A large number of American generals and at least 1,500 US soldiers arrived in Israel this week for one of the largest joint land exercises ever held between the two nations.

Dubbed "Juniper Cobra," the exercise, which is held every year, but never before on such a large scale, is scheduled to last three weeks.

One of the visiting US generals told Israel media that the exercise is in response to "specific threats," which every took to mean primarily the Iranian nuclear threat. There was much speculation that the exercise signaled the US had nearly given up on diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear program, and was gearing up for the aftermath of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.