US and Israel postpone joint military exercise

BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS CITED AS REASON BEHIND DELAY

Occupied Jerusalem (AFP & AP) Israel and the United States have agreed to postpone a major joint military drill scheduled for spring, Israeli public radio reported yesterday, saying budgetary constraints were behind the delay.

The radio, citing military sources, reported the exercises, codenamed “Austere Challenge 12,” would be pushed back to the end of 2012. Despite the postponement, there were no changes to a visit to Israel by top US military chief General Martin Dempsey, scheduled to arrive later t his week for meetings with Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Thursday’s visit by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey comes at a time of growing US concern that Israel may be preparing to attack Iran.

Israel’s Defence Ministry on Sunday conf irmed t h e s c h e dul e d v i s i t . It gave no f urther details, but I ran i s l i kely to top the agenda.

Concerned

Israeli media predicted Dempsey would seek to persuade his hosts not to “surprise” the US on Iran.

The Obama administration is concerned that Iran’s recent claim it is expanding nuclear operations may push Israel closer to a strike. Israel considers a nuclear- armed Iran to be an existential threat, and has repeatedly hinted i t might take military action if international sanctions fail to stop Iran’s nuclear p r o g r a mme, whic h t h e US, Israel and other Western nations fear is aimed a t d e v e l o p i n g a t o mi c weapons.

The postponed military exercises were to include thousands of US and Israeli soldiers in the largest missile defence manoeuvres ever held by the allies.

I s r a e l ’ s a r my i ns i s t e d l ast month they had been planned i n advance and denied they were related t o I ra n. “The exercise scenario involves notiona l , s i mulated events a s well as some f i eld training and is not in response to any real-world event,” the military said in a written response to a query.

Routine exercises

“The US European Command and the Israel Defence Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel.

“These exercises, which are part of a long-standing strategic partnership, are planned in advance and part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of our defence systems.”