Israel, US postpone missile-defense drill to avoid provoking Iran
The missile-defense drill had been trumpeted as showing US commitment to Israel's security. Some Israeli officials criticize President Obama for excessive caution in an election year.
The missile-defense drill had been trumpeted as showing US commitment to Israel's security. Some Israeli officials criticize President Obama for excessive caution in an election year.
鈥� A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
The US and Israel have postponed a major missile-defense drill to avoid further aggravating tensions with Iran.
The decision was said to be a joint one, but there appears to be friction between the two allies on the best overall strategy on curtailing the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. The Israeli state and many US politicians say they believe Iran is working on a nuclear bomb, though US intelligence estimates say such work is not ongoing.
Israeli officials are publicly leaning on President Obama to get tougher with Tehran, with some suggesting that election-year considerations are making him too cautious. The US, meanwhile, is struggling to dissuade Israel from taking unilateral action against Iran without coming across as being unsupportive, and potentially fueling Israeli determination to act preemptively.
The plans to test the US and Israel's air defense systems 鈥� for rockets and missiles from as far away as Iran 鈥� had been seen as a strong expression of the Obama administration's commitment to Israeli security. Last month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the drill "exemplified unprecedented levels of defense cooperation between the two countries meant to back up Washington's 'unshakable' commitment to Israel's security."
According to unnamed Israeli defense officials cited by the Associated Press, the drill will now be rescheduled for the second half of 2012, but at least one other report suggested it had been canceled altogether.
The announcement that the drill would not happen as scheduled came the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's deputy, Moshe Yaalon, told Israeli Radio that President Obama's "election-year considerations" were preventing his administration from taking a tough stance on Iran, contrasting US decisions with Europe's rapid moves, Reuters reports.
Mr. Netanyahu said in a closed meeting Sunday that current sanctions on Iran have not been effective enough, the Washington Post reports, citing an unnamed Israeli who attended the meeting.
According to a New York Times report yesterday, the recent "hardening" of sanctions on Iran has backed Obama into a corner as he heads into his reelection campaign:
A divergence in the US and Israeli strategies on Iran was evident in the governments' differing responses to last week's assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. While high-level US officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly denied any US involvement in the attack, Israel was more ambiguous 鈥� and many Israeli analysts said they believed Israel's Mossad was behind the attack, if only as part of a joint operation, 海角大神 reported.
Jerusalem Post military correspondent Yaakov Katz reports that the drill, which has been in the works for two years, would have been the largest missile defense drill ever for both the US and Israel. Its cancellation leaves Iran wondering what the two countries are planning instead. Mr. Katz speculates that Israel could be planning something unilaterally 鈥� or at least seeking to imply it is as "another step in the 'hold me back' strategy."
Reuters reports that US Joint Chief of Staffs Chairman General Martin Dempsey is scheduled to make his first visit to Israel on Thursday, when Israel media predicts he will "seek to persuade his hosts not to 'surprise' the United States on Iran." Bloomberg reports that Mr. Panetta said earlier this month that "continued pressure, not talk of air strikes, is the best way to forestall Iran's nuclear program."
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