In contrast to the attack on Osirak, Israel will not be able to strike Iran without U.S. support, as the air corridor issue demonstrates

Thus, the U.S. will not be able to distance itself from an Israeli strike on Iran even though that would be handy fiction.
Report: Israel in talks with U.S. on 'air corridor' over Iraq to Iran - Haaretz - Israel News: "'We are planning for every eventuality, and sorting out issues such as these are crucially important,' said the official, speaking under condition of anonymity.

'The only way to do this is to fly through U.S.-controlled air space. If we don't sort these issues out now we could have a situation where American and Israeli war planes start shooting at each other,' he said.

Contingency planning has accelerated significantly, the newspaper said, since the beginning of the year in light of Mossad estimates that Iran could have the necessary amount of fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon by 2009.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week announced that Meir Dagan, head of Mossad and a leading expert on Iran, would postpone his retirement until the end of 2007 at the earliest.

Olmert also handed over coordination of military aspects of the Iran nuclear issue to Israel Air Force Commander Eliezer Shkedy."