Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s still debating with government advisers whether to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
The premier spoke in an interview with Channel 2 television as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was flying from Cairo to Israel to meet him, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other officials tomorrow.
“I haven’t decided yet whether to attack,” Netanyahu said. “However, I see the commitment of this regime of ayatollahs to develop nuclear bombs that are meant to destroy us and I won’t let that happen.”
Netanyahu said media reports that a decision on Iran has been made are wrong and irresponsible. While describing the process as one that involves conferring with a wide range of advisers, the prime minister noted that Israel’s 1981 air raid on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor was carried out over the objections of the Mossad and military-intelligence agencies.
In Cairo, Panetta told reporters he’ll discuss the Iranian nuclear threat with Israel’s leaders and a “number of options” on how to respond. Iran says its uranium enrichment program will be used only for peaceful purposes.
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