‘All of Israel would unite to support a strike to stop Iranian nukes’

Tehran presents global threat, warns former defense minister

NEW YORK – All of Israel will unite if a strike against Iran is needed, National Unity leader Benny Gantz said at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference in New York on Monday.

“Today, in an ever-shifting global and Middle East reality, our nation is threatened by the emergence of a nuclear-armed Iran,” Gantz said. “We must stress that a nuclear Iran is first and foremost a global challenge, endangering global and regional stability.”

Speaking at the conference gala the night before, he expanded on that point: “Iran’s impact is a potential existential threat to the State of Israel, but the influence Iran has on Venezuela has nothing to do with the Middle East; Iran’s interest in Western Sahara has nothing to do with the Middle East. More Saudis were attacked by Iranian proxies than Israelis.”

As such, he added, “when we talk about the need to stop Iran from becoming nuclear capable, we are saying it not only from the Israeli perspective, but from a regional and global perspective.”

Gantz said on Monday that “the 11th hour” has arrived: “We cannot allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.”

“As an opposition leader, I want to emphasize this message: We will do whatever it takes to prevent an existential threat to the State of Israel. We know such action might come at a great cost, but, as always in these matters, all of Israel’s leadership and people will unite,” he stated, adding that such unity is “imperative.”

It’s also important “to do everything possible to reinforce our security cooperation with our most important ally, the United States of America.”

Gantz added: “We cannot allow tactical actions or internal politics to hinder our security.”

SPEAKING AFTER Gantz, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul said that US President Joe Biden has been quite clear that on his watch Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons... “and he means it.”

Stroul added: “A lot of the work that we are doing at the Department of Defense is to ensure that we have an updated and credible military option to use, should we need one.”

Stroul said that when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program and its dangerous nuclear advances, the Biden administration prefers a diplomatic solution to put meaningful constraints on Iran. “But that has to be backed up with the willingness and the capability to use force, should it be needed,” she said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s job is to ensure that should Biden ask for the military plans and options, that he’s ready to provide them, Stroul said.

“My job as the deputy assistant secretary of defense is to make sure that we are on top

“In that report you will see that the process of implementation of the March 4 Joint Statement has started and some progress has been made,” said Grossi.

As an example, he said that “in early May the Agency installed surveillance cameras at workshops at one location where centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows are manufactured.”

Further, he noted that “the Agency has, for the first time, installed an enrichment monitoring device at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant as well as at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant in Natanz. This will help us detect more rapidly any variations in enrichment levels at these facilities.”

Concerning specific IAEA probes into alleged Iranian nuclear violations, he said, “Iran has provided a possible explanation for the presence of depleted uranium in one part of the location known as Marivan.”

However, Grossi appeared to not accept Tehran’s explanation and seemed ready to keep the probe partially open, saying, “I note that our assessment for the location still stands and I reiterate that the remaining outstanding safeguards issues stem from Iran’s obligations under the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement between Iran and the Agency, and still need to be resolved for the Agency to be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”

Grossi referred to a “double gap” in the agency’s ability to police Iran’s nuclear program, including losing some of its surveillance tools already in early 2021 and going “blind” with significant other aspects of surveillance in June 2022.

He said that in order to reconstruct the year of surveillance that his inspectors missed, the Islamic Republic would need to facilitate “some other kind of consultation – access to records, talking to people [nuclear scientists.]”

In fact, he added that Iran had allowed his inspectors to speak to some nuclear scientists involved in an incident in which Tehran enriched a small volume of uranium molecules up to 84%, the closest ever to the 90% weaponized level.

However, Grossi said that newly installed surveillance equipment would more quickly catch such incidents in the future, in particular at the underground Fordow nuclear facility where the last incident occurred.

In recent days, several Israeli government officials have attacked the IAEA as being hoodwinked by the ayatollahs into closing the Marivan undeclared nuclear site and depleted uranium probe. But Grossi’s comments suggested he may

only shelve the probe – which could keep it open even if the agency does not continue to actively request new clarifications from Iran.

It is unclear if shelving the probe would make it easier for the Iran and the West to return to the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal, which in any case, appears to be frozen due to Iran’s military drone support for Russia in Ukraine.

At a press conference after his speech to the IAEA Board, Grossi rejected Israel’s accusations about “capitulating to Iranian pressure.”

“We are used to this. One day it’s one side which says one thing, and another day it’s another side. We are neutral, we are technical… I would never comment on a government’s opinions,… this is technical work, what we are saying is technically correct,” said the IAEA chief.

He continued saying the IAEA, “Never water down our standards. We stand by our standards, apply our standards, if anything, in this process... we have been strict technically, impartial, very firm. Fair but firm.”

Further, he said, “politicization is in the eyes of the beholder.” •