Defense Minister Benny Gantz held a briefing last night (Friday) for the heads of leading research institutes in Washington, after his visit to the Central Command of the US Army and his meeting with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
At the beginning of the briefing, the Minister of Defense emphasized the special relations between Israel and the United States, saying that they are firm and strong even these days, and said that the dialogue is being held with the heads of government by the leaders of the country, in the correct and responsible manner, in which Israel's opposition to the agreement is expressed.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz at a briefing for the heads of research institutes in Washington,
As part of the briefing, the Defense Minister spoke about Iran's progress in recent years on the nuclear issue: "Iran has gained knowledge, infrastructure and irreversible capabilities that will allow it to expand its nuclear program during the agreement with the reduction of limitations, and of course to break through to the nuclear when it ends in 2031."
Among other things, Gantz presented the production of thousands of advanced centrifuges that, if stored and not destroyed, will be available for installation when the agreement ends or if Iran decides to withdraw from it.
In addition, Gantz explained that "in light of the flexibility of the new advanced cascade at Purdue, Iran will be able to start enriching to 90% immediately if a decision is made, and as a general rule it will be able to enrich to the amount of material required for fissile material within a few weeks. Iran has reduced the IAEA's supervision of the production of centrifuges, does not provide an answer to the open cases and has accumulated enriched material at the level of 60%".
Defense Minister Benny Gantz at a briefing for the heads of research institutes in Washington,
The defense minister also said: "The common goal of Israel and the US is to prevent Iran from having a nuclear capability, and the way is to pull Iran back and deter it.
The agreement in question has many problematic components.
The knowledge, infrastructure and capabilities that Iran has gained, require many improvements in the discussed agreement, including the need to postpone the date of the end of the restrictions ("sunset") on the various components of the agreement."
The Minister of Defense welcomed the actions of the US to strengthen cooperation in the Middle East, and its military actions in recent weeks, which must continue and increase because they are the best means of fighting the terrorism spread by Iran through its proxies.
Gantz noted that he is under the impression that President Biden and the administration are attentive to the need to strengthen cooperation, intelligence-wise, militarily, as well as economic pressure against the terrorist organizations operated by Iran and emphasized: "Israel will continue - whether there is an agreement or not - to act and prevent Iran from achieving regional hegemony. Israel is the state possession in the region, and we will continue to strengthen our military superiority in the face of any development."
In this context, Gantz said: "Iran provides more than a billion dollars every year to its proxies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza. Hezbollah, which harms Lebanon and threatens Israel, is fueled with more than half a billion dollars every year by Iran. Hamas and Islamic Jihad also receive funding of over 100 million dollars. Therefore, in any situation - the operations against Iran's emissaries who threaten the entire Middle East must be intensified."
During the briefing, the Minister of Defense also presented the series of actions taken against the Palestinian Authority in the past year, as well as the main points of the "Dawn" operation.
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