BICOM

Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan said the US will act militarily if diplomatic efforts with Iran are unsuccessful, and warned that an Iranian response to an Israeli strike would be “devastating” for Israel, in an interview over the weekend. “The issue of Iran armed with a nuclear capability is not an Israeli problem – it’s an international problem,” he said. “The military option is on the table and (Obama) is not going to let Iran become a nuclear state and, from my experience, I usually trust the president of the United States,” Dagan said in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes”.

Dagan warned that Iran’s response to an Israeli strike would have a “devastating impact” on Israel’s ability of to continue its daily life. “Israel will be in a very serious situation for quite a time,” he said. Dagan has made clear in the past his opposition to Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The former Mossad chief also spelled out the damaging consequences of Iranian acquisition of nuclear weapons. Dagan noted that Iran’s primary concern is the price of oil which remains its main source of income. “If Iran will be armed with nuclear capabilities, their ability to create instability in the region and by this, indirectly, increase the price of oil… It will be much worse than it is now,” Dagan said.