Tag: JCPOA

Israel is accelerating operational plans to take action against Iran – IDF chief Kohavi

ANNA AHRONHEIM – August 25, 2021

Israel’s military is accelerating its operational plans against Iran due to the progress of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi has warned.

“The progress of the Iranian nuclear program has led the IDF to accelerate its operational plans and the recently approved defense budget is earmarked for that,” he said.

Kohavi commented as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett landed in the United States ahead of a visit with US President Joe Biden and other senior officials. Bennett is expected during his first visit to the White House to push Biden to harden his approach to Iran and drop efforts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“When we began to plan the visit, a return to the agreement seemed certain,” Bennett said ahead of his departure on Tuesday. “Since then, the time has passed, the president in Iran has changed, and things seem far less certain. In our view, it may be that there is no return to the agreement.”

With no diplomatic options likely to push Tehran to stop its nuclear program, Israel’s military believes that the Islamic Republic needs to be aware that should it continue with its program, it will face harsher sanctions and a true military option to stop it.

https://www.jpost.com

WAR DRUMS: Israel warns they are now ‘ready to strike Iran’ after new report reveals 10 weeks from nuclear weapon

ETH – August 5, 2021

(ETH) – Israel’s defense minister Benny Gantz has said that his country is ready to attack Iran and that there must be a global response to the threat that the Islamic republic poses.

According to MSN News, His comments come amid growing tensions following a deadly drone strike on an Israeli-operated tanker off the coast of Oman. Israel, along with the U.S. and the U.K. has blamed Tehran for the attack on Mercer Street last week that killed two people. Iran has denied involvement. “Israel is ready to attack Iran, yes,” Gantz told Ynet on Thursday.

“We are at a point where we need to take military action against Iran. The world needs to take action against Iran now,” he added according to a translation of his comments tweeted by Ynet journalist Attila Somfalvi.

This also follows the report from the Jerusalem Post, revealing that Tehran will be able to break out to a nuclear weapon within 10 weeks, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told diplomats from UN Security Council member states on Wednesday as tensions ratcheted up between Iran and the international community over its maritime attacks.

“Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon,” Gantz warned. “Therefore,” he added, “it is time to act. The world must apply economic sanctions and take operative action against the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps,” which has targeted shipping vessels.

Lapid, Gantz, and other Israeli officials have addressed the Iranian nuclear issue with their American counterparts recently, delivering an “unusual warning,” according to a report from the Times of Israel. “Something has to happen with the negotiations with Iran,” a senior diplomat told Kan. “This ‘limbo’ cannot be a time when Iran is quickly advancing toward becoming a nuclear threshold state.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Israel Getting Ready to ‘Take Action’ to Stop Iran From Going Nuclear, Defence Minister Says

Sputnik News – February 26, 2021

Joe Biden’s campaign promise to get the US back into the Iran nuclear deal has yet to bear fruit, with Washington demanding that Tehran reduce its enrichment activities first. In the meantime, media reports suggest that Israel – the Middle East’s only alleged nuclear weapons state, is engaged in major construction at its Dimona research facility.

The Israeli military is “currently working to build up” its forces “and is preparing itself for any scenario, including one in which we would need to take operational action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” Defence Minister Benny Gantz said, his remarks cited by the Times of Israel.

Gantz, who also serves as Israel’s alternate prime minister, said the military preparations were being taken in parallel with Tel Aviv’s diplomatic efforts to pressure the Biden administration into modifying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran nuclear deal, if not scrapping it entirely.

“We all need to make sure that if an agreement is signed with Iran, it will be one that ends its nuclear project, enables long-term effective oversight and inspection, and puts a stop to Iranian entrenchment in Syria, Yemen and Iraq,” the minister said.

Iran maintains that it has no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons, and has warned both the Trump and Biden administrations that it will not accept any effort to modify the terms of the JCPOA in any way. The US has a binary choice – take the deal or leave it, according to Tehran.

https://sputniknews.com