Panetta: Iran Strike Would Have Consequences

By Haaretz November 10, 2011

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday that military action against Iran’s contentious nuclear program could have unintended consequences.

Panetta said he agreed with earlier assessments that a strike would only set Iran’s nuclear program back by three years at most, adding that military action could fail to deter Iran and also have repercussions for other countries in the region and for U.S. forces based in the area

The defense secretary’s comments came following a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said for the first time that Iran is suspected of conducting secret experiments whose sole purpose is the development of nuclear arms.

Iran insists it is pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and has warned it would lash back if attacked.

Israel on Wednesday called on the world to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, after the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research.

Speculation about an attack on Iran was fuelled last week when Israel, widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, test-launched a long-range missile and by comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Tehran’s nuclear program posed a “direct and heavy” threat.

Also voicing his objection of possible military strike of Iran’s nuclear facilities, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon supported earlier Thursday a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO