Israel bunker buster bombs11/13/2023 The Obama "administration is interested in sending a message to the Iranians that we have lots of things we can do that are tougher. ![]() American officials have been concerned that as Iran proceeds with transferring its enrichment program from its current Natanz facility to the underground Qom facility, Israel might choose to launch a preventive strike aimed at thwarting Iran's nuclear initiative before it becomes harder to target at the buried Fordo facility near Qom. Last month, Tehran announced that it had started moving nuclear centrifuges to a buried underground facility in Qom. Such a message would be well timed, in view of other recent developments in the Iranian nuclear effort. The simpler explanation may in this case be the more compelling one: American and Israeli officials initiated the disclosure of the information now to send a potent warning to Iran. (Nevertheless, some Democratic Congressional staffers have eagerly circulated the Lake report, seemingly seeking to beat back the Republican narrative that Obama has not demonstrated sufficient support for the Jewish state.) Lake also said on Twitter that Obama White House officials were not among the U.S. Rather, it was mentioned in the context of U.S.-Israeli discussions on approaches for dealing with Iran's nuclear program.Īs to the timing of the revelation, while some observers have suggested that American officials may have leaked it in order to burnish Obama's pro-Israel credentials as he faces a tough 2012 presidential campaign, Lake himself, in an interview with NPR Saturday, discounted such a political motivation by his initial sources. 18, 2009 cable of any sort of quid pro quo for the bunker buster deal. 18, 2009 meeting-approximately a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a ten-month partial freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank that the Obama administration had sought. bunker buster bombs was discussed at a Nov. It's also worth noting that the pending U.S. (Still, he confessed that he found the ultimate motivation behind the transfer mystifying.) The reported transfer may have been a "gesture" by the Obama White House "to assure the Israelis we love them," one Washington Iran expert who insisted on anonymity told The Envoy via email. military and diplomatic initiatives in the region. military under Obama was trying to "hug Israel close," in order to increase its feeling of security and thus hopefully stave off the prospect that Israel might launch a surprise strike on Iran on its own, thereby wreaking all sorts of havoc with U.S. Some policy observers suggest that the U.S. And, secondly, why is the information emerging now-nearly two years after the administration carried out the deal? So why has the Obama administration seemingly reversed that call? After all, the Obama White House has sought to curtail Iran's nuclear program through diplomatic and economic measures-and the export of 5,000-pound bunker buster bombs to Israel would seem to severely test Israeli patience for that slow and frustrating effort. ![]() diplomatic states.)Īmerican policymakers had-and indeed have-many reasons to be wary of Israel initiating a confrontation with Iran-chief among them the roughly 150,000 American troops the United States currently has deployed on either side of Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as other forces and assets assigned to bases in Qatar, Bahrain and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf region. ![]() of GBU-28 bombs to Israel," an unclassified April 2005 U.S. ![]() "All media continued coverage of the forthcoming arms sale by the U.S. cable discusses Israeli media reports suggesting the Bush administration transferred an earlier shipment of GBU-28 bombs to Israel, in 2005. But according to Lake's report, Bush had deferred the Israeli request, not wanting to give Israel a "green light" to bomb Iran. Israel had earlier requested the deep-penetrating bombs from the Bush administration, Lake reported.
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