Western and Arab support for an Israeli attack on the Iranian nuclear program is growing and such an attack may happen later this year.
Israel has strengthened ties with Arab nations who also fear a nuclear-armed Iran. In particular, relations with Egypt have grown increasingly strong this year over the "shared mutual distrust of Iran", according to one Israeli diplomat.
Israel is conducting military exercises overtly based on training for such an operation:
The exercises come at a time when Western diplomats are offering support for an Israeli strike on Iran in return for Israeli concessions on the formation of a Palestinian state.
"Israel has chosen to place the Iranian threat over its settlements," said a senior European diplomat.
That last statement is pretty jarring, because Netanyahu sure does love him some settlements. So if stopping an Iranian nuclear weapons program takes precedence over settlements, that program must be getting advanced.
All this bluster regarding Iran's nuclear program comes on the heels of its chief resigning for unknown reasons:
The head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, has quit, the Iranian Students’ News Agency said today. No reason was given for his decision. Aghazadeh said he had submitted his resignation 20 days ago and it had just been accepted, ISNA reported.
Aghazadeh, who also resigned as vice president, had headed the atomic energy organization since 1997 under then President Mohammad Khatami, who suspended uranium enrichment in 2003 as a goodwill measure to try and seek a deal with the West over the Iranian nuclear program. Enrichment resumed in August 2005 shortly after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started his first term in office.
Perhaps Aghazadeh couldn't convince the Ayatollah to negotiate with the West and forgo building nuclear weapons this time and resigned instead of being a part of a weapons program?
Regardless, Tehran has been putting itself in a very precarious position for awhile now, stealing an election, violently cracking down on peaceful protesters, ramping up its nuclear program, and blaming the West for all of it. Good thing we have President Obama in charge:
"If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us."