N. Korea's nuclear defiance may embolden Iran, Israelis worry

Tel Aviv, June 1 (ANI): Israel is bracing for a fallout from the nuclear and missile tests conducted by North Korea.

"If the Americans can't show credibility on North Korea, then they won't be able to go far. It's a thermometer.The US has been threatening to take action against North Korea since the 1990s and the North Korea has been able to buy time. The Israeli concern is that's exactly what will happen with Iran," the Christian Science Monitor quoted Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar Ilan University, as saying.

Israeli experts believe that it should have been easier to apply a mix of diplomatic and military pressure on North Korea than Iran because of its comparative geographic, economic, and political isolation.

"This is open season for nukes," says Uzi Rubin, a former military Israeli intelligence officer who served as head of Israel's Missile Defense Organization from 1991-99.

Rubin adds that international diplomacy is useless if not backed up by a credible threat of force.

Addressing an Asian security conference in Singapore this weekend, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the US would not tolerate a nuclear North Korea, and warned that if diplomacy failed, tougher measures would be considered.

North Korea's history of supplying missile equipment to Iran, Syria, and Egypt stretches back at least a decade. (ANI)