Hezbollah: Iran may hit US bases if Israel strikes

Iran could strike US bases in the Middle East in response to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, the leader of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said yesterday. “A decision has been taken to respond and the response will be very great,” Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen television. “The response will not be just inside the Israeli entity - American bases in the whole region could be Iranian targets,” he said, citing information he said was from Iranian officials. “If Israel targets Iran, America bears responsibility.” But Nasrallah said there were divisions in Israel over attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, which the West says could be part of a nuclear weapons programme - a charge which Tehran denies. “Personally I do not expect the Israeli enemy - at least in the coming months or foreseeable future - (to wage) an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that the international community must set a “clear red line” in order to avoid a war over Iran’s nuclear programme. “This is a brutal regime that is racing ahead with its nuclear programme because it doesn’t see a clear red line from the international community,” Netanyahu said at a meeting with Israeli and US servicemen wounded in conflict. “And it doesn’t see the necessary resolve and determination from the international community. The greater the resolve and the clearer the red line, the less likely we’ll have conflict,” he said. Media reports in Israel indicated that Netanyahu is now trying to ease tensions with US President Barack Obama, whom he has been pressing to establish a threshold for military action against Iran over its nuclear programme. According to the reports, tensions have grown in recent days over Netanyahu’s threat of an Israeli raid on Iranian nuclear facilities without White House approval. On Sunday, Netanyahu lamented the absence of a “clear red line” in response to the Iranian nuclear issue. “I think that we should speak the truth—the international community is not drawing a clear red line for Iran,” Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting. “Iran doesn’t see determination from the international community to stop its nuclear programme,” he added. According to Israeli television, his message explained a report published yesterday in the New York Times that said the Obama administration was taking a range of steps short of war to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran. From gulftimes