Titled "The Time Game with Iran," the report said the United States
would be forced to confront rising instability in the Middle East sparked by
Iran's nuclear program and Teheran's support for insurgency groups. The
report cited Egypt's capture of an alleged Hizbullah network, said to have
planned attacks throughout the Sinai Peninsula.
"Egypt is confronting Iran and instability is in the air," the report
said. "Perhaps more than the recent U.S. elections, the timetable is now
dictated by the closing deadline of Iran's nuclear progress."
The report was issued amid a quiet Israeli dialogue with the United
States regarding Iran. In May, CIA director Leon Panetta held a meeting with
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and was said to have demanded that
Israel not take any military action against Iran. Officials said the Panetta
visit was ordered by President Barack Obama, who wanted to avoid a long
discussion on Iran during his meeting with Netanyahu in Washington on May
18.
Asculai, a former official in the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, said
Obama would pursue a diplomatic solution to Iran's uranium enrichment
program, banned by the United Nations Security Council. But the report
urged the U.S. president to set a deadline for any diplomatic process.
"In setting the time limit, the President must remember that any time
gained by the Iranians during the negotiation process would be used to
further advance their project," the report said.
The report warned that Iran could exploit Obama's diplomatic route by
insisting that its nuclear project was not up for negotiation. Such an
opening position, the report said, would harm U.S. influence throughout the
Middle East, particularly in Gulf Cooperation Council states.
Asculai urged Israel to delay plans to attack Iran. Instead, he
recommended that the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu give
Obama some time to determine whether Iran would respond to diplomacy.
"Should engagement fail, Israel would be in a better position to
convince the United States, if not to actively support, then at least not to
interfere, with any military action," the report said.
