Since israel was established in 1948, the United States has been its closest ally. Their relationship, however, deteriorated under the Obama administration, which sought to tackle Iran's nuclear effort through negotiations, while Israeli hawks were purportedly considering a military option.
US spy satellites were keeping track of Israeli military movements near Iran at a time when Benjamin Netanyahu was involved in a behind-the-scenes effort to pressure the Obama administration into pulling off a military strike against Iran, The New York Times Magazine reports.
The Strike That Never Was
American satellites saw israel launch surveillance drones from bases in Azerbaijan and fly them over Iran's border, capturing images of Iranian nuclear sites and determining whether they were spotted by Iran's air defences, according to a Wednesday piece titled “The Secret History of the Push to Strike Iran” and based on interviews with American, Israeli and European officials.
In the summer of 2012, it is understood that the US satellites also detected clusters of Israeli aircraft, apparently making early preparations for an attack against Iran, which was eventually called off.
Fears that Iran, Israel's nemesis, could be developing nuclear weapons have long lingered over Tel Aviv, despite Iran denying nuclear-weapon ambitions and insisting that its atomic energy programme was solely intended for peaceful purposes.
The Obama…