The January 2012 People of World Influence profile “Brzezinski: Obama Must ‘Regain’ Lost Ground in Foreign Policy” stated that former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski “famously urged Obama to shoot down Israeli fighter jets should they attack Iran.”

In a 2009 interview with the Daily Beast, Brzezinski advocated denying Israel the right to use Iraqi airspace for a possible attack on Iran and said that if Israel deliberately violated American airspace in the course of such an attack, an incident could arise in which Israeli and American jets might engage in a clash. He added that such an incident “is nothing to be wished for.”