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Israel does not rule out a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite the fact that the United States is not ready to support such a move.
This was reported by Reuters, citing an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter, Ukrinform reports.
Israel has pledged to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and is in favor of a complete curtailment of the country’s nuclear program.
According to Reuters, in recent months, Israel has offered the administration of US President Donald Trump several options for attacking Iranian facilities. Some of them with a time frame of late spring and summer 2025.
Sources note that some options include a combination of air strikes and commando operations. They vary in severity, but could delay Tehran’s ability to weaponize its nuclear program by several months, a year or even more, the report said.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting at the White House earlier this month that Washington wants to prioritize diplomatic talks with Tehran. Trump also emphasized that he was not willing to support a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the short term.
But Israeli officials now believe that instead, their military could launch a limited strike against Iran that would require less U.S. support. Such an attack would be significantly smaller than the one Israel had originally proposed.
However, it is unclear whether Israel will take any such actions amid the US-Iran nuclear deal negotiations, Reuters writes. Such a move could jeopardize broader U.S. support for Israel.
A senior Iranian security official said that Tehran is aware of Israel’s plans and that an attack would provoke a “tough and decisive response.”
“We have intelligence from reliable sources that Israel is planning a major attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This is due to dissatisfaction with the current diplomatic efforts regarding Iran’s nuclear program, as well as Netanyahu’s need for conflict as a means of political survival,” he said.
On Saturday, the second round of preliminary indirect talks between U.S. and Iranian diplomats on Iran’s nuclear program is to take place in Rome.
As reported by Ukrinform, on April 12, the American and Iranian delegations led by US Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi completed indirect talks in the Omani capital Muscat and agreed to continue negotiations.
According to Reuters, during last week’s talks, Iran told the United States that it was ready to accept some restrictions on uranium enrichment, but needed reliable guarantees that President Donald Trump would not abandon the nuclear deal again.
