Israel unveils new strategy on Iran

Israel is working together with the United States administration and the British and French governments to counter the effect caused by the US National Intelligence Estimate report last week, which stated that Iran had stopped its military nuclear programme in 2003.

The report has also changed Israel’s diplomatic policy towards the Iranian threat(????!).

Senior officials from all four governments were in contact last week immediately following the report’s publication to coordinate steps to minimise its effect.

US National Security adviser Stephen Hadley and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s chief of staff, Yoram Turbovich, were involved in planning the two governments’ subsequent actions together with British and French officials. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s statement last week that Iran was still in defiance of the international community, and therefore Britain would seek further sanctions, was also part of these efforts, as was the publicity attached to Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting on Monday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the Iranian issue.

Despite being the official head of the opposition, Mr Netanyahu was conveying official messages from Mr Olmert to the French leadership. More