Israel has not given up on its plans to bomb Iran

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The Obama administration may think bombing Iran’s nuclear installations is a bad idea, but that does not seem to have made much impact on Israel’s thinking, if recent comments by Israeli President Shimon Peres are to be believed.

Speaking to Jewish leaders in New York the supposedly dovish Mr Peres said that Israel would continue to consider other “options” for dealing with the threat posed to the Jewish state’s existence by Iran’s illicit nuclear programme if American attempts to bring Iran to its senses failed.

Mr Peres did not spell out what those other options might be, but it is widely known that Israel is prepared to launch unilateral military against Iran if the West’s attempts to negotiate a resolution of the crisis fail. The likelihood of Israel attacking Iran, moreover, has increased dramatically since the hawkish Bibi Netanyahu became prime minister.

Many Israelis now think it is only a question of time before the Israelis launch an attack, particularly as most Western intelligence experts believe Iran will have sufficient quantities of fissile material to make an atom bomb by the end of this year, which is a red line the Israeli government is not prepared to allow Iran to cross.

But the fact that Israel is still actively considering military action is at odds with the Obama administration. Defence Secretary Robert Gates recently stated that he thought taking military action against Iran would not succeed in destroying Iran’s nuclear programme, but simply put it back a few years. This view appears to have the support of U.S. President Barack Obama who has appealed to Iran to “unclench its fist”.

Just how Israel’s uncompromising stance squares with that of its superpower ally is one that clearly still has to be resolved, and one that could severely strain relations between Washington and Jerusalem, particularly if the Netanyahu government refuses to cooperate with U.S. attempts to revive peace talks with the Palestinians. Watch this space.