Israel Center Stage As U.S. Builds Anti-Iran Coalition

As if to keep Israel at the center of attention, Mullen's visit will be followed up next month by the arrival in Israel of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. The Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that U.S. President Barack Obama was dispatching his second in command "to try to calm the situation." Just days after Iran announced to the world it would commence greater enrichment of uranium, the international community is focusing anew on Iran's nuclear program.

The United States appears to be seeking an international coalition that will place sufficient diplomatic pressure on Tehran to make it think twice about its nuclear activities, said Israeli analysts.

As this coalition is being built, Washington has deemed it necessary to seemingly calm nerves in Israel with two top officials making the trip to the Middle East this month and next.

Deemed by analysts as another effort in the coalition building exercise, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Moscow this week for talks with leading Russian officials in a bid to persuade them not to sell Iran an S-300 surface to air missile system, which could foil any attempt to airstrike its nuclear facilities.

ISRAEL IN FOCUS

When U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen met Israeli journalists on Sunday, their questions focused on the Iran issue. Clearly in town to calm Israeli nerves, at least in part, Mullen said there was no way Iran would be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

For years, the United States, Israel and some other countries have been accusing Iran of enriching uranium to make a nuclear bomb, while Tehran denied the accusation, saying it has the right to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful use.

Mullen's visit to Israeli military headquarters at this highly sensitive time was not overlooked in Tehran.

"Netanyahu, Clinton, Mullen waging Iranophobia campaign," read a headline on the Iranian al Alam news website on Monday.

As if to keep Israel at the center of attention, Mullen's visit will be followed up next month by the arrival in Israel of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

The Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that U.S. President Barack Obama was dispatching his second in command "to try to calm the situation."

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In the eyes of Israeli analysts, the visit this week by U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to Qatar, where she met Arab leaders, is also part of the stick in America's carrot and stick diplomacy towards Iran.

"I wouldn't use the word 'attack' but this is part of the same activity in which the Americans want to show that there is a problem, because the Americans have come to the conclusion that negotiating with the Iranians around a table seemingly won't work, " said Asculai.

Both the Clinton visit to Qatar and the American diplomatic missions to Israel are part of the coalition building exercise, Javedanfar told Xinhua. In his opinion, Netanyahu's trip to Moscow this week was part of the same effort.

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