It's time to give Israel the means to take out Iranian nukes

Reps. Grace Meng (D-Queens) and Lee Zeldin (R-LI) are members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The negotiations over Iran's nuclear program have engendered furious debate in Washington and in capitals across the world. But there are steps outside of the nuclear talks that President Obama can take to help ensure that the United States and its allies are stronger and more secure the day after a deal than they were the day before. One such step would be to provide Israel with GBU-57 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs (known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs) and the means to carry them, in a quantity sufficient to destroy Iran's most deeply buried nuclear sites.

At present, Israel possesses US-supplied 5,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. But experts doubt these bombs could seriously impede Iran�'s nuclear development. On the other hand, there is little doubt that MOPs, which Israel lacks, are capable of destroying Iran's nuclear sites.

As Michael Makovsky and Lt. Gen. David Deptula noted in a 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed, the Defense Department has MOPs to spare, aircraft in storage that could carry the MOP payload and legal authority to transfer such arms to the Israelis.

A longstanding component of America's Iran policy has been a credible military threat to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. Many contend that the credibility of this threat has waned, and that Iran is now more assured than ever that it will not be attacked. Providing Israel with a stronger capability to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities would help deter Iran from ever trying to break any agreement it may sign.
Transferring MOPs to Israel would also help assuage the concerns of Congress and our Middle East allies, who are wary of the emerging deal. President Obama will need to take measures to strengthen the security of our allies and ensure Congress that he is negotiating from a position of strength. Transferring MOPs to Israel would help the president achieve these objectives.
The transfer of MOPs would not by itself resolve the Iranian nuclear question. Nor would it lessen the need for any deal to ensure that Iran has no technical path to a nuclear weapon. But it would enable the United States to negotiate from a position of strength and remain in a position of strength long after the negotiations.
It is one of several tools with which the president could pave the path to a strong, sustainable nuclear agreement with Iran, a more secure Israel and a more stable Middle East.

I wonder, does Obama have the Huevo's to do it?

I say hell ya,,bet thay would change there tune real quick,,,start the bomben asap,

what a novel idea....arming Isreal with 30,000 lb bombs and
the delivery aircraft, along with the threat to use them, will
bring about peace and stability in the middle-east.....sure it will..

why dont we stop being israel's b1tch, and let them handle their own affairs.

And a nuclear Iran will bring peace?

I am not reading all of that OP ... give Israel the go ahead ... one thing about Israel you can't trust them if they want war there will be war ... but I believe they should not start a all out war over there because there is so much war as it is ... + Israel is one of our greatest Allies ... even tho they do not like the president right now does not mean we are not their friends anymore... they may want the gun sucking GOP President because they think they would bomb Iran ... lets think about this would have been way easier long ago ...before China and Russia got their hands on Iran's oil ... so lots of compromising now wouldn't you think ... and now their talking about getting troops back in Iraq because Isis took over the city ... so you know we have to go back in and try and get it back because we went there to begin with ... shakes head ... feel for our soldiers like enough did not die before ...

huh... and i guess you people would be happy if Israel was just over run and all killed by muslims... would that make you people happy? Iran has said, along with other muslims, they want to wipe Israel off the map, plenty of times... so thats Israel's fault? so to make you people happy, they can destroy Israel and divide it up between Egypt, Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and Jordan? just let the muslims have it?


all the crap going on right now, i personally think Israel is a better choice than any muslim nation...

why shouldn't i expect this attitude from the local CT'er?

Right because Israel could never take out Iran with any or all of the hundreds of nuclear warheads they currently have.

it's never been confirmed that Israel has any nukes... so all this is basically pointless...

Neutralize Iran and there will be peace in that region. If not, there will be no peace. Obama and Kerry are bumbling buffoons to think otherwise.

Nukes are a no no, Mortimer.

That is hands down one of the dumbest statements I've ever read in the political forums. Which, believe me is saying a lot!!!

Iran isn't even the real problem, it is the Saudis.

Glad you liked it. So you prefer Iran over the Saudis? Who are the Saudis sending missiles and rockets to?

correction-- it's the muslims. period

tom86 you have it backwards, israel is our bltch, our pitbull....believe me they are ready to unleash their devastating power on all of the middle east.....if not for the US holding a tight reign on them it probably wouldn't even take 6 days to pummel the opposition into submission......of course the US would have to publically condemn these actions and that wouldn't satisfy the true goal of prolonging the constant state of war that we have at the present.........everybody is making the big bucks on the status-quo

spoken like someone who truly understands nothing... good job, spread some more lies and CT BS...

and you left out our biggest ally in the muslim world...

you're entitled to your own opinion on any subj per se, and if it happens to be a 180 degree opposite of mine then, by all means state that opinion and let the reader make their own decision on the merits of each opinion....

what you are NOT entitled to do, is disparage my opinion as more lies and CT BS...

why not just give your opinion, and leave me out of it ?