Israel preparing for airstrike on Iran?

>>> the u.s. director of national intelligence sees limited benefit from an attack on iran saying it might set back the country's nuclear development program by one or two years. leon panetta recently down played the likelihood of an israeli air strike . joining us now is silven. as you know the secretary general says diplomacy is the way. why are you leaving the military option on the table?

>> i absolutely agree with secretary general which i met with only three days ago. we've got to solve the problem. unfortunately, the security council cannot do it because russia and china do not want to impose sanctions in order to stop this. and why no one can stop this, everything should be put on the table. we need to understand it's not israeli/ iran conflict , it's a conflict that belongs to all of us. for many, many years, much of the world believed -- after the terrorist attack that was carried out here in new york , after the attack carried out in madrid and russia, the world is much more determined, and outcome is very positive. only recently in 2007 , the americans said that the iranians abandoned their military program and now they realize they were wrong. now they realize that the iranians continue to develop nuclear bomb and developing new missiles with much longer range. in that range is -- even new york , even new york --

>> let me be specific about what he had to say. he said u.s. intelligence believes iran's leaders have not decided to build nuclear weapons but are pursuing technology that would allow them to do so. from your perspective -- well, first of all, is he wrong about that? and if not, what's the line? where does it cross over from being a nuclear development program aimed at civilian purposes and a weaponized program.

>> i think it's out of the question. everyone now knows most of the world if not all the world knows the iranians are trying to develop a nuclear bomb . it's out of the question. they have all the proof. everyone knows the security and intelligence of the west world knows very well the iranians are developing a nuclear bomb . and they should be stopped. it can't be --

>> why don't we talk about what is happening. the team from the agency is set to meet with officials in tehran next week and president ahmadinejad did signal earlier this week he's open to talks about the nuclear program and you're already kind of smiling about that.

>> because they're trying to buy time now for more than a decade. and always when they feel that the pressure is too hard, when the sanctions are on the way, they are trying to get engaged. we would like to them to get engaged, to do what needs to be done, to stop the military program because we are in the assembled. these days the iranians are trying not only to have that nuclear bomb , they're trying to take control of all the oil fields , and to revive the persian empire . they believe if they have a nuclear bomb to give them an insurance policy to keep the regime in power. and we would like to believe that it should be different if the sanctions would be tough enough finally they might think that they should abandon their dream to hold a nuclear bomb that the last decision taken by the eu is what's very, very important for the iranian oil, a decision followed by the united states , canada, australia, japan, south korea . you impose sanctions on the iranian central bank . if they would do so, they might change the iranian attitude. and until then, the iranians are laughing, they are bluffing, they are trying all the time to make progress. and one year after another, they are very, very close. even secretary panetta and the militants are saying if they would move the enrichment to 20%, it would take them only one year and they will hold a nuclear bomb .

>> do you think you're going to get a ticket to the knicks game tonight? he confided in me he's trying to go to the knicks game. do you think you're going to go?

>> i hope so.

>> who are you cheering for?

>> the knicks .

>> we're just checking.

>> since i was born, i'm a big fan of the knicks . unfortunately they're doing so bad for so many years that i would like to believe that now with jeremy lin maybe this will be different. tonight i hope to be there and i hope that the score will be very good.

>> well, it's good of you to come in, israel's vice prime minister. have fun tonight.