Israel Can't Destroy Iran's Nukes Alone

A former leading U.S. intelligence chief said Israel does not have sufficient assets or support for a major attack required to destroy Iran's nuclear weapons program. The intelligence chief cited the absence of Israeli aircraft carriers and the need for warplanes to enter the air space of Arab rivals. ‘The United States is the only country in the world that has capability of carrying out the estimated thousand strike sorties needed to destroy the Iran's nuclear program,’ [Ret.] Col. Patrick Lang, director of the Middle East section of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. ‘The objective has to be not to destroy the program, but to set it back a desired number of years.’ Lang told a March 23 seminar at the Washington-based Nixon Center that Israel's military could not sustain an air campaign against Iran. He cited the more than 1,500 kilometers from Israel to Iran as well as a shortage of Israeli combat aircraft.