By ANDY SOLTIS
June 21, 2008
Fears of the Mideast erupting into a "fireball" of war rose sharply yesterday after US officials confirmed that Israel had sent waves of warplanes on a practice run for a massive attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The Israeli show of strength, conducted earlier this month over Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, was impossible for Iran to miss and demonstrated the country's ability to carry out a long-range bombing attack, officials said.
More than 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s were deployed in the maneuver, flying roughly the distance from Israel to a key Iranian target. The exercise included refueling tankers and helicopters capable of rescuing downed pilots.
The report briefly sent oil prices soaring another $4 a barrel and drew a chilling threat of retaliation from Iran.
"If enemies, especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States, would want to use a language of force, they would rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in a sermon broadcast live on state radio.
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency said an Israeli attack would ignite a Mideast war.
"It would turn the region into a fireball," Mohamed ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television.
Israel has repeatedly shown the will to stop its Arab neighbors from developing atomic bombs. In 1981, F-16s destroyed Saddam Hussein's nuclear reactor near Baghdad, and last year Israel bombed a suspected Syrian nuclear site.
Yesterday, officials in Jerusalem refused to comment except to say the Israeli air force "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel."
But two weeks ago, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz said an attack on Iran's long-secret atomic facilities was all but inevitable.
"If Iran continues its nuclear weapons program, we will attack it," he said.
Israel has repeatedly rejected Iranian claims that it is seeking only nuclear power and also rejected last year's US intelligence report that concluded Iran has suspended its weapons program.
An Israeli attack on suspected bomb factories would be much more difficult than the 1981 raid on Iraq.
