Sunday, January 15, 2012 by Common Dreams
Netanyahu deputy voices ‘disappointment’ with Obama on Iran
Joint US-Israel war games
planned for this spring simulating war with Iran have apparently been
cancelled, according to multiple news agencies in Israel Sunday.
A US Navy sailor stands on a destroyer docked at the Israeli
Mediterranean port of Haifa, as part of a joint exercise between the US
and the Israeli Navy in 2009. Joint US-Israel war games planned for this
spring simulating war with Iran have apparently been cancelled,
according to multiple news agencies in Israel Sunday. (AFP Photo/Atef
Safadi) Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, is scheduled for talks in Israel this week,
Israel said Sunday, at a time when the United States is concerned that
Israel might be preparing to attack Iran over its nuclear program.
UPDATE: Agence France-Presse is now reporting:
Israel and the United States have agreed to
postpone a major military defence exercise scheduled for spring, a
senior security official said Sunday, amid rising regional tension over
Iran's nuclear program.
"Israel and the United States have agreed to
postpone the maneuvre planned for spring," the official said on
condition of anonymity.
"The exercises will take place between now and the end of 2012," the official added, without elaborating.
Earlier, public radio said the "Austere Challenge
12" exercise would be pushed back to the end of 2012 over unspecified
budgetary concerns, citing military sources.
Army radio, citing a defence official, said it was being postponed to avoid "unnecessary headlines in such a tense period."[...]
The postponement appeared to suggest fears the
exercise could dangerously ramp up regional tensions, at a time when
Iran has already threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- a
choke-point for one fifth of the world's traded oil -- in the event of a
military strike or severe tightening of international sanctions over
its nuclear program.
DEBKAfile, the Jerusalem-based English language Israeli military intelligence website, is reporting:
US-Israeli discord over action against Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have ever staged, ready to go in spring, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was hesitant over sanctions against Iran's central bank and oil for fear of a spike in oil prices.
The row between Washington and Jerusalem is now in the open, undoubtedly causing celebration in Tehran.
Nothing was said about the 9,000 US troops who
landed in Israeli earlier this month for a lengthy stay. Neither was the
forthcoming visit by Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US
Chiefs of Staff.
The exercise was officially postponed from spring
2012 to the last quarter of the year over "budgetary constraints" – an
obvious diplomatic locution for cancellation. It was issued urgently at
an unusually early hour Washington time, say Debka's sources, to
underscore the Obama administration's total disassociation from any
preparations to strike Iran and to stress its position that if an attack
took place, Israel alone would be accountable.
Israel's Deputy Prime minister further inflamed
one of the most acute disagreements in the history of US-Israeli
relations over the Obama administration's objections to an Israel
military action against Iran's nuclear sites in any shape or form.
Yaalon ventured into tricky terrain when he pointed out that US Congress
had shown resolve by enacting legislation for sanctions with real bite.
But the White House "hesitated." He went on to say: "A military
operation is the last resort, but Israel must be ready to defend
itself."
The friction was already fueled last week by the
deep resentment aroused in Israel by Washington's harsh condemnation of
the assassination last Wednesday, Jan. 11, of the nuclear scientist
Prof. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, and absolute denial of any US involvement.
Although Tehran has since accused the United
States of the attack, the White House treated it as the defiant sign of
an approaching unilateral Israeli military operation against Iran to
which the administration is adamantly opposed.
The Jerusalem Post is reporting Sunday:
Israel and the US are in talks about the
possibility of canceling a missile defense drill, billed as the largest
ever in the country's history, planned for the spring.
Initially scheduled for April and called "Austere
Challenge," the drill was supposed to see the deployment of thousands of
US troops and various sophisticated US military equipment in Israel.
In recent weeks, Defense Minister Ehud Barak's
office has held talks with the Pentagon about the possibility of
canceling the drill.
Senior military officers told The Jerusalem Post
that the drill scheduled for April has been canceled, while defense
officials said that it was possible that it would be held later in 2012.
The drill, expected to involve the deployment of
thousands of US troops in Israel, was scheduled to last around a week
and mark the first time that a top US military commander would
participate in the simulations.
* * *
Meanwhile, Israel's Ha'aretz reports:
A senior Israeli official voiced disappointment in the Obama administration on Sunday, saying "election-year considerations" lay behind its caution over tough Iran sanctions sought by U.S. legislators.While Washington has been talking tougher about Iran's nuclear work and threat to block oil export routes out of the Gulf if hit with harsher sanctions, new U.S. measures adopted on Dec. 31 gave President Barak Obama leeway on the scope of penalties on the Iranian central bank and oil exports.[...]
The remarks by Ya’alon, a member of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, appeared to jar with
praise centrist Defense Minister Ehud Barak offered last month for what
he described as Obama's resolve against Iran.
Running for re-election in the face of Republicans
who hold sway over big pro-Israel constituencies, Obama has sought to
burnish his credentials as a friend of the Jewish state despite having
frosty relations with Netanyahu.
