Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey will travel to Israel later in the week to hold talks with Israeli military and government officials. Iran and its nuclear program are expected to figure prominently into these discussions.
Dempsey’s visit was confirmed by Israel’s Defense Ministry on Sunday, although it has been planned for months.
General Dempsey’s trip comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and the West over the Iranian nuclear program. There are also indications that Washington and Tel Aviv are increasingly at odds over how the best course of action on the issue.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that U.S. defense officials are growing increasingly concerned that Israel is moving closer to unilaterally attacking Iran’s nuclear program despite U.S. concerns. Israel’s leaders have previously refused to promise the Obama administration that it would be consulted before Israel attacked Iran, despite the almost certain blowback such an attack would have for U.S. interests in the region.
U.S. officials’ anxiety over an Israeli attack on Iran has increased following Iran’s recent announcement that it will begin enriching uranium to 20% levels at its Fordo nuclear plant near the city of Qom. It has been argued that this is a redline for Israel- but not for the United States-because the Fordo site is heavily bunkered and therefore much more difficult to damage through airstrikes. Exuberating U.S. concern is that in response to Iran announcing enrichment at Fordo, Israel itself announced that it is taking steps to shut down its Dimona nuclear reactor, citing its vulnerability to Iranian missiles in the event of a war.
The assassination of another Iranian scientist on Tuesday further strained the U.S-Israeli relationship regarding policy. While U.S. officials “categorically” denied being involved in the murder, Israeli officials’ stopped short of disavowing its own involvement. Additionally, some Israeli officials expressed satisfaction over the Iranian scientists’ death. Washington, it seems, views the assassination as counterproductive especially as it prepares to restart negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 powers.
Not coincidently, President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked on the phone Thursday, although the details of the conversation were not made public. The following day Foreign Policy broke a story that the CIA has known for years that Israeli intelligence agents pose as CIA operatives in attempting to recruit sources to participate in their covert and intelligence-gathering missions inside Iran. Also on Friday, Time magazine published a report quoting unnamed U.S. defense officials stating that the Mossad has been behind numerous assassination attempts on Iran’s nuclear scientists over the last two years.
Finally, on Sunday the two countries announced they were postponing an upcoming air-missile defense drill in the region until later in the year. The drill-named Austre Challenge 12 –was scheduled to be the largest joint-military exercise the two allies have ever conducted. Israel’s Vice Prime Minister also said on Sunday he was disappointed with what he characterized as the Obama administration’s overly-cautious policy towards Iran, which he attributed to President Obama’s “election-year considerations.”
Dempsey is expected to first meet with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz on Tuesday in Brussels where both men are scheduled to attend a two-day NATO meeting. From there, Dempsey will travel to Israel on Thursday where he will hold additional meetings with Lt. Gen Gantz and other Israeli senior officials. This will be Gen. Dempsey's first trip to Israel since becoming the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs last September.
Comments