The Gates of Hell

Via: Reuters

A U.S. leak of an Israeli air exercise reported to be practice for possible bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites was seen in Israel on Sunday as a deliberate move to increase pressure on Tehran to halt sensitive atomic work.

“When the diplomacy of economic and political pressure fails to produce results, a shift is made to gunboat diplomacy,” wrote Alex Fishman, military affairs correspondent of Israel’s biggest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

“As the Iranian regime discusses the European Union representative’s most recent offer to halt its nuclear program in exchange for extensive benefits, the Americans opted to add a bit more pressure in the shape of Israel’s air force,” he said.

Citing unidentified Pentagon sources, the New York Times said on Friday more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 jets took part in a long-range Mediterranean exercise this month that appeared to be a rehearsal for real missions over Iran.

Israel did not confirm the reported exercise had taken place. But officials said such drills have been commonplace at least since 2005.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 pm and is filed under USA, iran, israel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.