JERUSALEM Ð Amid the soaring rhetoric over Western efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program, Israel has been moving into a more proactive position in the campaign to contain Tehran.

This week, Israel launched a satellite to spy on Iran, and its leaders have called on the international community to stop that country from acquiring nuclear weapons. It also accused Tehran of backing Palestinian terrorists.

And as concern here grows over Iran’s defiant nuclear drive, one of Israel’s leading newspapers reported Thursday that Iran has purchased ground-to-ground missiles from North Korea, extending its range for delivering warheads.

“The Israelis are making a statement that Israel has its own ways and means of defending itself,” says Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born Middle East analyst based in Tel Aviv.

Given the charged atmosphere in the region, many have questioned whether Israel, which maintains its own unofficial nuclear program, would make some kind of “preemptive strike” on Iran.
csmonitor.com

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