Fifty years from today, if Israel still exists, its leaders will be saying: "military option against Iran still open"! lol. What a bunch of impotent wimps!

Is Israel a strategic liability rather than a strategic asset for the West? An Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear installations will prevent a regional nuclear arms race by freeing Arab states of the need to develop their own nuclear arsenals and so prove that a strong Israel enhances regional stability. Israel's willingness and capacity to effectively strike Iran's nuclear installations will be the ultimate proof that US Arabists are wrong to castigate Israel as a strategic burden. As to the relations between the USA and Iran : http://xrl.us/be48qr

Referring to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Kouchner said the West is not particularly worried about Iran’s nuclear threat because everyone believes that Israel will attack Iran for them. In his words, “I HONESTLY DON’T BELIEVE THAT [A NUCLEAR ARSENAL] WILL GIVE ANY IMMUNITY TO IRAN. FIRST, YOU [ISRAEL] WILL HIT THEM BEFORE [THEY ACQUIRE NUCLEAR WEAPONS]. BECAUSE ISRAEL HAS ALWAYS SAID THAT IT WILL NOT WAIT FOR THE BOMB TO BE READY. I THINK THAT THEY [THE IRANIANS] KNOW. EVERYBODY KNOWS.” A sad reality at : http://xrl.us/otzko

JUST LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE REACTOR,CONSIDER THE VOLUME OF ENERGY = IT DOSENT SEEM LIKE A PEACE FULL PROGRAME.iT US AN UNUSUAL AND EXTRAORDINARY THREAT TO ANY NATIONAL SECURITY. ANY FOREIGN POLICY OR ANY ECONOMY OF THE WORLD AT LARGE ! BEN SINGAPORE

I think what Kouchner is in effect admitting is that the West doesn't feel compelled to act because, much as when Israel eliminated the problem of a nuclear Iraq, Israel will clean up the mess for the West yet again with respect to a nuclear Iran. For which Israel will get much blame and no praise .... but a great many governments throughout the world will doubtless breathe great sighs of relief.

Have you had too much sangria already at this hour? Your usual ignorance bleeds thru every word you write. It is you who is the mental midget who never misses an opportunity to demonstrate it.

The funny thing is that 7 years have passed so far from the day this contorversy began and from that very day,israel has been barking about attacking. Lol,and when you confront the israelis,the only thing they come up with is that " the US threatened to hit iraq,for nearly a year,and at the end it happened". The thing is,the US was the US,israel is in absolutely no position to make its military look like the US army(although even after all these years,they still have them selves busy in iraq and afghanistan). Even if israel did launch an attack,where will they be hitting?Natanz and Qom??There's hardly any activity going on in natanz(IAEA inspections)and Qom is so deep underground,that it's impossible to hit it(which also raises a bigger question,do the iranians have more nuclear facilities hidden underground??)

Israel's leaders once were men of few words and action,their slogan / motto was "DO ,THEN TALK" but today they seem to be made of different stuff ,full of hot air.No insult intended but when you wrote "mark my words " I thought it would have been funny if you had written "MARCO my words" but that is just my sense of humour .By the way,if Israel strikes Iran soon we may both be proven wrong.

That would be Iran, the toothless barking dog that lost 500,000 men in a ten-year war against a vastly inferior Iraq? Couldn't even manage to pull out a draw and ending up throwing children at tanks in a disgusting attempt to garner support for a war that set Iran back twenty years in terms of materiel, equipment and manpower, losses which continue to cripple Iran today. Iran wants to be a nuclear power, while ignoring an unemployment rate of 40% and a disaffected population that is sick of thirty years of brutal repression by the assorted ayatollahs and mullahs. How pathetic. Iran is indeed a toothless barking dog.

The Sunni-Shiite open war is imminent and Iran shouldn't be allowed to own a strategic weapon, just to keep the balance of power in check.

... it still exist in 50 years or be part of the larger Islamic caliphate that Europe is transmogrifying into as we speak. With the "fifth column" among us in the West (yes, that means you Marco), there's no wonder the Islamic terror threat has solidified itself. Speaking of wimps, have you guys recovered from running away internationally when Al-Qaeda ruthlessly bombed the trains in Madrid?

