Israel: Defense Minister Gantz speculates about possible attack on Iran

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Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaking at the Air Force ceremony

Photo: JACK GUEZ / AFP

Outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz was unusually explicit in a speech to Air Force cadets about simulations for a possible attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

"In two or three years, you could cross the skies east and take part in an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities," Gantz said in a speech he later tweeted.

For more than a decade, Israel has threatened to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if it believes world powers' diplomacy with Tehran has reached an impasse.

But some experts doubt Israel has the military clout to inflict lasting damage on Iranian targets that are distant, scattered, and well-defended.

Israeli military intelligence predicts that by 2023 Iran will continue "on its current path of slow progress" in the nuclear field, the Israel Hayom newspaper reported on Sunday.

“Iran will only change its policy if extreme sanctions are imposed on it;

then he could decide to accelerate enrichment to military levels,” the report said.

International efforts to renew the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled.

As a result, the Iranians have ramped up uranium enrichment, claiming it is intended for civilian use.

Building warheads could take years

According to experts, Iran could increase the fissile purity of its uranium to weapons grade in a short time.

However, the country would probably need years to build a suitable warhead.

As part of a policy of ambiguity designed to deter surrounding enemies while avoiding provocations that could lead to an arms race, Israel has so far neither confirmed nor denied possessing nuclear weapons.

Scientists assume that it acquired the first bomb in late 1966.

Unlike Iran, Israel is not a signatory to the 1970 Voluntary Non-Proliferation Treaty, which provides access to civilian nuclear technologies in exchange for renunciation of nuclear weapons.

mgo/Reuters