Hours after US Defense Secretary Leon Panettatold CBS that Iran could build a nuclear bomb in a year or less, Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, issued a warning: "Iran is playing a dangerous game that could ensnare the Middle East, the Middle East and others into conflict and a renewed arms race. Don't push it." The loss of the drone is not the end of US efforts, he said, adding: "America is sharing intelligence with Israel." "Despite the efforts to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program, they have reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less," said US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in a CBS interview Tuesday, Dec. 20 marking a radical change in US administration policy. "That's a red line for us and that's a red line, obviously, for the Israelis," he said. Instead of warning Israel against striking Iran, Panetta said: "If we have to do it we will deal with it." The sudden death of Kim Jong II of a heart attack aged 69, Monday, Dec. 19 confronts the world for the first time since the Cold War with a leaderless nuclear power about which it knows almost nothing. Though anointed heir, his youngest son Kim Jong-un is not expected to ride in without being challenged. The inevitable power struggle, which could be drawn out for years, may generate violence on and around the Peninsula and greater North Korean involvement in the Middle East nuclear race.
DEBKAfile Special Report
Thursday, 22 December 2011
DEBKAfile Special Report December 21, 2011, 8:45 AM (GMT+02:00)
US Gen. Martin Dempsey
Panetta: Iran is just months away from a nuke - a red line for US and Israel
December 20, 2011, 11:43 AM (GMT+02:00)
Leon Panetta signals new US Iran policy
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis
December 19, 2011, 3:52 PM (GMT+02:00)
Flags of North Korea, China and Iran.
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