The funnier thing is that Israel waited eight years before attacking Iraq's Osirac reactor. When sabotage did not deter Saddam Hussein, when diplomatic efforts proved fruitless -- the West did not believe that Iraq posed a threat to anyone except Israel; a belief which proved demonstrably false when Iraq invaded Kuwait ten years later -- then and ONLY then did Israel exercise a military option, and achieved its aims brilliantly and with the loss of only one civilian life. Do not mistake caution, deliberation and concerted effort to reach a diplomatic solution with "barking about attacking." I realize that you probably do not know better, given Austria's less than exemplary military performance in the last 100 or so years -- although World War II proved rather conclusively that Austria's definitive strength is producing monsters. Ponder away as much you like. I am sure that Israel has already drawn up plans which would likely entail multiple strikes, both from the sea and the air. These are highly-secret, so I suppose we'll just have to wait until the dust clears in Iran to see just what Israel's attack plan was. As to your final question -- Israel's intelligence on the ground is unsurpassed. I am sure that if there are underground facilities, Israel knows about it and has devised a plan to deal with it. Although I must point out that your question is really rather silly. Putting cooling towers underground is a spectacularly bad idea. The best any nuclear facility can really do is to harden the exterior shell as much as possible. But hardened is not the same as impermeable.

Words,when Israel strikes Iran.By way of deception is how Israel operates....yes she will, no she won't ,yes she will ad ad Infinitum until BANG.

Hey Lawrence, It seems to me that you will have to eat your words soon, so, they've better be kosher! Politics is not something your mind can comprehend. Better stick to being a rap artist!

of all things 'Islam'.

for discussion only . Keep discussing won't hurt.

And increases the figure of unemployement in Iran by yet another 10%.Who would be in a position to guide the misguided Sarah to restrain herself and be more realistic.What happened with Iraq is history which will not repeat with Iran.Sarah should be assured of that.Anyway,I am sure she will run away to USA at the slightest indication of Middle East on fire!!!

Mahmood teases Sarah about moving to the West, yet Mahmood lives in the UK. He's a coward and hypocrite to boot.

No, I actually thought it was 30%. According to Mr. Mehdi Karroubi, unemployment is 40% and inflation is nearly 26%. Wow! Iran is really hurting. Gee. What will happen when the West shuts down the United Nations conduit and wages financial war on Iran? Those numbers will get higher, very quickly. High unemployment -- high inflation -- disillusioned and discontented population ---- not much of a future there, I'd say. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of assorted criminal ayatollahs and mullahs, now could it? Are you sure about Iran's ability to repel an Israeli attack? Israel cleaned Iraq's clock in seven minutes. Iran couldn't even defeat a vastly inferior Iraq, losing 500,000 men in the process and depleting most of its materiel and resources over the ten years of the war. I note, too, that Russia's Medvedev issued a warning to Iran that it is running out of time. Russia has already declined to sell Iran the S-300 missile system. That leaves Iran terribly exposed. Iran countered by saying that it will develop its own land-to-air defenses. Think they can do it in a little over a month? LOL. File that one with Iran's claim to have built a new-generation centrifuge! In your heart of hearts, Mahmood, do you believe all the nonsense coming out of Iran?

I always enjoy reading your belligerant comments on these threads. However, in spite of your fondest wish (and that of many others besides, not least the whole of Israel and that little yapper Sarkozy), I don't think we'll be seeing Israel blowing stuff up in Iran. At the end of the day, the Anglo/Gallic west will come to realise (already does) there's no gain to be had and much to lose if their proxy in the middle east attacks Iran and antagonises a major player in the region where their oil comes from. In spite of everything Israel says, most sensible nations see Iran, despite its obvious and glaring flaws, as a resonably stable state, and as a place where business can be done. Compared to places like N. Korea or Burma or Bob Mugabe's Zimbabwe the Ayotollahs of Iran are veritable saints. And they've got lots of oil and gas, so much can be overlooked, eh. There are too many foreign interests in Iran [read China] who would not be so happy to see the tumoil of war disrupting their business with the Ayotollahs. And, for the same reason, I doubt there will ever be harsher sanctions brought against Iran in the UN. China's veto will see to that. Besides, Iran will agree to a plan for their uranium that is acceptable to Russia, and basically that will be the end of it. US/UK/France will pretend to be cautious for another year, for the sake of Israel, but gradually relations between the west and Iran will improve, perhaps even to the point that Obama shakes Ahminejad's hand in the White House before the next US election...Well, maybe not that far, but in a few years the world will be worrying about something other than the endless, petty verbal quarral between Israel and Iran that has been going on for 30 years and has never meant anything. Israel exists at the whim of US/UK/France and is there to guard access to the region's oil. It should be careful not to be perceived as hindering that supply.

Israel under the UN monitors disarmed from illegal WMD to 1967 borders will be the most importent move by "humanity" to preserve World Peace.