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Feb 22

If Israel Can’t Bomb the Iranian Nuclear Program to a Halt, What About the U.S.?

by bill bard

By Mark Thompson

IAEA, CRS, Battleland Research Division

The New York Times on Monday spelledout just how much of a challenge it would be for Israel to try to derail Iran’s nuclear program using military force. Reports Elizabeth Bumiller:

…an Israeli attack meant to set back Iran’s nuclear program would be a huge and highly complex operation…The possible outlines of an Israeli attack have become a source of debate in Washington, where some analysts question whether Israel even has the military capacity to carry it off.

This is all part of a huge mind game designed to keep Iran – as well as Pentagon war-planners – off balance. So let’s ask the question that’s being batted about whenever a handful of military geeks have gotten together in recent weeks: how much more successful would a U.S.-led strike be against Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure?

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned that attacking Iran’s nuclear sites would, “at best, it might postpone it [Iran joining the nuclear-weapons club] maybe one, possibly two years.” If he’s right – and most U.S. experts concur with his view – the U.S. probably can wound, but not kill, Iran’s nuclear dreams with military force.

But U.S. military experts say Washington could do far more to damage Iran’s nuclear program than Tel Aviv. Israel “has a much smaller air force and further to fly,” says Michael O’Hanlon at the Brookings Institution. “I worry most about its ability to robustly deal with Iranian air defenses.”

Related posts:

  1. ‘Israel nuclear sites within Iran reach’
  2. Outgoing intel chief: Iran can already produce nuclear bomb
  3. Israel: No Iran bomb before 2015
  4. Israel Will Bomb Iranian Nuclear Sites Next Month, Ex-CIA Agent Predicts
  5. Israel warns West: Window of opportunity to thwart Iran nuclear program is closing
  6. U.S. intelligence agencies agree: no evidence of Iranian nuclear weapons program