Time Frame ShiftsOn Iran War Threat
Chances for a US or Israeli strike on Iran are minimal before US presidential elections but increase early next year, said a panel of advisors to the Atlantic Council. Efforts at negotiation with Iran may yet show progress in limiting uranium enrichment. Al-Monitor's Barbara Slavin reports.
Chances for a US or Israeli strike on Iran are minimal before US presidential elections but increase early next year, according to an adviser to the US government.
Suzanne Maloney, a former State Department official who still briefs US policymakers on Iran, told an audience Monday at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, that pressure on US President Barack Obama and/or Israeli leaders to take military action will grow if negotiations fail to create a sustained process for dialogue.
“Odds are we’ll make it through this year,” said Maloney, who is also a senior fellow at the Saban Center at Brookings Institution. “The time frame for concerns about war have shifted from April-May to early 2013” – a reference to published reports that Israel might strike Iran’s nuclear facilities this spring.
Maloney added, however, that by next year, “there will be renewed pressure on the president because of the statements he has made and statements by [Israeli Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
