VZCZCXRO1329
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #2436/01 3080717
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 030717Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8969
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 002436 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018 
TAGS: PREL KNNP MOPS IR CH RU IS
SUBJECT: THE AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES IRAN WITH EXPERTS AT THE 
PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES 
 
Classified By: Ambassador James B. Cunningham, Reason 1.4 (b) (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary. The Ambassador met with Institute for 
National Security Studies (INSS) Director Oded Eran and 
members of the INSS staff October 29.  INSS is the premier 
security studies center, with close links to the Israeli 
military and intelligence communities.  The discussion 
focused on Israeli thinking about how the U.S. and Israel 
should deal with the Iranian challenge.  The INSS 
researchers, including retired Major General and former NSC 
adviser Giora Eiland and several other leading Israeli 
experts on strategic and nuclear issues, presented several 
Israeli viewpoints that ranged from need for the U.S.  to 
address  Russian priorites in order to gain Moscow's support 
for a stronger international effort to block Iran's nuclear 
program,to taking a regional approach to engaging Iran.  The 
principal common denominator in the Israeli views was that 
the credible use of force against Iran must be  a key element 
if  efforts to stop Iran's enrichment of uranium and to 
influence  Iran on regional issues are to have any chance of 
success.  While unanimous on the need for a credible threat, 
the INSS researchers' views on the possible use of force were 
nuanced, with one nuclear expert arguing that it may not be 
possible to stop Iran's nuclear program by force.  INSS 
Director Eran predicted that the Iranian threat would "dwarf 
all other issues facing Israel in 2009."  INSS is preparing 
recommendations for the GOI, and the need for the U.S. to 
engage Russia to focus on Iran will be a key element.  The 
Ambassador stressed that Iran would be a top priority for the 
U.S. during the remaining months of the Bush Administration 
as well as for the next Administration because Iran touches 
on all  critical issues in the Greater Middle East.  Without 
prejudging the policy of the next Administration, the 
Ambassador said it will be a top priority for this and the 
next U.S. administration to deal with both Iran's nuclear 
program and its regional activities.  He concluded that the 
U.S. and Israel will have to work closely together during the 
course of the year.  End Summary. 
 
 ¶2.  (C) The Ambassador, accompanied by PAO and PolCouns, 
visited the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security 
Studies, an independent think tank formerly associated with 
Tel Aviv University that has become Israel's preeminent 
national security think tank.  INSS Director Oded Eran, a 
former Ambassador to the EU and to Jordan, invited the INSS 
research team to engage the Ambassador in a discussion on the 
challenges posed to U.S. and Israeli interests by Iran.  The 
INSS researchers included retired Major Generals Giora Eiland 
and Aharon Zeevi Farkash, former Israel Atomic Energy 
Commission nuclear expert Ephraim Askulai, academic 
strategist Emily Landau, former Deputy Foreign Minister 
Yehuda Ben Meir, and former Israeli military intelligence 
analyst Ephraim Kam.  Eran began the discussion by noting 
that INSS had just completed a project for the GOI on the 
Iranian threat and has been tasked with preparing policy 
advice on Israel's agenda with the next U.S. Administration. 
A core recommendation will be to encourage the U.S. to focus 
on Russia and to engage it on Iran. 
 
Unite the International Community 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Retired Major General Farkash noted that Iran has had 
a nuclear program since the 1960s; the Shah also had 
ambitions for Iran to be a regional superpower.  Since the 
2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iranian regime has wanted a bomb 
to prevent a U.S. attempt at regime change.  Iran's nuclear 
program enjoys a consensus among Iran's leadership.  Israel 
is not the primary target of the program.  As noted in the 
NIE, Iran demonstrated its pragmatism by halting its weapons 
program from 2003 to 2005.  The only way to affect Iran's 
plans is through a united international community, including 
Russia and China.  Economic pressure can have a real effect 
on Iran if the price of oil falls below $50/barrel.  Israel 
can support the international effort by sharing intelligence. 
 
¶4.  (C) Retired Major General and former NSC adviser Eiland 
focused his remarks on Russia, which he said is opposed to a 
nuclear Iran but assigns Iran a lower priority than several 
other issues.  He said the Russians have been clear in their 
conversations with Israels that they are frustrated with 
American policy.  Russia's primary interests are to avoid 
foreign interference in Russia's domestic politics, to keep 
the former Soviet Republics under Russian influence, and for 
Russia to be treated as an equal by the U.S.  Eiland argued 
that U.S. policy over the past five years has undermined all 
three top Russian priorities.  China and India are hiding 
behind Russia.  The only way to unite the international 
community is a U.S. grand bargain with Russia in which the 
U.S. addresses  Russia's priorities in return for robust 
Russian support on Iran.  Eiland added that it may, however, 
 
TEL AVIV 00002436  002 OF 003 
 
 
be too late. 
 
