White House denies promising bunker busters to Israel

The White House on Thursday denied promising Israel top-of-the-line bunker buster bombs as part of an arrangement in which Israel agreed not to attack Iran in 2012.

“In meetings the president had, there was no such agreement proposed or reached,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

Carney’s announcement followed a report published in Maariv on Thursday claiming that the US would supply Israel with bunker-busting bombs and refueling planes in exchange for it delaying a strike against Iran until at least the end of the year.

Although rumors of the possible supply of new bombs and planes began to circle even while Netanyahu was still in the US, Maariv’s claim, based on Western sources, was that the equipment would be supplied only on condition of Israel’s delaying an attack.

According to the Maariv report, during their talks on Monday, President Barack Obama promised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deep-penetration arms from the US arsenal as well as airborne tankers to refuel strike jets necessary for an Israeli attack on Iran. The report said the president gave Netanyahu what was tantamount to a “red light” against striking at Iran this year.