News Brief – May 19, 2008
Military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities would be counter-productive, Nancy Pelosi is reported to have said.
The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives who is leading a bipartisan congressional delegates tour of Israel, reportedly told Israeli army radio that a U.S. military strike would only strengthen Iran’s Ahmadinejad.
"I don't know what is to be gained by a military strike except to strengthen the president of Iran and to send up the cost of oil, but I do think that we must not take anything off the table," the
Jewish Telegraph Agency quoted Pelosi as saying.
Her comments echo others made during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli officials.
She reportedly told them that while she supported tough measures against Tehran, she was concerned about the consequences of a US military strike on the Islamic Republic.
Nonetheless she condemned Iran on Monday as "a threat to the neighborhood, a threat to the world, a source of funding for Hamas and Hezbollah."
All of which was no doubt music to the ears of her Israeli hosts.
While warning against a U.S. strike Pelosi added that an attack by Teheran on Israel certainly "cannot go unanswered,"
She also refused to get drawn into a discussion of whether President George W. Bush was wrong in insinuating during his Knesset speech last week that Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would appease the Iranians, saying that she was confident Obama would deal squarely and assertively with the Iranian dossier if he became president.
Last updated 20/05/2008
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