“I never have felt that Israel had a capability militarily to go 1,200 miles or more and bomb Iran effectively and then return back to Israel,” Carter emphasized in an interview this week with US-based MSNBC cable network when asked to comment on former Vice President Dick Cheney’s suggestion that the Tel Aviv regime could unilaterally attack Iran.
“The only country on earth that has that capability would be the United States, and I don’t believe it’s appropriate for the United States to bomb Iran over this issue,” he further underlined.
When asked if he would maintain the position if Tehran had possessed a nuclear weapon, Carter stated, “Well, you know, if they [Iran] got one nuclear weapon, Israel has, what, 300 or more, nobody knows exactly how many. And I know that every Iranian realizes that if they should try to use a nuclear weapon, Iran would be wiped off the face of the earth, which I think is so ridiculous, a self-destructive decision that they would not do it.”
The development comes while the Islamic Republic is engaged in talks with the P5+1 group of countries – Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, plus Germany – to resolve any remaining disputes over Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.
Under intense and persisting pressure from the Israeli regime, the US and its Western allies have taken extreme efforts to lead multiple sanctions against the Iranian nation -- including the delivery of vital medical supplies and parts to maintain safety of civilian aircraft – based on the argument that since Iran has mastered the nuclear technology, it may potentially develop nuclear weapons.
Such argument runs against Iran’s long-standing cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which has been closely monitoring Tehran’s nuclear facilities as well as the Islamic Republic’s official policy of entirely rejecting the idea of developing atomic arms.
The Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out any efforts to develop, maintain or use nuclear weaponry as strictly forbidden by core Islamic principles, on which Iran’s official policies are based.
This is while the Israeli regime has never allowed the inspection of its nuclear facilities by international regulators and refuses to join IAEA or the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory.
The US and its Western allies, however, have never expressed concern over the Israeli regime’s secretive nuclear arms program.
NTJ/MB