Israel is unlikely to hit Iranian nuclear sites in response to Tehran’s ballistic missile attack, the New York Times (NYT) has reported amid growing anticipation over Tel Aviv’s reply to last week’s assault across the Jewish country.
Israel is instead likely to focus on military bases, or intelligence or leadership targets, but could later go for the nuclear program if Iran responds, according to the report. Former and current senior Israeli officials “acknowledged doubts” whether Israel could do serious damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
‘Diplomacy and sanctions’
The NYT report questions whether a potential strike would be enough to hamper the nuclear program, or could instead send it underground or lead to Tehran accelerating it. It said that the Biden administration has instead urged sabotage, diplomacy and sanctions as the best way to deal with the nuclear program.
The report said that for many years, Israel did not have a real plan to attack Iran’s nuclear program, instead focusing on Hezbollah, until Naftali Bennett became prime minister in 2021. According to The Time of Israel, Bennett, who has increased his calls in recent days for Iran’s nuclear program to be hit, quickly “order[ed] new exercises to simulate flying the long distances to Iran and pour[ed] new resources into the preparations.”
Israel is insisting on a strong response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack, as experts have dubbed the ongoing conflict the “most dangerous week of the war.” The Israeli government is determined to respond decisively to threats posed by Iran and its proxy groups after Tehran launched nearly 200 missiles and caused damage to dozens of locations across Israel.
‘Test bomb exploding’
Earlier this week, Bennett said that Israel must “attack Iran’s nuclear program, and cripple the regime’s main economic interests.” “All of these would be only a fraction of what Iran did to Israel,” Bennett wrote in a post on X.
“If we don’t take out the nuclear program now, I don’t know we’ll ever do it. The mullah regime has acquired SQ10, which means enough high-grade uranium to produce 10(!!) nuclear bombs. The regime is racing towards producing the detonator device itself, while the world can no longer track this. In other words, we might wake up to a test bomb exploding in Iran’s desert. At that moment the Middle East will become a nuclear nightmare,” he added.
On Monday, Iran said it would respond firmly to any Israeli attack on its soil, stressing that it did not want a wider war in the region. On Tuesday Iran launched around 200 missiles in its second direct attack on Israel, in what it said was retaliation for the killing of Tehran-aligned militant leaders in the region and a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
‘Not afraid of war’
Israel has vowed to respond to the attack. Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said the Islamic republic was “not afraid of war and will give a firm and appropriate response to any new action by the Zionist regime”. The foreign minister made the remarks in a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty. Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said Iran had fired about 200 missiles at Israel last week.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had made a “big mistake” with its missile barrage, which follows Israel killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on September 27. After the United States said it was discussing a joint response with Israel, Iran’s chief of staff warned that Tehran would hit Israeli infrastructure if its territory is attacked.
(With agency inputs)
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