The US and Israel are expected to conduct ‘Juniper Cobra’, a joint missile defence exercise as part of a war game against adversaries. The exercises assume significance due to growing tensions between Iran and Israel on account of its nuclear programme. The exercise, to begin on October 12, will involve Theatre High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) Aegis and PAC-3 systems from the US and the Israeli built Arrow missile defence system. Over a thousand American troops belonging to the Pentagon’s European Command, who are already deployed in the Negev desert, will participate. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei warned that Iranian missiles will “blow up the heart of Israel” if “a single American or Zionist missile land in our country, before the dust settles …”1

• 1. “Israel, United States to hold key missile exercise amid nuclear row with Iran,” Times of India, October 11, 2009, at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Israel-United-State...