US:The US has turned down Israeli requests for military hardware to help it prepare for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, a front-page report in Israel's Haaretznewspaper said yesterday.
The unsourced report said the US had warned Israel against carrying out any such attack and had refused to supply offensive military hardware. Instead they had offered to improve the country's defences against surface-to-surface missiles.
Interviewed on Israeli Army Radio, defence minister Ehud Barak did not deny the Haaretz story, but refused to discuss it.
The report did not specify what weapons systems Israel had requested. It said Washington had told Israel its aircraft would be denied permission to use Iraqi airspace to reach Iran.
Mr Barak said Iran was a "threat to the whole world order, and there are many actions to be made in the realm of intelligence and preventive measures".
The US "does not see an action against Iran as the right thing to do at the moment", but shared Israel's view that "no option should be removed from the table". - ( Reuters)