Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

A view of the nuclear enrichment plant of Natanz in central Iran

US president told Israeli prime minister he would not back attack on Iran, senior European diplomatic sources tell Guardian
by Jonathan Steele

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian.

The then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, used the occasion of Bush's trip to Israel for the 60th anniversary of the state's founding to raise the issue in a one-on-one meeting on May 14, the sources said. "He took it [the refusal of a US green light] as where they were at the moment, and that the US position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office", they added.

Map showing nuclear activity in Iran

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Source: The Guardian Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

Israel now fears Iran could have nuclear bomb by mid 2009

Israel now fears Iran could have nuclear bomb by mid 2009
by Yaakov and Herb Keinon

With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The new assessment moves up Israel’s forecasts on Teheran’s nuclear program by almost a full year — from 2009 to the end of 2008.

According to the new timeline, Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.

Iran, a senior defense official said on Tuesday, had encountered numerous technical obstacles on its way to enriching uranium but was now on track to master the technology needed to enrich uranium within six months.

read more from the San Francisco Sentinel...
Israel now fears Iran could have nuclear bomb by mid 2009

The Iranian-Israeli War

Yossi Halevi writing in The New Republic writes that the war most people might be expecting has in fact already began via Iran's proxies.
When will Israel and Iran go to war?
They already have. The Iranian-Israeli War