Israel and US begin air exercise

Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli and American air forces yesterday started a joint exercise at Al Naqab Desert, south of Israel, in preparation for what many Israeli press reports said a potential military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

The manoeuvres followed the return of Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister, from the United States the day before.

Although all Israeli officials refused to comment on the exercise, the Israeli Army radio was the first to leak reports about the one-week drill, saying that several warplanes are taking part in the exercises.

Army action against Iran

"The exercise was not a secret and is part of a series of the joint manoeuvres," an Israeli Army spokesman told Gulf News, denying any link between the exercise and the Iranian threat.

Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister and head of Yisrael Beytenu party, said Israel and the United States are prepared for any possibility in the face of the Iranian threat, to "stop Tehran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, which are not only threatening to Israel, but to the whole world".

According to a high-profile Israeli Security source, "there is a common belief among Israeli army, security and government leaders that sooner or later, the United States will start a military operation against Iran, and Israel will play a part in that".

Ron Cohen, Knesset Member from the Merts leftists movement, said: "The possibility of Israel starting another military adventure is quite worrying, especially that this time it would be against Iran."

The last Israel-US joint drill was conducted in March, and included exercises on Arrow missiles, Patriot 2 and Patriot 3 missiles. An Israeli security source was quoted by the official Israeli radio as saying: "Due to the several factors in the region, including those related to Iran, we decided to make the size of trainings less than the previous ones."

Confirmation: Iranian-American is fourth to be detained

Iran confirmed yesterday that it had detained a fourth Iranian-American, who an Iranian news agency had said was being probed over security-related issues.

Iran previously said it charged two persons with dual nationality with spying and said a third was being investigated for "anti-revolutionary" activities. But there was no word about the fourth, Ali Shakeri.

"Ali Shakeri has been arrested," Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

- Reuters