Dempsey: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Complicit’ in Israeli Strike on Iran

The top US general warned against an Israeli attack on Iran, which would be counterproductive and dangerous

The United States will not be ‘complicit’ in an Israeli military strike on Iran, America’s top military general warned on Thursday, adding that such an attack would not only fail to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, but could prompt Iran to reconstitute its weapons programs.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs General Martin Dempsey made the comments on Thursday in London, pushing back against US and Israeli warmongers who have advocated for a preemptive military strike on Iran for a nuclear weapons program it doesn’t even have.

He warned that an attack by Israel would “clearly delay but probably not destroy Iran’s nuclear program.” This falls in line with previous analysis by the Obama administration and experts that Iran’s nuclear enrichment is too redundant to be completely destroyed by Israeli attacks and that such a move may encourage the Iranians to actually start making weapons to serve as a deterrent for further strikes.

For now, Dempsey said, whether Iran even wants nuclear weapons is inconclusive. But he did warn that diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran “could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely.”

Previous attempts at cooling the fiery war rhetoric coming from the Israeli leadership and some warmongers in Washington have not sunk in. But Dempsey’s warnings about the counterproductive and dangerous implications of a needless war on Iran could help lessen the chances of an Israeli attack in the near-term.

Author: John Glaser

John Glaser writes for Antiwar.com.