Israel Matzav

US to test missile shield against Iranian attack

Are Americans awakening to the fact that Israel is the canary in the coal mine and not Iran's ultimate target? Here are two indications that just might be happening.

Reuters is reporting that in January, the United States will test its 'core missile defenses' against the scenario of a long-range strike by Iran.

The United States will test its core missile defenses for the first time in January against a simulated long-range Iranian attack, a top Pentagon official said on Monday, amid tensions with Tehran.

Speaking at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington, Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, the head of the Missile Defense Agency, said the roughly $150 million test was a departure from the more standard scenario of a North Korean attack.

The second indication comes from an op-ed written by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla), the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee.

Many U.S. officials and congressional leaders seem content to engage in vague and open-ended talks with Iran, acting as though we have a reservoir of time to work with before the Iranian threat reaches critical mass. Yet, in June, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, estimated that Iran had already amassed a stockpile of nearly 1,400 kilograms of enriched uranium, which it could use in a "dirty bomb" or pass along to extremist groups or other rogue states.

Just last month, the IAEA made the startling revelation that Iranian scientists may have tested advanced components of nuclear warheads. Nuclear experts note that such technology, once mastered, would allow for the production of smaller and simpler nuclear bombs, and would make it easier for Iran to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. This represents a step that few in the West believed possible.

Ros-Lehtinen advocates much stronger sanctions against Iran than anything currently under discussion.

That is why the United States must be prepared to act alone, if necessary, and with every weapon in its political and economic arsenal. The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is one such tool. This legislation, which I coauthored, has the support of more than 300 members of the House, and it is urgent that this bill reaches the president's desk before the end of the year. It targets one of Iran's major weaknesses -- namely, its dependency on foreign gasoline and other refined petroleum products. By placing financial sanctions on U.S. and foreign companies providing these crucial resources, Iran's economic lifeline would be severed and its already weak economy would crumble.

But these sanctions must be coupled with action on all fronts. The U.S. must also specifically reject Iran's claim to an inalienable right to produce nuclear fuel. We must strengthen existing laws to prevent the transfer of prohibited materials and technology to Iran. Responsible nations should impose a ban on travel by senior Iranian regime officials and their families to Europe and the U.S. We should strengthen bilateral and multilateral efforts to shut down accounts of those doing business with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps or its affiliated entities; deny Tehran access to euros and U.S. dollars; and freeze the assets of those who violate U.N. sanctions on Iran. Concurrently, we should offer our full support to the Iranian people and increase funding for Iran democracy programs.

Ros-Lehtinen is known as a long-time supporter of Israel and perhaps the impact of her words as representative of widely held views in the US is minimized by that knowledge. One could argue that her love for Israel is lurking in the background.

But perhaps not. If Ros-Lehtinen is able to follow up with additional legislation or 'sense of the Congress' resolutions (denying, for example, Iran's 'inalienable right' to produce nuclear fuel or to use nuclear energy at all), that might have an impact on the dawdling and indecisive Obama administration, especially in an election year in which the party in power stands to take a beating.

Is the sleeping American giant waking up?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:37 AM