Wars of words as tension rises over Iran nuke deal

Agencies | Tel Aviv

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Concerns of conflict are looming large over the middle east amid reports that Israel is preparing contingency plans for military actions against Iran, which has upped its rhetoric with war games.

The country’s top military commanders said that the war games conducted this week by Iran in the Gulf send a warning to Israel. The Revolutionary Guards’ war games, which included firing ballistic and cruise missiles, ended on Friday.

The warning comes as reports also surfaced saying that the Israeli Knesset has approved an additional defence budget for military action against Iran as a last resort if diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear programme fail.

According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, the Knesset approved an additional defence budget totalling about 9 billion shekels, or about $2.9 billion. Knesset approved the supplementary budget after an eight hour meeting as part of the ongoing process of allocating funds for 2021.

The newspaper, quoting officials, said, “the decision to present the supplementary budget was not taken until several weeks ago, so it was not included in the general budget.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog had warned that Iran was a “time bomb that threatens Israel and the entire Middle East.

“The threat posed by a nuclear Iran must be neutralized once and for all, with or without an agreement.” Meanwhile, Guards chief General Hossein Salami said on state TV, “These exercises had a very clear message: a serious, real ... warning to threats by the Zionist regime’s authorities to beware of their mistakes.”