(Image Source:frontpagemag.com)

BY GARY COTTON

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

The recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency - or IAEA - has struck a nerve not just in Israel but also in the U.S. The report by the U.N. backed group was a hot topic during the recent GOP debate and has sparked discussion about military action against Iran. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria wonders why, at this point, we’re even entertaining the thought.

“Rather than keep the pressure on and see if we can finally find a way to get inspectors in, we now hear calls for war one more time. Let’s be clear, we are talking about a preventive war against a country that has not attacked us on the basis of intelligence reports.”

Although many in the US are calling for war only as a last resort, the decision might not fall on the US alone. Israeli officials told Fox News they might just move without US support.

OFFICIAL: “Israel is certainly capable of handling this and has the capability, the range, the technology to take care of Iran and make sure that this rogue regime with its lunatic president who denies the holocaust while preparing the next one, will not get a nuclear weapon.”

But not so fast, analysts on This Week weren’t as confident in Israel’s ability to stop a possible Iran nuclear program in the long term. They also pointed out American lives would be at stake.

ANALYST: “It’s a very different type of a nuclear program and in fact I’d say that if someone knew how to knock it out, I’m sure Israel would have already struck. But it doesn’t know.
ANCHOR:  “And Obviously the US doesn’t want Israel to go out there and do that kind of thing because what we haven’t discussed is that if Iran is attacked, it’s got proxies all over. Its got Hezbollah, it’s got Hamas, it’s Hezbollah in Latin America. It’s right next to Afganistan and Iraq where US forces and targets are. So it could be a huge proxy war against US targets."

Voice of America agrees but points out the hypocrisy in Israel’s attempts to prevent Iran from attaining a nuclear weapon.

“Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat, in part due to frequent Iranian calls for Israel's destruction. Israel is widely-believed to be the only Middle East nation with a nuclear arsenal."

But is war really the only answer? According to the Telegraph, heavier sanctions against Iran have been proposed, but not everyone’s on board.

“Israel says that if Iran's central bank were sanctioned and a ban on Iranian oil exports enforced by an international naval blockade, military action would not be necessary ... Mr. Barak has already publicly stated that he does not believe the West can overcome Russian and Chinese opposition to the sanctions Israel wants, leaving military action increasingly as the only alternative.”