"All options are on the table" regarding Iran, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with new recruits at the army induction base in Tel Hashomer, Gantz said "Iran is continuing with its efforts to achieve nuclear capabilities. This is a severe global and regional problem and we should not ignore it, because (Iran) is the only country in the world that is developing nuclear weapons while calling to annihilate another country."
President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone Monday "to coordinate efforts to accelerate a political transition in Syria," the White House said.
This "would include the departure of (Syrian leader) Bashar Assad and be responsive to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people," the statement said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta heads today to the Middle East where tensions are rising over the democratic transition in Egypt, turmoil in Syria and Iran’s suspected advances toward nuclear weapons.
His trip to Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan has a security agenda, including new concerns about Syrian chemical weapons, along with election-season political stakes. Panetta is scheduled to arrive in Israel on the heels of a visit by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who has appealed to Jewish voters by attacking President Barack Obama as lacking sufficient commitment to Israel’s security.
With a lack of progress in the negotiations, “the clocks in Washington and Tel Aviv are out of sync” on the timing for military action, said David Makovsky, a Middle East specialist at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The Obama administration’s strategy is to see if Iran backs down as international sanctions increasingly hurt its economy, saying there is time for military action as a last alternative.
Putin’s world oil domination plan .... Unsettled times in Israel ... Window closing on Israel’s decision on Iran ... Hamas and Israel amid regional turmoil: Hamas leaders go to Egypt for meetings ... Many examples on how Hamas influence is increasing in and around Israel ....
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