Israel and Iran Trade Fresh Threats

July 10, 2008— -- Israel hinted today that it is ready to attack Iran's nuclear program, the latest in a series of growing threats between between the archenemies.

Besides trading ominous rhetoric for the second day in a row, both countries showed off their latest military hardware.

Iran claimed to have launched a fresh battery of missiles in war games near the strategic Strait of Hormuz in a muscle-flexing exhibition meant to demonstrate its willingness and ability to defend itself against an invasion by Israel or the United States.

And Israel put its latest spy plane on display, which it claims can track Iran's nuclear facilities and provide Israel with an early warning of an attack.

The United States waded into the war of words when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran today that the United States would not back down if Israel, or its oil supply, is threatened.

"We are sending a message to Iran that we will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Rice said in the Republic of Georgia at the close of a three-day Eastern European trip.

The verbal shoving match sent oil prices upward — again. By midmorning trading, light, sweet crude for August delivery rose $1.80 to $137.85 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The day's toughest talk came from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who told Israel's Labor Party, "Israel is the strongest country in the region and has proved in the past that it doesn't hesitate to act when its vital security interests are at stake."

His comment was an apparent allusion to Israel's daring 1981 airstrike that destroyed Iraq's unfinished nuclear reactor. Several top Israelis have publicly argued for a similar strike to destroy Iran's budding nuclear ambitions before the country develops a nuclear arsenal.

Israel's military sent warplanes over the eastern Mediterranean for a large military exercise in June that U.S. officials described as a possible rehearsal for a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Israel also has expressed impatience with the White House strategy of urging allies to rely on sanctions to convince Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.