BEIRUT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army to continue preparing for a possible military strike on Irans nuclear facilities this year as his government earmarked at least 10 billion shekels devoted to preparations for war with Iran in its 2014 military budget, Haaretz newspaper reported today.
Top Israeli officials recently said that Israel may strike Tehrans nuclear sites even without US help.
The Tel Aviv daily cited three parliamentarians who had been present at joint committee meetings at the Knesset earlier this year, where figures of 10 to 12 billion shekels (US$2.89 billion to $3.47 billion) were touted by senior Israel Defense Forces officials. The sum is being spent on preparing for an air strike on Irans nuclear facilities, even if it does not take place. It constitutes about one-fifth of the total military budget about the same amount that was spent last year.
The parliamentarians said they questioned the decision to maintain funding in view of Tehrans softening relations with the West, only to be told by army commanders that Israels political leaders ordered them to continue regardless.
While the worlds leading powers have been negotiating with Iran Israel has remained adamant alleging Tehran was attempting to develop its own nuclear weapons.
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon criticized the US for wishful thinking during its attempts to find a diplomatic solution.
“Weakness certainly does not pay in the world,” Yaalon told students at Tel Aviv University.
“No one can replace the US as the world’s policeman. I hope the US will come to its senses.”
Yaalon, who represents Prime Minister Netanyahus center-right Likud party, further reiterated his superiors claims that Israel needed to act preemptively.
“If we wished others would do the work for us, it wouldn’t be done soon, and therefore in this matter, we have to behave as if we can only rely on ourselves,” said Yaalon.
Netanyahu has also persisted with the line he held during Mahmoud Ahmadinejads abrasive presidency, despite the tentative charm offensive that Iran has undertaken since the moderate Hassan Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad less than a year ago.
Tehran insists that it has no plans to manufacture nuclear arms, and even Israels own intelligence agency now believes that there has been a strategic change in Iran’s nuclear stance since last year, according to an earlier Haaretz report.
Nonetheless, the latest talks in Vienna where Iran has faced the US, China, Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany have not produced a concrete outcome.
Adding to the long-established issues of access to existing facilities and the extent of Irans enrichment and stockpiling of plutonium a key ingredient in nuclear devices is a yet-to-be-finished nuclear reactor at Arak.
Western negotiators say the facility in its current form could be used for plutonium enrichment and should be modified, while Tehran insists its uses will be chiefly medical.
Iran and Sextet of world powers — Russia, China, France, Britain, the United States and Germany — reached a deal on November 24, 2013, in the Swiss city of Geneva to set the stage for the settlement of the dispute over the Islamic Republics nuclear energy program.
Under the Geneva deal, the six countries agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period. It was also agreed that no nuclear-related sanctions would be imposed on Iran within the same timeframe.
The two sides have set themselves a July 20 deadline, by which a definitive agreement has to be produced on the countrys nuclear program. But for Israels leaders, each month without concrete action is one month closer to Tehran possessing its own nuclear weapons meaning that vast expenditures to ready for a strike are as necessary as ever.
Israel has repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over its nuclear energy program.
Iranian commanders have warned that the country will destroy the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, in case of an attack on Irans nuclear facilities.
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