Friday, March 02, 2012

Israel's New Friend Near Iran

I've wondered if there are ways to get around Israel's aerial refueling limits in order to design an attack on Iran's nuclear program that gets enough bombs on target.

This was one method I speculated about:

Perhaps, like we planned for the Doolittle Raid, the Israelis will plan this like a one-way mission where most Israeli planes recover in nearby countries after hitting Iran, with only those within the capacity of Israel's aerial refueling capacity return to Israel at once. Would Georgia be a likely site (where Iran tried to kill Israelis recently)? Armenia to thumb their nose at Turkey? Even Jordan or Kuwait? Or even land at a remote airfield or road on the way back in the Desert One option to be refueled after the mission? Note that our assumption failed and we lost all our planes in the Doolittle Raid

How many Israeli warplanes could land at any one site without being an "incident?" If only small numbers land at some places (like Jordan or Kuwait) could Georgia, as an example, handle most as long as they aren't the only site?

The one country I didn't mention? Azerbaijan.

Speaking of which:

Iran challenged Azerbaijan on Tuesday over $1.5 billion in arms it said were purchased from arch-foe Israel, state media reported, in a sign of further strains between the neighbouring countries.

Azebaijan's ambassador to Tehran was called in to the foreign ministry to explain the weapons and to receive a warning that Israel must not be permitted to use Azerbaijan to stage "terrorist acts" against Iran.

Well, airfields in Azerbaijan are certainly close enough to help out if available to Israel. Is the arms sale a sign of deeper cooperation?