Israel's Shaul Mofaz claims Iran nuclear breakthrough is close

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Shaul Mofaz, Israel's deputy prime minister and a former army commander, told a Washington forum that Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon was "unacceptable". Mr Mofaz is a leading candidate to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when the ruling Kadima party holds elections in September.

"It is an existential threat," he said. "We have to make sure we are prepared for every option. We don't want war, we want peace but we will not let the second Holocaust take place."

Mr Mofaz's military credentials and his close relationship with Mr Olmert put him at the heart of Israel's planning for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear research facilities. Israeli officials have hinted that the country will have a short window of opportunity to attack Iran before the end of the year.

Western governments yesterday backed down on demands for Iran to give a definite response to an offer of substantial aid in return for renouncing its suspect nuclear programme by today. Officials in Washington and Brussels said a failure by Iran to meet the deadline, two weeks after historic talks in Geneva, would not disrupt efforts to strike a deal with the Islamic state.

"One should not focus too much on Saturday," an EU official said. "If it's not Saturday but next week, we'll not make a big fuss about it. What matters is to get a clear answer quickly, in the very coming days."

Although Iran denies it is pursuing nuclear weapons, Tehran has refused to curtail its experiments despite a generous compensation package in which donor countries would supply nuclear energy facilities.

Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, yesterday received an unexpected boost from polls which suggested she could become prime minister if selected to succeed Mr Olmert as the Kadima party leader. Under her leadership, Kadima could beat the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has until now been considered a favourite to win an early election.

"It's not Netanyahu. It's all about the lady," said Rafi Smith, a pollster whose firm found if Miss Livni were Kadima leader she could win 32 seats in an election, compared to Mr Netanyahu's 27.

"She actually attracts all those people who are in the middle, middle to left and middle to right."

Polls also showed more than half of Israelis wanted early elections.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2485599/Is...h-is-close.html

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with Ahmendinejad repeatedly using the phrase "new world order", I'm tempted to wonder if the whole standoff isn't just another Hegelian ruse.

"Short window at the end of the year" seems to be the prevailing mantra:unsure: