Biden: Israel has 'sovereign right' to attack Iran

[Israel Insider]

Israel is free to do whatever it deems necessary to remove the Iranian nuclear threat, US Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday. In an interview with ABC's 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos,' Biden said "Israel can determine for itself - it's a sovereign nation - what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.

As for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approach, according to which Israel would "give until the end of the year for this whole process of engagement (with Iran) to work before taking matters into its own hands," Biden said "they're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that. But there is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed. "

However, the vice president did add that "what we believe (pursuing diplomatic options regarding Iran) is in the national interest of the United States, which we, coincidentally, believe is also in the interest of Israel and the whole world. And so there are separate issues."

"If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice," he said.

Iran, for its part, said that a "real and decisive response" would befall any potential attacker. Alaeddin Broujerdi, the head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said that "Both the US and Israel are aware of the consequence of an erroneous decision," adding that "I believe our response will be real and decisive." He declined to elaborate.

Asked by Stephanopoulos whether the US would stand in the way of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities by denying "over-flight rights in Iraq," Biden said " I'm not going to speculate, George, on those issues, other than to say Israel has a right to determine what's in its interests, and we have a right and we will determine what's in our interests."

CIA Director Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen have visited Israel in recent months and expressed strong opposition to a military strike on Iran.

Biden, who was a long-time member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, hinted during the interview that the Obama administration was prepared to toughen its stance on Iran.

He said that while the US' offer of engagement was still on the table, Washington would not accept Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's demand for more concessions ahead of possible negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program.

Biden's comments were made ahead of Obama's scheduled visit to Moscow for meetings with senior government officials and then to Italy for the Group of Eight (G8) summit, where the prospect of tightening sanctions on Iran is expected to be raised.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Biden was not signaling any change of approach on Iran or Israel.

"The vice president refused to engage hypotheticals, and he made clear that our policy has not changed," Vietor said. "Our friends and allies, including Israel, know that the president believes that now is the time to explore direct diplomatic options."

[Jim Talbot]

Although Biden is "Gaff-a-minute" he's right on this one. Later his comments were overridden by the State Dept. who have never been friends of Israel. When will the US/Europe appreciate the threat Iran and Russia will have ?

[Robert Bernier]

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer Kharrazi : “We are able to produce atomic bombs and we will do that.”
Elimination of Israel remains a cornerstone of Islamic Republic ideology. Despite revisionist questioning about whether Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really promised to “wipe Israel off the map,” both University of North Dakota law professor Gregory S. Gordon and Joshua Teitelbaum, senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center at the University of Tel Aviv, have chronicled well over a dozen recent Iranian statements promising Israel’s destruction. As Teitelbaum notes, “What emerges from a comprehensive analysis of what Ahmadinejad actually said–and how it has been interpreted in Iran–is that the Iranian president was not just calling for ‘regime change’ in Jerusalem, but rather the actual physical destruction of the state of Israel.” THERE IS REASON TO TAKE THE WORST CASE SCENARIO SERIOUSLY. More at (3parts):
http://israelagainstterror.blogspot.com/2008/11/can-nuclear-iran-be-contained-or_2816.html

[Robert Bernier]

“Only” the destruction of Israel…
Most Europeans and Americans are not keenly aware that Iran is on track to having the ability to threaten Kuwait City, Riyadh, Dubai, Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles with nuclear weapons. They are oblivious to the ultimate aim of the Iranian nuclear weapons program: to transform Iran into the dominant global superpower by enabling its regime to attain hegemonic control of the petroleum production of all of the Gulf region’s oil states, while preventing the West from taking military action against Iran by deploying missiles that can obliterate Western cities. Instead, Americans and Europeans are under the impression that the program’s main goal is “only” the destruction of Israel… More about a nuclear Iran (3 parts) at : http://xrl.us/owrbs