Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, has promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia would allow Israeli jets to strike Iranian nuclear production facilities.
As the controversy around the Iranian election settles down, and Ahmadinejad proves successful at securing the Iranian presidency - Israeli intelligence officers are assuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia has given a nod to Israel's use of air strikes against Iran.
Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, has been holding secret talks with Saudi Arabia about this possibility, and he told Netanyahu that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to an Israeli strike. Saudi officials have denied the existence of the talks, which were reported in the Israeli press.
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said, according to a
report in The Sunday Times.
"John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was 'entirely logical' for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace," The Sunday Times reported.
The main concern among Saudi officials appears to be discretion.
“None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success,” said Bolton.
For its part, Israel has been training its air force for a strike against Iran for the past 4 years. As Iran has increasingly resisted international pressure on shutting down its nuclear progress, tension has been amplified throughout the Middle East. Given the existential threat that a nuclear armed Iran represents to Israel, it is widely assumed that Israel's military will attack Iranian nuclear facilities.
