Israel Matzav: Uh oh: Israel's position on Iran 'dovetails' with the US

Uh oh: Israel's position on Iran 'dovetails' with the US

Let's hope that Israel's ambassador to the US was exaggerating about how close Israel's position is to the American position when he gave this interview.

Israel’s ambassador in Washington told Reuters on Thursday that Israel and the United States were not yet discussing a possible military strike against Iran to curb its nuclear drive.

Ambassador Michael Oren also told the news agency that he was “very confident” in the Obama administration’s commitment to dissuading Iran from enriching uranium on its soil.

“Our positions on Iran completely dovetail and we have very close cooperation and communication,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Israel and the United States have not ruled out a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomatic measures fail to curb Tehran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear arms.

Asked whether Israel is facing US pressure over the issue of possible military action, Oren said that it was “not a subject of discussion”.

“It’s not a subject of conversation between us because we’re not there yet. We’re far away from that,” he told Reuters.

The problem is that it's too late for sanctions to stop Iran and Israel cannot afford to wait for Iran to go nuclear and then try to contain it. There is no way the Obama administration will ever agree to a military attack on Iran, and its doubtful that they will even agree to strong enough sanctions to have a chance of succeeding (not to mention that the Russians and the Chinese won't agree to them either).

In sum, Israel's interests here are different and more immediate than the United States' interests.

What could go wrong?

Israel Matzav: Uh oh: Israel's position on Iran 'dovetails' with the US