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Iran may attack Israel if US standoff escalates, claims Israeli minister
An Israeli cabinet minister warned on Sunday of possible direct or proxy Iranian attacks on Israel should the stand-off between Tehran and Washington escalate.
The United States has increased economic and military pressure on Iran, with President Donald Trump on Thursday urging its leaders to talk to him about giving up their nuclear programme and saying he could not rule out an armed confrontation.
Read: US sends naval strike group as tensions rise with Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which supports Trump's hard tack against its arch-foe, has largely been reticent about the spiralling tensions.
Parting with the silence, Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said that, in the Gulf, "things are heating up".
"If there's some sort of conflagration between Iran and the United States, between Iran and its neighbours, I'm not ruling out that they will activate Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad from Gaza, or even that they will try to fire missiles from Iran at the State of Israel," Steinitz, a member of Netanyahu's security cabinet, told Israel's Ynet TV.
The Israeli military declined to comment when asked if it was making any preparations for possible threats linked to the Iran-US standoff.
Israel has traded blows with Iranian forces in Syria, as well as with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestinian militants.
But it has not fought an open war with Iran, a country on the other side of the Middle East.
Comments (15) Closed
Trump saying that, saying he could not rule out an armed confrontation means, shifting forces on withdrawal, from Afghanistan to Iran.
And Iraq had WMDs too...
Tell that to your benefactor, the U.S.A. and ask them to undo the high profile escalation drama they are playing with Iran.
In my view, world war three is in sight - courtesy of US and Israel. Get ready for turbulent days in SE Asia for the control of free oil supplies to US and her allies, as happened in Iraq and Libya. By the way, why despite oil resources, both Iraq and Libya are poor - where their oil goes to? You don't have to be rocket scientist to understand this.
Israel threatens to destroy the world if it was attacked, so why won’t Iran attack you?
Western Powers had stabbed a dagger in the heart of Arabland in the shape of Israel, (literally, the geographic shape of Israel is like a dagger) and now protecting it by violating all the norms of humanity and civilization.
I hope better sense prevails and conflict is averted in the gulf Area
That translates to : " we will attack before you do and crush you too "
Israel wants iran to attack her, so that she might start 'self-defense'.
I am not surprised by this statement. Israel must be rubbing their bloodstained hands with glee.
@Ping, exactly. Same kind of story. WMD. Iraq gone.
@SHAHID SATTAR , tell that to Iran which is involved in terrorists groups the world over
@Anti-Corruption_Pakistani, I don't think so. The equations are more complicated today than they were prior to world war 2. USA has clearly stated it won't attack Iran but defend if Iran makes the first move. Countries like Saudi, Qatar and UAE are allied to the US. Turkey is also part of NATO. India is allied to the US but also has good relationships with Russia and Iran. The Asian countries with the exception of China and Pakistan are all allied to the US. China will never go to war with US as a lot of its monies are invested in the US. What you might see is a limited confrontation involving US, Israel and Iran.
Iran won't do such a thing. Iran is more opportunist and cleaver than the world thinks!
Iran has never attacked any country since last five thousand years. How many countries has Israel attacked, invaded, held and illegally occupied since 1948? The answer to this interesting and intriguing question is left at the discretion, discussion and deliberation of the enlightened, educated, enduring and excelling readers and writers of this great DAWN forum, by far, the # One English daily in the world.