Israel has repeatedly vowed it would not let Iran get nuclear weapons. Israel has waged a low-key war on Iran's nuclear infrastructure and scientists to delay that day. But the Iranian mullahs remain determined to go nuclear. Has Israel reached the point when it has to either accept Iranians nukes or directly attack Iran's nuclear weapons infrastructure to set them back years or more from having nukes?
Iran has taken a major step towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, it emerged on Sunday, after Western diplomats revealed that it has enriched uranium to its highest levels so far, standing just short of the threshold for a bomb.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] found enrichment levels of 84 per cent at Iran's nuclear sites, the highest levels recorded so far and just six per cent shy of the threshold for acquiring a nuclear weapon.
That's so odd. When Iran entered the 2015 nuclear deal, it denied having a nuclear weapon program. And America went along with the lie. Yet Iran has enriched uranium beyond the level needed for generating peaceful nuclear energy.
Huh.
From the "It's About Damn Time" files:
Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear installations in a series of secret high-level meetings with senior defence officials, according to a leaked report.
Can Israel do it? Israel has certainly had plenty of time to think outside the box for this mission.
And Israel should openly work with Arab allies on the strikes to mute American retaliation for stomping on the nuclear dreams of the beloved mullah regime.
Israel might even want to have a second wave against Iran's oil export infrastructure readied to deter Iran from responding. Or perhaps such an attack would be prepared assuming Iran unleashes a counter-attack on Israel with Iranian long-range missiles and local proxies on Israel's border. Or if Iran responds by attacking Gulf Arab oil exports through the Persian Gulf.
In a possibly related matter, can Israel persuade Assad that he'd be safer with Iran as an enemy and Israeli and Gulf Arab help to eject the Iranians from Syria?
Israel doesn't want southern Syria added to southern Lebanon and Gaza as Iranian rocket launcher outposts. And perhaps Assad doesn't want to stand with Iran when it gets hammered.
It may be time to pay up on decades of claiming direct action is a last resort if Iran continues pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons.
Of course, when I really want to worry I wonder if Iran made its primary nuclear weapon route immune to Israeli strikes.
Or do you actually think Iran's nutballs can be deterred?
UPDATE: Iran under the mullahs is no "friend we haven't made yet." Revise your actions, accordingly.
UPDATE: I've long thought of striking Iran as something to buy time for a more permanent solution to mullahs with nukes:
Unless Iranians can generate new, massive protests, Western attention will return to where it’s usually been since an opposition group revealed the Islamic Republic’s hitherto clandestine atomic program in 2002: nuclear diplomacy.
Without the mullahs, the Iranians may decide they don't want nukes. Or the aggressive foreign policy that seemingly requires them for a shield. And even if they still want nukes, it is possible I'll be no more worried than I am knowing France has them.
Perhaps Israel feels the same way. A lot may depend on the protesters becoming more.
UPDATE: Interesting:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran have agreed to resume diplomatic ties and reopen embassies, they said in a joint statement issued in Beijing, carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA on Friday.
Is Saudi Arabia taking the "good cop" role while Israel scowls and rolls up a magazine?
UPDATE: Add in the public defender to the scenario:
Long-running differences between the Biden administration and Israel over how to stop Iran’s rapidly accelerating nuclear program spilled into public view Thursday, as the U.S. defense secretary discussed Tehran’s nuclear ambitions with his Israeli counterpart during a visit to the country.
The difference is that Israel wants to prevent Iran from going nuclear; and the Biden administration wants to plausibly deny blame for Iran going nuclear.
UPDATE: Oh, China hosted Iranian-Saudi talks for restoring relations. The Saudis aren't only being "good cop" to Iran on Iran's nuclear program (Israel being the "bad cop").
The Saudis are also sending a message to Biden about coddling Iran instead of stopping Iran from going nuclear.
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