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Israel denies Peres word on no Iran war
[Iran Press TV Latest] After the Russian leader talked of an assurance given by Israeli President Shimon Peres about the lack of a plan for a military strike against Iran, a senior Israeli official moves to dismiss the remark, saying there exists no such guarantee.
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Or the diplomatic version, which goes, "I believe the gentleman is mistaken about his facts."
In an interview with the US news channel CNN on Sunday, Dmitry Medvedev said that Peres made an important assurance during a visit to Russia in August. "When Israeli President Peres was visiting me in Sochi recently, he said something very important for all of us. 'Israel does not plan any strikes on Iran, we are a peaceful country and we will not do this'," Medvedev said, according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin's website.
It's true. He did say that. President Medvedev, I mean.
While the Israeli president's office declined to comment on the remarks on Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the comments were "certainly not a guarantee" that there would be no military action.

"I don't think that, with all due respect, the Russian president is authorized to speak for Israel and certainly we have not taken any option off the table," Ayalon said.

Israel -- the alleged sole possessor of a nuclear warhead in the Middle East -- accuses Iran of conducting efforts to develop a nuclear bomb, maintaining that a "nuclear Iran" is the prime existential threat to its security.

Tehran, however, denies seeking nuclear weapons and has called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe.

In separate remarks, Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reacted to the development, saying that a nuclear Iran would be a threat to the Middle East and "the entire free world" as well as Israel.

"We all understand that the best way of coping is through international sanctions," he told army radio. "I hope that Iran will understand this."

"I think that if not, Israel has the right to defend itself, and all options are open. The IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) working premise is that we have to be prepared for that possibility, and that is exactly what we are doing."

The reactions by the Israeli officials come as former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said earlier that President Barack Obama should warn Israel that in case of an attempt to attack Iran, the US Air Force will go all out to stop any such move.

Explaining that Israeli warplanes would "have to fly over our [US] airspace in Iraq," Brzezinski said, "We have to be serious about denying them [Israelis] that right. That means a denial where you aren't just saying it. If they fly over, you go up and confront them."

Posted by: Fred 2009-09-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=279445