Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, dismayed by a U.S.
reconciliation drive, has moved closer to ordering air strikes on Iran, a
report said.

The Gatestone Institute asserted that Netanyahu has placed the
international community on notice that Israel was preparing a military
option to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

In a report, the institute cited the prime minister’s warning to the United Nations on Oct. 1 that Iran was heading toward nuclear weapons capability.

“The coming weeks probably represent the last opportunity for Iran and the international community to reach an enforceable deal that will dismantle
Teheran’s nuclear weapons program, before Israel concludes that time has run out, that Iran has gotten too close to creating its first atomic bombs, and
that the time for a military strike has arrived,” the report, titled “Israel’s Final Warning on Iran,” said.

Israeli military analyst Yaakov Lappin said Netanyahu determined that U.S. pressure on Iran has eased. Lappin said Israel has concluded that the Islamist regime in Teheran was “doctrinally and theologically committed to Israel’s destruction.”

“Should the international community continue to allow Iran to buy more
time for its nuclear program, as it has done for more than a decade, after
Netanyahu’s warning, it will not be able to respond with surprise when
Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites,” the report, dated Oct. 7, said.

The report said any international agreement that preserves Iran’s
uranium enrichment program would ensure its weapons capability. Israel has
sought an accord that would reverse Iran’s nuclear achievements, including a
stockpile of low-enriched uranium sufficient to produce up to nine atomic
bombs.

“A military strike would not be a goal in itself, as Iran could go right
back to reactivating its program, but it would be a last resort designed to
accomplish what years of talks could not: to push Iran back from the nuclear
brink,” the report said.

The report said Israel has acquired the military platforms to attack
Iran. They included F-15 and F-16 fighter-jets, refueling aircraft, Jericho
intermediate-range ballistic missiles and electronic warfare systems.

“In the event that Iran orders its Lebanese proxy, Hizbullah to
retaliate with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles on the Israeli home
front, Israel could respond with devastating air force strikes using new
weapons systems, and a lightning ground invasion of southern Lebanon to
extinguish quickly the rocket attacks and leave Hizbullah on the ropes,” the
report said.

  Benjamin Netanyahu, F-15 and F-16 fighters, Gatestone Institute, Jericho missiles, Report: Netanyhau moving closer to ordering strike on Iran, UN General Assembly