Israel is considering large-scale attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities this year, planning to gain support from the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reports.
US intelligence agencies have concluded that Israel could strike Iranian nuclear facilities. The findings were included in an analytical report prepared in the final days of the Joe Biden administration. The report highlights the risks of increased military activity in the region if Israel moves against a weakened Iran.
Sources familiar with the intelligence report say Israel is counting on the support of Donald Trump’s administration to carry out the strikes. A reason for this is that Trump is seen by Israel as more likely to support such action than his predecessor Joe Biden.
According to one of the WSJ’s interlocutors, US intelligence produced a second report, submitted in the early days of Trump’s presidency, that confirms the earlier conclusion.
The Israeli side is concerned that time is running out to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. A second report confirming those concerns was handed over in the early days of the Trump administration, a US official said. Military experts believe that in order to successfully attack fortified Iranian facilities, Israel would need US support in the form of munitions and technical assistance, the WSJ noted.
The administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment, and the Israeli military declined to comment on the information.
“Maximum pressure” on Iran
Last week, on the day of his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump signed an executive order resuming the “maximum pressure” policy on Iran that he implemented during his first term as president. The strategy is designed to reduce Tehran’s oil export revenues and discourage it from developing nuclear weapons.
On October 26, Israel retaliated by striking Iran’s military facilities. Tehran claimed “limited damage.” Israel attacked, among other things, a facility that housed nuclear weapons development equipment.
