Laila Bassam @ Reuters:
Iran could hit U.S. bases in the Middle East in response to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities even if American forces played no role in the attack, the leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said on Monday.
“A decision has been taken to respond and the response will be very great,” Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen television.
“The response will not be just inside the Israeli entity – American bases in the whole region could be Iranian targets,” he said, citing information he said was from Iranian officials. “If Israel targets Iran, America bears responsibility.”
Heightened Israeli rhetoric about Tehran’s nuclear facilities, which the West says could be part of a weapons program, has stoked speculation that it may attack Iran before U.S. elections in November.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Sunday to set a “clear red line” to convince Iran they would prevent it from obtaining nuclear arms.
Israel, thought to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power, views Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its regional dominance and to its very existence. Tehran says the atomic work is for peaceful purposes only.
But Netanyahu’s cabinet is divided over the wisdom of attacking Iran, and Israeli officials have dropped heavy hints of a climbdown strategy, under which Netanyahu would shelve threats of an attack now in return for a stronger public pledge from President Barack Obama on conditions that would provoke U.S. action in future.
Nasrallah said there were divisions in Israel over attacking Iran. “Personally I do not expect the Israeli enemy – at least in the coming months or foreseeable future – (to wage) an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
What an idiot Nasrallah is!
Obama had purportedly gone ”through back channels,” with Iran to make a pact not to help Israel IF America’s forces were exempt from attack when Israel and Iran finally go to it.
His pact would have led to the end of Israel in no time IF Israel tried to prevent Iran from putting a nuclear bomb into any attack on Israel.
But NO!
Nasrallah has to throw the monkey wrench into the works.
Now Obama’s plan to help Iran destroy Israel is on hold.
I wonder if Iran’s ayatollahs can muzzle Nasrallah or not?
If the attack comes before November, republicans will claim it’s a political move. Whenever it comes, there won’t be an advance announcement.
Maybe we’ll FINALLY see those “Missing” MANPADS from Libya!!! 😉