Iran - bomb it into submission?

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said at the United Nations Thursday 23. September 2004. In his speech to world leaders gathering in New York for the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, Shalom said "...Iran is a threat to the whole world. Today we are more united than ever in opposition to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he added. ( However, Shalom missed out on mentioning Israel's extensive nuclear arsenal). "The international community now realizes that Iran - with missiles that can reach London, Paris, Berlin and southern Russia -does not only pose a threat to the security of Israel, but to the security and stability of the whole world," said Shalom. - Are Israel und the U.S. gearing up for the next war in the Middle East?

It seems so. During September, somewhere in Washington and Virginia, high ranking military officers are working on secretive plans for a military strike on Iran. As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, there are no immediate plans to strike Iran and the emphasis is on diplomacy and politics, but nothing has been ruled out. But by experince, when Pentagon states "it rules out" attack is often foremost on their agenda. The world community was misled by their smoke screens when Clinton sanctioned un-announced attacks on Taliban, Serbia and a Sudanese chemical factory. Thus, nothing has been ruled out. "There is going to be another crisis in the Middle East and its name is Iran -- to be precise, Iran's nuclear program and its defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency," an American Major-General said on condition of anonymity.