Israel Tests Missile Defense Aimed at Iran

US officials trying hard to convince them not to strike

(NEWSER) - Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have been quietly telling every American official who visits Israel the same thing: When Israel strikes Iran, it won't warn the US first, a US intelligence official tells the AP . In part, that's a courtesy; Israel believes keeping the US in the dark will minimize the blame the US takes for not stopping the attack. But it's also a rebuke, because Israel has become convinced the US won't strike Iran, and won't back Israel up if it does. More»

Panetta told that Israel won't bomb Iran without first alerting Washington

(NEWSER) - CIA director Leon Panetta was sent on a secret mission to Israel earlier this month to warn the country's leaders against launching a surprise attack against Iran, the Times of London reports. Panetta asked for—and received—assurances from Israel's hawkish new government that the country would not bomb Iranian nuclear facilities without alerting the US. More»

(NEWSER) - Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu comes out swinging against a nuclear Iran in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic, warning that if the US doesn’t stop the country, Israel will. “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs,” he said. “When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying.” More»

Though diplomatic solution is preferable, Dan Shapiro says

(NEWSER) - The US has all the planning in place to launch a military strike on Iran should diplomacy fail to curb its nuclear ambitions, the US ambassador to Israel said today, just days before nuclear talks are set to resume. "It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically," Ambassador Dan Shapiro said on Israeli Army Radio, according to Reuters . "But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available—not just available, but it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready." More»

Iran military claims to have reverse-engineered drone

(AP) - A senior Iranian commander says the country has reverse-engineered an American spy drone captured by Tehran's armed forces last year and has begun building a copy. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who is chief of the aerospace division of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, was quoted today by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying that experts are also recovering data from the US RQ-170 Sentinel captured in December in eastern Iran. More»