US Stresses Diplomacy on Iran Amid Reported Israeli Attack Exercise | Voice of America - English
The United States Friday reiterated its commitment to a diplomatic resolution of the Iran nuclear issue amid a report Israel conducted a simulated attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.  The New York Times said the long-range Israeli exercise was conducted over the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.U.S.
U.S. officials are expressingunderstanding for Israel's concern about the Iranian nuclear programand pointedly have not criticized the reported exercise. Butthey are reiterating the Bush administration's commitment to atwo-track diplomatic strategy of incentives and sanctions to try to getIran to drop its uranium enrichment project, and say they still holdout hope diplomacy will work. The comments follow a  report Friday quoting U.S. officials as saying that Israelconducted a long-range military exercise over the Mediterranean andGreece two weeks ago that appeared to be a rehearsal for a potentialattack on Iranian nuclear facilities. At a news briefing, StateDepartment Spokesman Sean McCormack said while the Bush administrationitself forecloses no options for dealing with the Iranian nuclearprogram, it continues to pursue the diplomatic track and believes itcan work. He said he could not speak to what Israel intended toachieve with the exercise, said to have involved more than 100aircraft, but said it is quite clear that given Iranian rhetoric aboutthe Jewish state, Israel does view that country as a real threat. "Ican certainly understand that, given the fact that the president ofIran has talked about wiping Israel off the map," he said. "So Israeldoes see Iran as an existential threat. But again, I am going to haveto kick any questions about what was intended by this exercise, whatits purpose was, what they hoped to accomplish, to the Israeligovernment. They're the competent officials to talk about those issues." Israeliofficials have declined comment on the reported exercise. Howevermembers of the Israeli government, including deputy prime minister andformer military chief Shaul Mofaz have warned that Israel might be leftwith no choice but to attack, if Iran's nuclear program is not halted. Israelstaged a long-range air strike to destroy an Iraqi nuclear reactor in1980, and last September it bombed a facility in northern Syria said bysome analysts to have been a reactor being built with North Koreanhelp. Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful,but Israel and key Bush administration officials, among others, believeit is seeking a weapons capability. The five permanent U.N.Security Council member countries and Germany (the P5-plus-One) lastweek formally presented Iran with an updated package of incentives,including civilian nuclear power assistance, if Iran halted itsenrichment drive. Spokesman McCormack said despite causticcomments from some officials in Tehran, Iran has said it will considerthe plan and has not rejected it outright. He also said theother track of the diplomatic strategy, disincentives, remains activewith the European Union preparing new economic sanctions in case theP5-plus-One offer is turned down. A senior official who spoke toreporters here said he did not think the Israeli military exercisewould affect the Iran diplomacy, saying everyone involved in thediplomatic process understands the potential implications if Iranperfects nuclear weapons techniques.