by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

U.S. President Barack Obama’s policies have left an Israeli attack on Iran the only option in preventing the Muslim country from obtaining a nuclear weapon, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton wrote in The Washington Post Thursday.

In an article headlined “Time for an Israeli Strike?” Bolton answered his own question by stating, “Israel’s decision of whether to use military force against Tehran’s nuclear weapons program is more urgent than ever… Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities.”

Iran’s Nuclear Threat “Never in Doubt”
A long-time supporter of Israel and a harsh critic of the U.N., Bolton claimed that the Iranian nuclear threat “was never in doubt“ during the American presidential campaign, but is even more certain following the apparent failure of the resistance movement in Iran.

“With no other timely option, the already compelling logic for an Israeli strike is nearly inexorable. Israel is undoubtedly ratcheting forward its decision-making process. President Obama is almost certainly not,” Bolton wrote.

He chastised the Obama administration for strategic and tactical flaws by continuing its effort to negotiate with Iran. Bolton declared that American officials think Iran will be more anxious than ever to be “accepted” following the alleged rigged victory of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in last month’s election.

John Bolton “Tehran isn’t going to negotiate in good faith,” Bolton maintained. “It hasn’t [done so] for the past six years with the European Union as our surrogates, and it won’t start now… Second, given Iran’s nuclear progress, even if the stronger sanctions Obama has threatened could be agreed upon, they would not prevent Iran from fabricating weapons and delivery systems when it chooses, as it has been striving to do for the past 20 years. Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago.”
Time is too short, and sanctions failed long ago.

Bolton expressed fears of President Obama’s “Plan B” that would allow Iran to proceed with its nuclear program for peaceful purposes while publicly stating it has no military objectives. “Obama would define such an outcome as ‘success,’ even though in reality it would hardly be different from what Iran is doing and saying now,” the former ambassador continued. “Anyone who believes the Revolutionary Guard Corps will abandon its weaponization and ballistic missile programs probably believes that there was no fraud in Iran’s June 12 election.”

Bolton wrote that negotiations with Iran would place Israel in “an even more dangerous trap.”

Failure to stage a pre-emptive attack on Iran means that the world must “be prepared for an Iran with nuclear weapons, which some, including Obama advisers, believe could be contained and deterred,” Bolton reasoned. “That is not a hypothesis we should seek to test in the real world. The cost of error could be fatal.”