WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli officials are more confident that the United States is prepared to use force in Iran if necessary, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said after meeting with his Israeli counterparts.
“I think they are satisfied that we have the capability to use a military option if the Iranians choose to stray off the diplomatic path,” Dempsey told Defense News on Tuesday after he left Israel.
He added, “I think they believe we will use it” to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Dempsey, who met with his counterpart, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, was in Israel in part to smooth relations ruffled last month when Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon described the Obama administration’s foreign policy as “weak.” Yaalon referred in part to Israel’s unhappiness with the terms under which the United States was leading international nuclear talks with Iran.
Gantz on Monday was quoted by Haaretz as saying after meeting with Dempsey, “There is no doubt that the relationship is as solid as ever.”
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