
  
As two Israeli  missile-class warships joined a navy submarine in the Red Sea, an Israeli  defense source made it clear that the moves are intended as a threatening  message to Iran.
“This is preparation that should be taken seriously,”  the unnamed source told the London Times. “Israel is investing time in preparing  itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran.” 
“These maneuvers are a  message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats,” he  emphasized.
The exercises “come at a time when Western diplomats are  offering support for an Israeli strike on Iran in return for Israeli concessions  on the formation of a Palestinian state,” the Times said. It quoted an  nanonymous British official as saying that if the deal completed, it would make  an Israeli strike on Iran realistic “within the year.”
Diplomats said  that Israel had offered concessions “on settlement policy, Palestinian land  claims and issues with neighboring Arab states, to facilitate a possible strike  on Iran. “ A senior European diplomat, also unnamed, said that “Israel has  chosen to place the Iranian threat over its settlements.”
Egyptian  Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in a news conference Wednesday that the  ships passed through the canal with Egypt’s permission, and that “ships may pass  through the canal as long as they do not threaten the country which controls the  canal.” He noted that the international agreements regulating which ships may  pass through the Suez Canal date back to 1888. 
The two Saar-class ships,  INS Eilat and INS Chanit, sailed into the Red Sea Wednesday in what was the  report described as “a clear signal that Israel was able to put its strike force  within range of Iran at short notice.”
Ten days earlier, a Dolphin-class  submarine with nuclear-missile strike capabilities passed through the Suez Canal  into the Red Sea as well. Later reports said it, too, was accompanied by two  Israeli missile boats – meaning that four missile boats have now crossed the  canal. Israel has six Dolphin-class submarines, three of which are believed to  carry nuclear missiles, the Times said.
Later this month, the Israel Air  Force will hold long-range exercises in the U.S. and will test a missile defense  shield at a U.S. missile range in the Pacific Ocean. 
While local Israeli  media have played up alleged tensions between Egypt and Israel over past  statements by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the Times report says that  Israel “has strengthened ties with Arab nations who also fear a nuclear-armed  Iran” and quotes an Israeli diplomat who said that relations with Egypt, in  particular, have grown increasingly strong this year over the “shared mutual  distrust of Iran.” 
The report estimates that Israel’s missile-equipped  submarines and its fleet of advanced aircraft could simultaneously strike at  more than a dozen nuclear-related targets in Iran.
The Arrow interceptor  system that will be tested in the Pacific is designed to defend Israel from  ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Syria. According to Lt.-Gen. Patrick  O’Reilly, Director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, this month’s test  will be against a target with a range of more than 1,000km. This range is too  long for testing in the eastern Mediterranean, where Israel held its previous  tests of the Arrow.
The Israeli Air Force, meanwhile, will send F16C  fighter jets to participate in exercises at Nellis Air Force base in Nevada  later this month, and Israeli C130 Hercules transport aircraft will participate  in the Rodeo 2009 competition at the McChord Air Force base in  Washington.
“It is not by chance that Israel is drilling long-range  maneuvers in a public way. This is not a secret operation. This is something  that has been published and which will showcase Israel’s abilities,” an Israeli  defense official said.