Panetta turns up the heat on Iran

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Panetta turns up the heat on Iran

Article by: GREG JAFFE , Washington Post
Updated: August 1, 2012 - 9:31 PM

The defense secretary spoke of U.S. military options, hoping to keep Israel from acting on its own.

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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

Photo: Sebastian Scheiner, Associated Press

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ASHKELON, ISRAEL - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stressed Wednesday that if economic sanctions do not compel Iran to end its nuclear program, the United States would have to consider military options to destroy it.

Panetta's repeated emphasis on pursuing other options if diplomacy fails did not mark a change in policy but gave his remarks a harder edge than his previous statements.

His comments came amid deepening concern that Israel could launch a unilateral strike on Iran. They followed a series of visits to Israel by senior Obama administration officials, who are pressing the Israelis to give economic sanctions more time to persuade the Iranians to give up their nuclear ambitions.

Panetta described the recently imposed economic sanctions as "the toughest Iran has ever faced" and insisted they were working. "The most effective way to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is for the international community to be united, proving to Iran that it will only make itself less secure if it continues to try to pursue a nuclear weapon," he said.

His statements also come as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is making the Obama administration's policy toward Iran a campaign issue. During his visit to Israel this week, Romney used sharp language, saying that "any and all measures" should be considered to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Panetta appeared with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at a jointly funded U.S.-Israeli anti-rocket battery in southern Israel, then met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Even as Panetta emphasized the Obama administration's deep opposition to Iran's nuclear program and the close U.S. partnership with Israel, the differences in the American and Israeli views regarding the need for urgent military action were clear.

Barak told reporters that the likelihood of sanctions curbing Iranian nuclear ambitions is "very, extremely low" and suggested that the Iranians were stalling for time as they moved quickly to enrich the uranium they would need for a nuclear weapon. "We have clearly something to lose by this stretch of time on which sanctions and diplomacy takes place because the Iranians are moving forward," he said, standing next to Panetta.

Time 'is running out'

Netanyahu reiterated that message in a brief statement after his meeting with Panetta. "However forceful our statements, they have not convinced Iran that we are serious about stopping them," Netanyahu said. "Right now, the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program. This must change quickly, because the time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out."

In Israel, there remains feverish speculation that Netanyahu might act in September or early October -- before the U.S. presidential election. "If I were an Iranian, I would be very fearful of the next 12 weeks," said Efraim Halevy, a former chief of Israel's intelligence agency and national security adviser.

In remarks that appeared designed to increase pressure on the Iranians and reassure the Israelis, Panetta said repeatedly that the United States had developed military options to thwart the Iranian nuclear program if sanctions fail.

"We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Period," Panetta said after his meeting with Netanyahu. "And we will exert all options in the effort to ensure that that does not happen."

Unlike the U.S. military, the Israel Defense Forces do not have tankers capable of refueling warplanes in flight, nor is Israel's arsenal of bunker-busting bombs thought to be as effective as that of the United States at taking out deeply buried targets. Those shortcomings could limit the effectiveness of any unilateral action by the Israelis against the Iranian nuclear program.

Panetta spent the morning touring an anti-rocket battery developed by the Israelis with the assistance of the United States and more than $200 million in U.S. aid. Last week, President Obama pledged an additional $70 million to help Israel bolster the Iron Dome system, which is designed to shoot down short-range rockets from Gaza and Lebanon. The anti-rocket system would not be effective against longer-range Iranian missiles.

Close partnership

Panetta's quick tour of the Iron Dome system was designed to highlight the close partnership between Israel and the United States. "This is the strongest alliance that we have... and we will continue to strengthen the military relationship," Panetta said.

Barak was asked whether Israeli and the U.S. clocks were "ticking at different speeds" when it came to Iran.

He responded, "That's correct, this is a well-known fact. ... America, even when it thinks differently than us, understands that the state of Israel and the government of Israel are those who ultimately have to make the decisions in matters that are vital to the security of the country."

The New York Times contributed to this report.

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