Visiting Jerusalem at the head of a delegation of five senators, former presidential candidate John McCain said Iran was pursuing a nuclear arms programme, sponsoring militant groups and was "openly committed to the destruction of state of Israel."
"Israel probably is most capable of determining what the threats are to their national security,' he said in a press conference. "I think they are a sovereign nation and their assessment is one that if I were an Israeli citizen I would rely on more than that of another government."
In an interview at the weekend, top US military commander Martin Dempsey bluntly said it would be "premature" to launch military action against Iran.
"A strike at this time would be destabilising and wouldn't achieve (Israel's) long-term objectives," he said.
On Sunday, Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said it would not be "wise" for Israel to take military action against Iran, echoing comments earlier this month by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a fellow Republican in McCain's delegation, said "I think that the comments telling Israel what to do and not to do vis-a-vis Iran are very unhelpful."
"I just want to tell our Israeli friends my advice is never lose control of your destiny," Graham said. "You do what is necessary to control your own destiny and you have my full blessing."
Israel is calling for harsher international sanctions against Iran, which denies pursuing nuclear arms, but the Jewish state refuses to rule out using force if other options fail.
In 1981, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike on the unfinished Osirak reactor outside the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving US officials stunned and earning it a sharp rebuke from its American ally. source:
FYI
McCain didn't get the memo It's already been decided in 1981...
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin enunciated what came to be known as the Begin doctrine: "On no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against the people of Israel." This doctrine has been used by Israeli politicians to justify a possible attack on Iran's project to develop a nuclear facility.
Begin formed the doctrine to justify the Israeli attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak in Operation Opera in 1981.
"Of course it is imperative to ensure that military action would be effective, as well as to take into account the price Israel might pay as result. But such discussion should not be held in a public forum, as media speculation dilutes Israeli deterrence and gives Iranian leaders the feeling that Israel has eschewed the military option. If Iran comes to the conclusion that Israel will not strike then nothing will stop the ayatollah's regime in its quest for nuclear arms."
Israel's nuclear weapons factory at Dimona.
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