The ongoing crisis over Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is fast approaching its dramatic climax. With punitive sanctions only now being developed against the Islamic Republic, and the historic ineffectiveness of sanctioning, there remains but one serious option for immediately stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. It is an option enshrined by a precedent few want to see repeated, but one that Israel appears ready to execute at a moment's notice.
On June 7, 1981, Israeli F-16's flew low across the Iraqi desert on a daring unilateral mission to destroy Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor. On that day, the Israelis were successful.
Saddam feigned protest, and barely a murmur was heard from the world powers.
Twenty-six years later, in September 2007, Israeli fighter jets once more snuck stealthily across the blazing desert sand, this time successfully bombing a Syrian nuclear reactor under construction with direct North Korean assistance. After its destruction, the Syrian regime curiously stayed completely silent. Not a word of protest, no rioting against Israel, not even a UN resolution condemning the attack -- just guilty silence.
Now, in 2010, a mere three years later, Israel -- the tiny, democratic Jewish State -- is making public noises about its willingness to take all steps necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Everywhere he travels, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminds audiences of the grave nuclear crossroads facing the international community. Netanyahu continually demands that the UN Security Council rapidly implement "crippling sanctions" in order to grind the Iranian economy to a halt and thus force the cessation of Iran's covert nuclear weapons program.
The glaring problem that Israel recognizes is that sanctions will take months to develop and potentially years to take effect. This is particularly so when the Security Council is as divided as it is now, with Russia and China continuing to intentionally slow progress on the sanctions front.
Russia is constructing Iran's nearly completed Bushehr nuclear power plant, at great profit, and would be furious to see Iranian payments stopped due to sanctions, or worse, to witness the plant's destruction.
Meanwhile China is blocking sanctions out of sheer economic self-interest -- billions of dollars in oil and natural gas deals with Iran provide needed lifeblood for China's economy. Israeli defence planners are agonizing at these delay tactics and are growing restless as Iran is being given free time to build nukes.
Moreover, U.S. President Obama, already mired in bloody conflicts on both of Iran's borders, feels backed into a corner on sanctions, seemingly unwilling to unilaterally escalate the situation further. Obama is also simply loath to incite further violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by conducting air strikes against Iran's nuclear sites.
And so as Iran continues its public and defiant pursuit of nuclear weapons, Israel's leaders are rightly beginning to feel desperate. But Israel is not alone in this desperation. One nation to apparently side with Israel on the Iranian nuclear issue is Saudi Arabia. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal recently declared, "Sanctions are a long-term solution ... but we see the issue in the shorter term because we are closer to the threat. We need immediate resolution rather than gradual resolution."
Sitting across from Iran in the Gulf, the world's largest oil producer is undeniably as threatened by a nuclear Iran as Israel is. While Saudi Arabia may have an interest in the higher oil prices which would result from targeted air strikes on Iran's nuclear program, the Saudis also know they represent the chief guarantor of economic recovery for a battered global economy requiring cheap oil.
What Saudi Arabia is not, however, is the publicized target of Iran's soon-to-be-nuclear missile arsenal.
Israel knows that the window for stopping Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is quickly closing. Action must be taken soon to prevent Iran's manic leaders from obtaining the world's most lethal weapon to achieve their goal of "wiping Israel off the map." Tragically, the international community appears feckless in stopping Iran -- even with widespread protests against an increasingly hated Iranian regime and growing unity in the Iranian opposition movement.
As one of Israel's few remaining vocal allies, Canada must support Israel. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated an "attack on Israel is attack on Canada." If Israel follows its historic precedent and conducts unilateral military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, Harper must stand up for Israel's right to self-defence against the world's most dangerous regime and largest state sponsor of terrorism -- the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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