British newspaper alleges Israel is planning a military strike on Iran

TEHRAN - Hamas will step up its attacks on Israeli targets if Israel attacks Iran, the militant group's chief-in-exile Khaled Meshal said on Thursday.

"If Israel attacks Iran, then Hamas will widen and increase its confrontation of Israelis inside Palestine," Meshal told reporters in Tehran, where he has held three days of talks with top political and security officials.

On Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Iran will be capable of enriching uranium within the next three months, but will have to overcome many technological obstacles before reaching the nuclear "point of no return."

"Iran is determined to obtain the technological capability that will allow it to produce a nuclear bomb, but numerous obstacles remain in its path," Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "Even if the Iranians pass the uranium-enrichment stage, they are still a number of years away from building the bomb."

"An Iran with nuclear capability is a global problem," said Halutz. "It will be difficult to impose sanctions on it, and the problem could arise of the transfering of `dirty bombs' to terror organizations."

The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors is slated to convene on March 6 to discuss imposing sanctions on Iran, Halutz noted.

Former finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel should take "bold and daring" action to thwart Iran's plans for nuclear armament, citing Israel's 1981 air strike on a Iraqi nuclear facility.

"The Iranian threat is an existential one, as it is a country that declared its plans to destroy Israel and is developing the tools to carry out this destruction. In this regard, I will continue the legacy of Menachem Begin, who thwarted Iran's neighbor, Iraq, from acquiring nuclear weapons by adopting bold and daring measures.

"I believe that is what Israel needs to do," Netanyahu told Israel Radio.

In 1981, Begin ordered an air strike on Iraq's nuclear facility in Osirak, near Baghdad. As a result of the attack, Iraq's nuclear armament plan was thwarted.

On Tuesday, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, encouraged Palestinians to continue their struggle against Israel. Iranian television reported that Khamenei told Meshal that "the experience of the last 50 years teaches that negotiation with the Zionist occupation doesn't improve the situation. We will achieve victory through the struggle only."

Praise for Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel comments

Meshaal also praised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for recent comments in which he called the Holocaust a myth and said Israel should be moved to Europe or North America.

"Those were brave and true remarks and it is what the Islamic nations say, especially the Palestinians," he said.

The European Union and Israel condemned Ahmadinejad 's remark, with the German foreign minister adding that the comment denying the Holocaust will affect Iran's nuclear talks with European negotiators later this month.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/658419.html