U.S. refused aid for Israeli attack on Iran

WASHINGTON


The White House denied that request outright, U.S. officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily.

…This account of the expanded American covert program and the Bush administration’s efforts to dissuade Israel from an aerial attack on Iran emerged in interviews over the past 15 months with current and former U.S. officials, outside experts, international nuclear inspectors and European and Israeli officials. None would speak on the record because of the secrecy surrounding the intelligence on Iran.

Several details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the request of senior U.S. intelligence and administration officials, to avoid harming continuing operations.

The interviews suggest that, while Bush was extensively briefed on options for an overt U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the president never instructed the Pentagon to move beyond contingency planning, contrary to what some critics have suggested.

NY Times