Bunker Buster

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Bunker Buster

Israeli daily Maariv reports on Thursday that Israel received from the United States the promise of high-tech weapons in exchange for the promise not to attack Iran this year. The American administration is said to have pledged to supply IDF with bunker-busting bombs and long-range refueling planes.

In exchange for these weapons, Israel is said to have agreed to refrain from any attack on Iran until 2013, until after the elections in November. Maariv cites unnamed Western intelligence and diplomatic sources.

A different report offers Reuters, which  reports, quoting a source that wanted to speak under anonymity, that Netanyahu asked for these weapons during the talks with Obama, and played down as “unrealistic” the reports that America demanded in return the delay of the attacks.

The measure is also intended to expand the window of opportunity for Israel to attack Iran with a serious chance of success, considering that the long-range refueling planes would make up for the distance between Israel and Iran, while the bunker busting bombs would ensure that the attack hits all known sites where Iran is conducting nuclear activity.

The American military insists that Iran has not determined yet to make a nuclear bomb, although it may have the components for it. Israel on the other hand says that the evidence produced by the International Atomic Energy Agency indicates that Iran is thinking about using its nuclear program for military purposes.

The Iranian threat was the topic of the recent discussions between Israel and the United States. On that occasion Barack Obama wanted to make sure that Israel knows that the United States are on its side, and promised that America would help Israel protect itself, although he did not support the idea of attacking Iran in the immediate future.

The American president said that all options were on the table in regards to Iran, but did not make any reference to the “red lines” Iran would have to cross to trigger the American military strike. He went further to warn that the “loose talk” about military attacks plays into the hands of the Iranians, which are the first to benefit from the inevitable price rise.

In a manifest disagreement with the American leader, Benyamin Netanyahu told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee delegates that Israel has given peace a chance and has waited to see how the sanctions imposed by the international organizations were working, but that it could not wait much longer, because if it did, the Iranians could be too much far advanced to be stopped.

By this contribution of the Americans, Israel will have updated its bunker busters so that they may penetrate 200-mm-thick double-reinforced walls and floors. Israeli website Ynet reported earlier this week that one of the country’s leading weapons manufacturers, Israeli Military Industry, had upgraded MPR-500 guided missiles to turn them into bunker busters.

The American intelligence had warned Israel that an attack on Iran could only slow the nuclear program down, not stop it altogether, because some of the nuclear facilities could be hidden inside mountains, which are difficult to penetrate.

They also said that the operation could receive a very powerful reaction from Iran and the allies in the Middle East, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Hamas has already made a promise to stay out of any conflict between Israel and Iran.

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