Israeli Officials Warn against Any Military Adventurism against Iran

Citing the Israeli officials and experts, The New York Times reported on Saturday that a wider attempt to destroy the dozens of nuclear sites in distant parts of the Islamic Republic would be beyond the current resources of the Israeli military.

Recently, as Iran and its partners in the 2015 nuclear deal are engaged in a diplomatic process to secure a removal of the US sanctions and bring Washington back to the negotiating table, Israel has stepped up its military threats against Tehran in an attempt to derail the talks and prevent a potential revival of the deal that it has long tried to kill.

The regime has warned its allies that it would “take matters into its own hands” if the nuclear deal gets back on track in its original form and without getting new concessions from Iran.

On Saturday, an Iranian security official warned about “acts of mischief” by Israel against Iran amid “relatively successful” negotiations going on between the Islamic Republic and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna. 

Until now, Israel has tried to undermine Iran’s nuclear energy program through a combination of aggressive diplomacy and clandestine terrorist attacks.

It has waged a shadow war through espionage, targeted assassinations, sabotage and cyberattacks — smaller-scale operations that it has never formally claimed.

Back in September, the head of the Israeli armed forces, Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, said large parts of a military budget increase had been allocated to preparing a strike on Iran.

Early this month, David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, boasted that the regime would do “whatever it takes” to stop Iran from what the regime calls making a nuclear bomb.

Minister of military affairs Benny Gantz also publicly announced during a visit to the US that he had ordered the Israeli army to prepare for a possible military strike on Iran.

However, retired Israeli air force general Relik Shafir said Iran had dozens of nuclear sites, some deep underground that would be hard for Israeli bombs to quickly penetrate and destroy.

The Israeli air force, he added, does not have warplanes large enough to carry the latest bunker-busting bombs.

“It’s very difficult — I would say even impossible — to launch a campaign that would take care of all these sites,” Shafir said.

One current Israeli security official said the regime did not currently have the ability to inflict any significant damage to the underground facilities at Natanz and Fordow.