JAN. 27 -  ”…Failure to use the pressure of diplomacy and sanctions makes some future confrontation more likely not because the United States would (or should) attack Iran but that Iranian aggression will trigger conflicts in the region, whether or not America participates and whether or not Israel ever attacks Iranian nuclear installations,” writes Barry Rubin, director [...]

JAN. 7 – Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, says a nuclear-armed Iran would bring an “end” to stability in the Middle East, according to Israel Radio.
“There is still time for diplomacy to work,” Barak told a forum yesterday at Tel Aviv University. But he said Israel expects the West to establish a “final deadline” for exhausting those efforts. 
“No option should [...]

JAN. 5 – Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Israel, has characterized the West’s handling of Iran and its suspected weapons program as “inept.”

JAN. 5 – Some morning headlines in the Israeli press are greeting with skepticism yesterday’s comments about Iran by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On the leading Israeli news site, YNET, the main headline reads, “Clinton:  U.S. Not Closing the Door to Talks With Iran.”  In a four-line sub-head, it is noted that Clinton’s remarks come “five days after a [...]

JAN. 2 – The New York Times is reporting tonight that according to the Obama administration, domestic unrest in Iran and signs of unexpected trouble in its nuclear program are making Iran’s leaders, particularly vulnerable to strong and immediate new sanctions.” 
The Times also reports that according to Obama administration officials, Iran’s bomb-development effort was “seriously derailed” by the exposure three [...]

 JAN. 1 – Sobering headlines about Iran, this  New Year’s Day.
The Jerusalem Post’s Hilary Leila Kreiger and Haviv Rettig Gur, in their dispatch from Washington, report the  US has “toughened its rhetoric” and is “looking increasingly to sanctions rather than diplomacy,” now that its deadline to Iran has passed.  The article  includes an interview with Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Michael [...]

DEC. 31 – With the expiration, tonight, of Washington’s ultimatum to Iran to agree to an imposed uranium enrichment deal or  else face  “crippling sanctions,” a number of Israeli media outlets are already noting the Obama administration’s planned change in tone.
Israel’s Channel 10 correspondent in Washington, Gil Tamari, reports that Washington instead plans to impose “targeted sanctions,” so as not to [...]