U.S. strike on Iran likelier than ever, former CIA chief says

From Haaretz.com: 

Michael Hayden says Iran intends to reach the point where it's just below having a nuclear weapon, adding that such a step would be as destabilizing to the region as the 'real thing.'

By The Associated Press and Haaretz Service

A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the U.S. does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its suspected nuclear program.

Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, said that during his tenure "a strike was way down the list of options." But he tells CNN's State of the Union that such action now "seems inexorable."

"In my personal thinking," Hayden said, "I have begun to consider that that may not be the worst of all possible outcomes."

The former CIA chief predicted Iran would build its program to the point where it's just below having an actual weapon, saying his view was "that Iran left to its own devices will get itself to that step right below a nuclear weapon, that permanent breakout stage, so the needle isn’t quite in the red for the international community."

Hayden said that reaching even that level would be "as destabilizing to the region as actually having a weapon."

The United States, the United Nations and the European Union have imposed new restrictions on Iran over its nuclear enrichment activities, which the West fears could lead it to make a bomb.
The fourth round of U.N. sanctions calls for measures against new Iranian banks abroad if a link to the nuclear or missile programs is suspected and for vigilance on transactions with any Iranian bank, including the central bank.

On Saturday, several key Iranian officials estimated that the United States and Israel would not dare attempt a military strike of Iran's nuclear sites, adding that they were confident that Iranian forces would easily repel such an attempt.
The United States, which has ships in the Persian Gulf, has not ruled out a military strike to thwart what it suspects is an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Iran denies its atomic program is aimed at making weapons.

Iran's ISNA news agency quoted an aide to the country' Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday as saying that Israel and the United States would never strike Iran, saying that "both the U.S. and Zionist regime face internal problems and they know that we make many troubles for them if they attack Iranian territory."

Yahya Rahim Safav told ISNA that Iran's armed forces were "fully prepared and enemies are aware of that, they do not have the power to take a political decision on the issue, because they know they can start the war but are not able to finish it."

"Wwe need to be fully vigilant of these attacks, the enemy knows that it will regret if launches a land strike against Iran." Safavi said.

Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted the commander of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad-Ali Ja'fari as saying that the United States would not dare to attack Iran as it is fully aware of Iran’s defense power and its nation’s determination.

Ja'fari also said, according to the IRNA report, that he considered his forces' preparedness as being at their "highest level," adding that recent sanctions imposed on Iran in view of its contentious nuclear program would have no impact on Iran's potency.

Also Saturday, a former naval chief in Iran's Revolutionary Guard said his country has set aside 100 military vessels to confront each U.S. warship that poses a threat.
General Morteza Saffari is quoted by the conservative weekly Panjereh Saturday as saying that troops aboard U.S. warships "are morsels for Iran to target in the event of any American threat against Iran."

In 2008, Iran put its most powerful military force, the Revolutionary Guard, in charge of defending the country's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, a vital oil route.
Speaking with the semi-official Fars news agency, Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that the increased U.S. pressure on Iran were prompted by Washington's desire to advance its "propaganda campaign "and gain control of the region.

Fars quotes Vahidi as saying that a military strike on Iran was unlikely, adding that Israel too was "uttering such remarks in a bid to reduce the growing international pressures through psychological warfare," Vahidi told Fars.

"We, too, advise them not to seek trouble and tension in the region through spoiling the atmosphere," Vahidi said.