President Obama’s fallback defense for the Iran deal is that if the deal fails - be it in a week or in decades – the United States will always have the same military option available that it has today. 

But Mr. Obama should know better than that. 

The U.S. military option hinges on the ability of B-2 stealth bombers loaded with Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs to reach strategic Iranian targets. 

The B-2 can carry out the mission today – but there is no certainty that this will be the case in the future. 

Just this month – as the talks with Iran were winding down, the Russians made a stunning announcement: 

“Neither the Northrop B-2 Spirit Stealth bomber nor Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk can fly undetected from Russian missiles, said [Major General Sergei] Babakov, the head of Russia's anti-aircraft missile troops.” 
US ‘Stealth’ Bombers Can’t Hide From Russian Anti-Aircraft Missiles – Sputnik News 5 July, 2015 

A reminder: Anti-Aircraft missiles are defensive systems and thus not considered subject to any supply restrictions to Iran. 

It is only reasonable to expect Iran to pay Russia whatever it costs to install systems that can track and shoot down B-2’s threatening strategic Iranian sites. 

Let’s be clear about this: 

When we consider the ability of the United States of America to act against a future Iranian move to build nuclear weapons we aren’t talking about the American "will to act”. 

We aren’t talking about American “resolve”. 

We are talking about American “capability”. 

A few years down the road, with Iranian strategic sites protected by Russian anti-aircraft systems that can detect and shoot down B-2’s, the United States won’t have the capability to rapidly destroy an Iranian nuclear bomb making project in process. 

And even if the United States had the will to send in ground forces – under the unprecedented condition of operating without the benefit of air cover – it would take too long. 

The smug claim by the Obama team that future U.S. presidents will always have the military option if the deal fails is more than smug. 

It’s an outright lie. 

This article is from IMRA's website: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=67921