Don’t Bomb Iran

Israel’s new ambassador in London said “that military confrontation is inevitable” if  Iran does not “cooperate” on its uranium enrichment program,  which he said could produce fissile material by 2009.  Ron Prosor, a senior advisor on Iran to Israel’s PM, believes Iran still has a weapons program, hinted that the IAEA does not have “full verification” of Iran’s enrichment program and said that “time is running out”.   The British Sunday Telegraph story below also cites an unnamed British intelligence official saying  Iran has fooled the US intelligence community about stopping its bomb program.

see also Prosor: War with Iran may be unavoidable THE JERUSALEM POST     Dec. 9, 2007

Israel urges strong position on Iran

By Con Coughlin
Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 2:53am GMT 07/12/2007

Israel gave warning yesterday that Iran must either co-operate with the West over its uranium enrichment programme or face military action.

Ron Prosor is one of his country’s leading experts on Iran. ‘A global threat requires a global response’

Ron Prosor, Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to Britain and one of his country’s leading experts on Iran’s nuclear programme, said that Teheran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009.

“At the current rate of progress Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“This is a global threat and it requires a global response. It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation.”

Mr Prosor, who served Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, as his senior adviser on Iran, said that time for resolving the nuclear issue was rapidly running out.

However, he was non-committal about the possibility of Israel launching military action.

“There needs to be full verification of what is happening in Iran,” said Mr Prosor, who was speaking for the first time since his arrival in London last month.

“In Israel there is a belief that the Iranians are continuing with their nuclear weapons programme.”

Mr Prosor spoke after Washington published its latest National Intelligence Assessment, compiled by the main US security agencies, which concluded that Iran had frozen its nuclear weapons programme four years ago.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday hailed the report, adding that the “truthfulness of the Iranian nation was once again proved by the ill-wishers themselves”.

But Israel and its allies - including President George W Bush - remain deeply concerned that Iran is continuing to enrich uranium.

“Iran will soon be able to fully control all the elements of enrichment,” explained Mr Prosor.

“From that point on, it is only a matter of time before they have a weapon.”

Senior Israeli officials say they have a “zero tolerance policy” on allowing Iran to develop any sort of nuclear weapons capability.

And Mr Prosor, 49, who has been immersed in the Iran issue for more than a decade, expressed surprise over Washington’s latest intelligence estimate.

However, he said it proved two important points.

First, it contradicted Iran’s official claim that its nuclear ambitions had always been peaceful by establishing that the country had run a weapons programme, even if it was now suspended.

Second, it showed that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium contrary to its international obligations.

“If we take the report at face value then we must conclude that the UN sanctions have had an effect on Iranian decision-making. It is important to keep up the sanctions because they are working,” said Mr Prosor.

He likened Iran’s nuclear ambitions to “an express train travelling at high velocity to reach its destination at the end of the tracks”, while the diplomatic train to persuade it to give up its programme was a “slow train that stopped at every stop while some people get on and others get off”.

He also questioned Iran’s need for a nuclear programme given its vast oil wealth, as well as stating that Teheran was trying to undermine President Bush’s attempts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which started with last month’s meeting at the US port of Annapolis.

“This is the beginning of a process that we hope will result in two states, with two peoples living side by side in peace and with secure borders,” he said.

“They will do everything they can to derail any progress that is made between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

On relations between Britain and Israel, Mr Prosor said that there was “a unique and deep relationship” between the two countries which had been strengthened by continuing close co-operation in the fight against terrorism.

“We are learning from each other how to cope with the threat to democracy from terror organisations,” he said.

It must be clear that if Iran does not cooperate with the West on the nuclear issue, military confrontation will be unavoidable, incoming Israeli ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, was quoted as saying Sunday.

Prosor, who served as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s senior adviser on Iran, told the Sunday Telegraph that Teheran could enrich enough uranium to make an atomic bomb by 2009.

“At the current rate of progress Iran will reach the technical threshold for producing fissile material by 2009,” he told the British newspaper. “This is a global threat and it requires a global response. It should be made clear that if Iran does not co-operate then military confrontation is inevitable. It is either co-operation or confrontation.”

Prosor went on to say that the Iranians would soon be able to fully control all the elements of enrichment and from that point on, it would only be a matter of time before they had a nuclear weapon.

“There needs to be full verification of what is happening in Iran,” said the Israeli ambassador. “In Israel there is a belief that the Iranians are continuing with their nuclear weapons program.”

Prosor expressed astonishment over Washington’s latest intelligence assessment downgrading the Iranian threat.

However, he said that the report contradicted Iran’s claim that its nuclear ambitions had always been peaceful by confirming that the country had run a weapons program, even if it was now frozen.

Prosor also said that the assessment showed that Iran was continuing to enrich uranium.

“If we take the report at face value then we must conclude that the UN sanctions have had an effect on Iranian decision-making. It is important to keep up the sanctions because they are working,” said Prosor.

He said Iran’s nuclear ambitions were like “an express train traveling at high velocity to reach its destination at the end of the tracks”, while the diplomatic train to convince it to give up its activities was like a “slow train that stopped at every stop while some people get on and others get off.”

In the Telegraph interview, Prosor questioned Iran’s need for a nuclear program given its vast oil wealth, adding that Teheran was trying to undermine US President George Bush’s attempts to revive peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“This is the beginning of a process that we hope will result in two states, with two peoples living side by side in peace and with secure borders,” he said.

“They will do everything they can to derail any progress that is made between the Israelis and Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, a British intelligence official said that Iran had deceived the CIA over its nuclear plans and expressed doubt that Iran had indeed frozen its atomic weapons program.

The official said British analysts believed that the Iranians, knowing their phone conversations were being listened to, deliberately gave misinformation. “We are skeptical. We want to know what the basis of it is, where did it come from? Was it on the basis of the defector? Was it on the basis of the intercepted material? They say things on the phone because they know we are up on the phones. They say black is white. They will say anything to throw us off,” the official told the Telegraph.

On Sunday, a Security Cabinet panel is set to meet to discuss the new US intelligence report.