The Times of London is reporting
"The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way."
"They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren't scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has been done with the agreement of the (US) State Department."
This follows last week's report in Ha'aretz
Israel is also seeking to increase the amount of gear held by the American army in their emergency stores in Israel by 50% - from $800 million to $1.2 billion. The Obama administration placed the stores in Israel in December, as part of a number of steps to improve U.S. assistance to Israeli security. To date, $600 million worth of American emergency equipment has been placed in Israel.
Here is a map of the region, highlighting the Israeli airbase at Ouvda, and the Iranian cities of Qom, Natanz, Arak, Isfahan, and Bushehr.
Qom and Natanz are targets because of the uranium enrichment facilities.
Arak is a target because of the heavy water reactor located there.
Ishfahan is a target because of the gas storage sites.
Bushehr, Iran's main port in the Persian Gulf, is also a target because it has a light water reactor being built there. That could be used to generate weapons grade plutonium when completed.
These targets are outside the range of Israeli bombers if they have to go the distance over Jordanian and Iraqi airspace -- even with aerial refueling. However, a shortened corridor over northern Saudi Arabia would make these attacks more feasible, especially to the port city of Bushehr in the south.
The focus on pre-positioning JDAM-equipped missiles in the Israeli stockpile is of note, because the guidance kits are specifically designed to increase the range "smart bombs" can be delivered from an aerial platform. In other words, this is consistent with an attack on a long-distance target.
Talk of an Israeli attack on Iran is nothing new. It has been seriously advocated in Israel for some time. In the previous administration, it was seriously considered by the civilian leadership and vetoed by the military leadership. How things are playing out now is unclear, but what is clear is the logistical pieces are being put in place to support this sort of operation. Given Israel's behavior of late, this is cause for concern.
UPDATE After publishing this, I was surprised to see The Washington Post reported today that Russia, in light of the recent UN vote to sanction Iran, is halting delivery of previously agreed air defense missiles. In addition, and to my mind even more telling
President Medvedev, attending the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, made clear that any country under U.N. sanctions will not be permitted to join the mutual-security organization.
In the past, Iran's deals with Russia and China (for weapons and oil, respectively) along with its possible membership in the mutual-security SCO were the best argument against attacking Iran. If you attacked Iran, you would be attacking China and Russia; not a survivable move for a small country like Israel. The apparent removal of the Russian and Chinese protection qualitatively changes that calculation. Underscoring this change in Iranian fortunes, Ahmadinejad is not at the SCO meeting. He is currently in China, but he is not meeting with senior officials. Chinese President Hu Jintao, like Medvedev, is in Uzbekistan for the SCO meeting.
Against that backdrop, Medvedev's scheduled meeting with Obama on June 24th will be very important for any signals that the US and Russia may have reached an agreement over Iran.
UPDATE II Ha'aretz has changed its previous headline repeating the Times story. They are now reporting
Saudi Arabia would not allow Israeli bombers to pass through its airspace en route to a possible strike of Iran's nuclear facilities, a member of the Saudi royal family said Saturday, denying an earlier Times of London report.
The statement is being attributed to Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf. He is the Saudi Ambassador to England. He told a London-based Arabic daily, Asharq al-Awsat, allowing Israeli jets into Saudi airspace
would be against the policy adopted and followed by the Kingdom."
That is true. However, no one is claiming that Saudi Arabia is changing its policy. The ambassador's statement can be true without contradicting the quote cited in the Times article and attributed to a Saudi government source:
"We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing."
(Erratum): The report of the Saudi cooperation was originally attributed to the Hindustan Times, but in fact they were just repeating the original reporting done by the Times of London. The introduction has been changed to link to the original report.