Engage Iran in Regional Dialogue 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Landau said she thought Russia was one of several 
factors in handling Iran.  Noting that she did not think Iran 
would agree to suspend enrichment, Landau said the point of 
international pressure must be to get Iran to negotiate 
seriously.  A regional solution going beyond the nuclear 
issue must be the goal, and that requires the U.S. to engage 
Iran on the full range of regional issues. 
 
¶6.  (C) Kam agreed that the Arab states, with the exception 
of Syria, are alarmed by Iran's growing power, but they are 
unable to contain Iran.  Tougher sanctions, combined with a 
credible military option can still convince Iran to halt its 
nuclear program, but only if Iran understands it will face 
attack unless it changes course.  Ben Meir said he shared 
Eiland's sense of Russia's priorities, but the U.S. also has 
its priorities and cannot be expected to change its 
principles in order to gain Russia's support on Iran.  Ben 
Meir doubted sanctions could compel Iran to change course in 
any event.  Instead, the U.S. should put a regional proposal 
including incentives as well as the credible threat of force 
on the table with Iran.  Getting Iran to stop enrichment is 
critical.  Eran commented that the group had outlined two 
separate Grand Bargains:  one with Russia, another with Iran, 
with the U.S. as the key to both.  The Arabs play a double 
game, signaling to Israel and the U.S. quietly that they 
would not object if others would use force against Iran, but 
failing to confront Iran and cautioning against force in 
their public statements. 
 
Don't Discount China 
-------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) While agreeing that a tougher Russian stance would be 
useful, the Ambassador urged the Israelis not to discount 
China.  China claims that Iran is not for it a core issue, 
but a war with Iran would affect China more than many other 
countries due to China's dependence on imported energy.   We 
should look for ways to get China more engaged and to see 
Iran as a problem for the international community rather than 
a problem for the U.S. and Israel.  The Ambassador pointed 
out that a halt to enrichment and a regional approach are 
related, but of different natures.  We have a clear goal on 
the nuclear program.  Dealing with Iran's destabilizing 
influence in the region is crucial, but the regional 
dimension is more diffuse and efforts to counter Iran will 
not yield quick or clear results.  A nuclear Iran would be a 
regional problem, so there should be a way to work with the 
Arabs more effectively. 
 
¶8.  (C) On the issue of Arab support on Iran, other speakers 
said the next U.S. Administration should be careful not to 
raise options if it is not serious about pursuing them or the 
U.S. risks losing credibility.  The U.S. should also stop 
talking about a nuclear Iran as primarily a threat to Israel, 
since that makes it harder to build Arab support.  U.S. 
pressure on Israel to do more for the Palestinians and a more 
explicit U.S. commitment to the security of the Gulf states 
along the lines of the Carter Doctrine of the late 1970s 
could also help with the Arabs. 
 
U.S. Priorities 
--------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Ben Meir commented that the Middle East may not be 
the top priority of the next U.S. Administration.  He said he 
sensed "despair" in Washington about the Middle East in 
general.  Ben Meir cautioned that assigning a lower priority 
to the Middle East could be dangerous since the problems will 
only get worse if the U.S. does not behave proactively. 
Landau noted that while she agreed with the Ambassador that 
there are two agendas, the nuclear one and the regional one, 
the international community is not succeeding in getting Iran 
to stop enrichment.  If Iran gets a bomb, its regional 
position will be greatly strengthened.  The goal should be to 
start the regional dialogue sooner rather than later. 
Iran Dwarfs All Other Issues 
---------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C) Nuclear expert Askulai commented that enrichment is 
only part of the problem since we do not know whether Iran 
has a parallel secret program.  For that reason, Askulai said 
he was not sure that a military strike could achieve the 
desired results.  The timeline is getting shorter all the 
time.  Sanctions on Iran must be something like those once 
imposed on Iraq:  no trade except for food and medicine, and 
a travel ban. 
 
TEL AVIV 00002436  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶11.  (C) Eran summed up, saying that the Iranian challenge 
would dwarf all other issues facing Israel in the next year, 
and could even prevent Israel from taking action on other 
issues.  In the ongoing debate in Israel, some argue that it 
is possible to deter a nuclear Iran, but others, such as 
former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, are arguing that 
if Iran obtains a bomb, it will mean a second Holocaust and 
therefore that must be prevented. 
 
¶12.  (C) The Ambassador concluded that Iran will be a top 
issue for the next U.S. Administration no matter who wins the 
election.  The U.S. has global interests, and Iran is at the 
center of the most dangerous part of the world, with links to 
Afghanistan, Iraq, the Gulf, and the Israeli-Arab issue. 
Without seeking to prejudge the next Administration's policy, 
the Ambassador said Iran will be at the top of the U.S. 
agenda now and for the next Administration, and the U.S. and 
Israel should work closely together over the next year.  . 
 
 
 
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