Palestinian leadership as terrorists who cannot be trusted (i.e., Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who believes the Palestinian Authority is a terrorist front that deserves to be smashed, and Benjamin Netanyahu who has taken back the leadership of Likud). Absorbed in an internal power struggle with an ailing and weakened prime minister, Israel is unlikely to launch an air assault on Iran.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force may be preparing for an assault of its own. Targets are said to include a nuclear reactor, nuclear fuel and radioactive waste storage facilities in Iran. To thwart this possibility, Russian President Vladimir Putin, declaring himself a powerful friend of the Muslim world, has cultivated the friendship of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Of humble origins and pro-Islamic, Erdogan was previously convicted for "inciting religious hatred" after publicly reading an Islamic poem which said, "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers....") By denying the U.S. access to NATO bases in Turkey, the Russian president seeks to disrupt an American preemptive strike on Iran. By strengthening Iran, Vladimir Putin seeks to disrupt the democratization of Iraq. Once Iran is a nuclear power, America's attempt to stabilize the oil-rich region is bound to fail. American withdrawal from the Middle East would then be inevitable.
