Israeli Minister: Iran can be attacked “in two or three years”
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Sulaiman
- . December 29, 2022
- . Update: December 29, 2022 7:55 pm
The defence minister of Israel, Benny Gantz, has said that his country can attack Iranian nuclear sites in two or three years. His comments came amid a verbal rift between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel.
Gantz told graduating air force cadets in a speech on Wednesday, “In two or three years, you may be taking part in an attack on nuclear sites in Iran.” The Israeli military has also said that Iran “will continue on its current path of slow progress” in the nuclear program.
According to Western countries, the Iranians have ramped up uranium enrichment in recent months. Experts say Iran could potentially make nuclear bombs. Nonproliferation experts warned that Iran had 60% enriched uranium to reprocess into fuel for at least one nuclear bomb.
Last month, the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that the Islamic Republic of Iran was enriching uranium to 60% at the Fordow nuclear site.
Read | Israel is threatened by Hezbollah just as much as by Iran’s nuclear programme
The latest move comes as talks have stalled to revive the 2015 nuclear deal or JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). With this deal, Iran agreed to limit its nuclear realm for civilian purposes in return for sanction relief from western countries. However, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, which led to the downfall of the historic agreement.
In recent years, Israel has repeatedly issued threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities. Earlier, the Israeli authorities said that world powers’ diplomacy with Iran reached a dead end.
In September this year, Israel said it does not see a renewal of the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers. Israeli politician Yair Lapid also visited Germany to persuade Western countries to ditch the nuclear deal with Iran.
Recently, David Barnea, the current Director of Mossad, said that Iran was aiming to supply weapons to Russia.
