Cheney: Israel would attack to prevent nuclear Iran

Former US vice president says he believes Israelis will "do whatever they have to do to guarantee their survival and their security.”

Dick Cheney 311 R (photo credit: Jason Reed / Reuters)
Dick Cheney 311 R
(photo credit: Jason Reed / Reuters)
Former US vice president Dick Cheney believes Israel would launch a military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities in order to prevent the Islamic Republic from creating a nuclear weapon, he said in an interview with US news outlet Newsmax published on Sunday.
“I think Iran represents an existential threat, and they'll do whatever they have to do to guarantee their survival and their security,” Cheney said of Israel.
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Cheney refused to point to conversations with specific Israeli leaders that led to his belief, but stated, "I’ve had a number of conversations with a lot of Israeli officials, and I think they correctly perceive Iran as a basic threat.”
In his recently released autobiography, In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir, Cheney asserts that he advised former US president George W. Bush to bomb Syria's secret nuclear facility in 2007.
"I again made the case for US military action against the (Syrian) reactor," however, according to the book, former president Bush opted for the diplomatic approach.
Israel was suspected to have bombed Syria's alleged nuclear facility near Deir al-Zor in September 2007.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat