Obama accepts prospect of nuclear-armed Iran 
DEBKAfile Special Report March 10, 2011, 2:42 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags:  Iran nuclear   Israel   Obama   Saudi Arabia 

It's over. Forward, nuclear Iran

During the four days between Thursday March 4 and Monday March 7, the Obama administration switched its Iran policy. As rocketing oil prices triggered by the Arab Revolt wiped out the damage caused the Iranian economy by sanctions, 

Washington confirmed the worst Saudi and Israeli suspicions that America had no intention of acting to stop the Islamic Republic attaining nuclear weapons, although it held Israel back from doing so when it was more feasible.

This discovery has dealt America's allies in Riyadh and 

Jerusalem their second letdown in three months, on the 

heels of White House encouragement of the uprisings againsta 

select number of Arab rulers.
The White House laid the ground for its change of heart on 

Iran with public statements that drew little attention from 

international media during the Libyan crisis.

The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper 

presented the Senate Armed Services Committee this week 

with a "revised" version of the controversial 2007 National Intelligence

 Estimate which claimed orignally against all the evidence

 that Iran had halted work on nuclear arms in 2003.

It is now confirmed that the misinformation contained in 

the original NIE was the pretext for holding back - 

not only an Israeli attack on Iran but also direct American 

action for keeping nuclear arms out of Iran's hands. 

By revising that erroneous estimate, the Obama administration 

shows it is willing to catch up and come to terms with the reality 

of Iran's wide-open option to develop nuclear weapons.

US official language reflects the administration's policy 

turnabout on Iran. March 7, Washington announced that 

the USS Monterey guided missile cruiser, whose Aegis 

radar can monitor long- and short-range ballistic missiles and 

transmit the data to interceptor missile ground stations, 

would be deployed in the Mediterranean. "The US has started 

implementing its plan to protect Europe from a potential Iranian 

nuclear threat."
DEBKAfile notes that all past references to the US nuclear 

shield for Europe referred to Iranian ballistic missiles – never a 

nuclear threat.
Our military sources note that one of the key ground stations 

to which the Monterey's radar is linked is the X-band forward 

radar station located in the Israeli Negev near the Egyptian border, 

which in turn is connected to Israel Arrow anti-missile missile 

batteries designed especially to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles.
The closer the Iranian nuclear menace comes to reality, the 

further it recedes from Israeli political and media rhetoric. 

Obama's fundamental policy shift on the subject is bad news 

for Israel in general and at this time in particular, because his 

support for the Arab Revolt is seen by Israeli and moderate Arab 

rulers as further evidence of a White House decision to strengthen Iran, 

which profits hugely from their losses.

Shortly before the Monterey announcement, the Washington Times 

reported: An Annual intelligence report to Congress has dropped 

language stating that Iran's nuclear weapons are a future option. A U.S. 

official insisted there was no "sleight-of-hand" in the change but 

could not explain why the recent report was altered from two previous 

versions.

IAEA Director Yukiya Amano was also quoted as describing new 

information on the military aspect of Iran's nuclear program in 

his latest report. An internal report from Feb. 25 stated that 

recent information disclosed "nuclear-related activities involving 

military-related organizations, including activities related to the 

development of a nuclear payload for a missile" as continuing after 2004.
 The two omissions in the original 2007 NIE report are that 

[US intelligence continues] "to assess Iran is keeping open 

the option to develop nuclear weapons through we do not 

know whether Tehran eventually decide to produce nuclear 

weapons" and: "Iran continues to develop a range of 

capabilities that could be applied to producing nuclear 

weapons if a decision is made to do so."

Clearly, Tehran does not have the same trouble putting 

its plans into words as do those US intelligence report writers. 

It is bent on developing a nuclear bomb, has completed 

the projects for its development and reserves the right to 

set the date for assembling the completed components into a weapon.
Wednesday, March 9, the chief US envoy Glyn Davies reported 

to the nuclear watchdog's board in Vienna that Iran may be 

continuing secret work on developing nuclear weapons. In the 

course of an argument with the Iranian delegate Ali Asghar 

Soltanieh, Davies warned of "increasingly apparently military 

dimensions to Iran's nuclear program, including efforts by Iran 

to develop a nuclear warhead."

"Iran continues to act very much like a state with something 

to hide," he told the board.

But not any longer, says DEBKAfile. HERE