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For the first time in nearly two decades of escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, world leaders are genuinely concerned that an Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic could be imminent, fearing such an action could trigger a wider war and global economic havoc.

High-level foreign dignitaries, including the UN chief and the head of the American military, have stopped in Israel in recent weeks, urging leaders to give the diplomatic process more time to work. Israel seems unmoved, and US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has reportedly concluded that an Israeli attack on Iran is likely in the coming months.

US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that he does not think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran, telling NBC News in an interview that the United States was “going to be sure that we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this, hopefully diplomatically.”

Despite harsh economic sanctions and international pressure, Iran is refusing to abandon its nuclear program, which it says is purely civilian.

Israeli leaders have been claiming Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons since the early 1990s, and defense officials have issued a series of ever-changing estimates on how close Iran is to the bomb, despite repeated US and UN inspections revealing nothing. But the saber-rattling has become much more direct and vocal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frequently draws parallels between modern-day Iran and Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust, despite Israel being the only Middle Eastern power known to have developed nuclear weapons in violation of international law.

Israel smuggled the materials to build bombs at its Dimona facility in the Negev desert from France, and even kidnapped and imprisoned one of its nuclear scientists, Mordechai Vanunu, after he fled to Britain to blow the whistle on the secret program. A case was also filed in 1998 by workers at the site who alleged they were subjected to human experimentation.

On Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed during a high-profile security conference that there is a “wide global understanding” that military action may be needed.

Even a limited Israeli operation could well unleash region-wide fighting. Iran could launch its Shihab 3 missiles at Israel, and have its local proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, unleash rockets.

Israel’s military intelligence chief, Aviv Kochavi, warned last week that Israel’s enemies possess some 200,000 rockets. 

AP