MEMORANDUM NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL S Ji'CPE' ll ACTION June 15 1981 MEMORANDUM FOR RICHARD V ALLEN FRml FEITH SUBJECT DOUGLAS J Diplomatic Background to Israeli Raid on Iraq's Nuclear Reactor 3547 Per your request the memorandum for your signature to the President at Tab I provides diplomatic background to the Israeli raid on Iraq's nuclear reactor It is critical that the Reagan Administration take fully into account the diplomatic exchanges that occurred between the USG and Israel during the last months of the Carter Administration · - f _ ' Geoffre r emp and Raymond Taneer concur RECOMMENDATION That you sign the memorandum to the President at Tab I APPROVE DISAPPROVE ------ -- --- Attachment Tab I - Memorandum to the President ·SElCREl' J NI F 'C- i 7 i _ J2 Review June 15 1987 - _ I I i 'I t t r -· • - ' 4 Fi S MEMORANDUM ·-SECREI The President has seen_ 3547 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON INFORMATION 1 1 f F'l' - - I' 7 t LZ L ' MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT BY -2 ¥--' ' ' t iT E z01res· FROM RICHARD V ALLEN v SUBJECT Diplomatic Background to Israeli Raid on Iraq's Nuclear Reactor On June 7 Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor which was under construction in collaboration with French and Italian companies Israel gave us no prior notification of the actual raid You should however be aware that during the last months of the Carter Administration the State Department knew of Jerusalem's thinking on Iraq's nuclear program including the determination to resort to force if diplomacy failed to eliminate the Iraqi nuclear threat Therefore your public statements on the raid must be framed with the raid's diplomatic background in mind lest they unduly antagonize Israel and provoke Jerusalem to issue accurate contradictions and to argue that the USG has no ins ti tutiona l memory 11 • Especially since July 1980 Begin and his colleagues repeatedly stressed to U S Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis their anxiety regarding the Iraqi nuclear program • In July 1980 Ambassador Lewis warned President Carter and Secretary Muskie that Israel was contemplating a preemptive strike against the Iraqi reactor should U S pressure· on France and Italy yield no results • The USG pressed France and Italy not to facilitate Iraqi attainment of a nuclear weapons capability Israel afforded the USG time for such efforts but the pressure was not effective • During an August 1980 meeting in Washington on the Iraqi nuclear program Iraqi officials reaffirmed to U S officials that Iraq is in a state of war with Israel and has been so since 1948 • In December 1980 Ambassador Lewis confirmed to Begin that the USG believes Iraq is seeking a nuclear weapons option and that the assessments of the situation by U S and Israeli experts were in basic agreement • According to a report from Ambassador Lewis cabled after the raid we share the Israeli assessment that the reactor was essentially ready to go operational in a matter of weeks as soon as the additional fuel elements were shipped and installed Review June 15 1987 -SE6REi