JERUSALEM: Israel is certainly planning to launch an attack on Iran before the September General Assembly vote on Palestine, and also hoping to draw the US into the war, a longtime CIA officer who has spent 21 years in the Middle East believes.

Robert Baer told a Los Angeles radio station today that such an Israeli move will drag the United States into another major war, endangering its military and civilian personnel throughout the Middle East and beyond, Ynetnews reported.

“There is almost near certainty that (Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is planning an attack (on Iran)… and it will probably be in September before the vote on a Palestinian state. And he’s also hoping to draw the United States into the conflict,” Baer told the Radio.