Jerusalem: Israel and the United States are
in the process of drawing "red lines", which when crossed
would justify a pre-emptive strike on Iran`s nuclear
installations, a media report said.
Israel`s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, had filed
an official complaint with the US administration following a
speech by Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, a few weeks ago
warning against a military strike on Iran, triggering the
current development, the Daily Beast website said.
Panetta`s statements infuriated the Israeli government,
which ordered ambassador Oren to file the complaint, the
report said.
The White House then reportedly relayed a message to
Israel saying the administration has its own "red lines"
concerning a strike on Iran, and that Israel does not need to
act unilaterally.
Israel`s protest also resulted in Panetta reversing his
stand in an interview with CBS, saying the US will use any
means necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear
weapon, it said.
Israel also presented new information about Iran`s efforts
to build secret reactors for nuclear fuel production, showing
that these efforts were further ahead of what the US
administration thought, during the strategic dialogue held
between the close allies earlier this month, the report said.
Some of the intelligence is said to be based on soil
samples collected near the suspected sites.
However, Israel and the US have disagreements over their
assessment over how far along Iran`s uranium enrichment
programme has developed, making it difficult for the two sides
to formulate "red lines".
PTI
