ISRAEL HOLDS MILITARY EXERCISE TO STRIKE IRAN

The Israeli Air Force plans to hold a massive military exercise in late May over the Mediterranean called “Chariots of Fire,” that will simulate a large-scale attack on Iran as nuclear talks seem to be stalled between Tehran and the West.

The Times of Israel reported that the three-week exercise will include nearly all Israel Defense Force units. 

The IDF called the drill unique and “unprecedented in scope” and will help its forces maintain a high level of readiness in an ever-changing region, The Jerusalem Post reported. The forces will also prepare for a long war campaign with several fronts. 

The Trends Journal has reported extensively on Israel’s shadow war with Tehran. (See “IRAN’S MISSILES STRIKE ‘RETALIATORY,’ HITS ISRAELI TARGET,” “SHOOTING BREAKS OUT IN ISRAEL: REVENGE OR TERRORISM?” and “ISRAEL RAMPS UP ATTACK PLAN ON IRAN.”)  

Benny Gantz, Israel’s defense minister, said last Tuesday that the price for tackling the Iranian challenge “on a global or regional level is higher than it was a year ago and lower than it will be in a year,” according to The Times of Israel.

These drills are intended to prepare Israeli forces for a larger confrontation. 

Gantz said the IDF was “preparing for various scenarios against our enemies in the various theaters and against Hezbollah and Hamas, which also operates from Lebanon.”

Israel has been eyeing the progress of the Iran nuclear deal that many analysts say is all but dead. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, like his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, has spoken out against the deal. 

But the Post said even a bad deal would likely be better than no deal for Israel because, without one, Iran could be able to jump to 90 percent weaponized uranium in weeks. The paper, citing unnamed sources, said even a bad deal could make Iran put off the issue of weaponization to avoid a U.S. or Israeli attack.

“Iran continues to accumulate irreversible knowledge and experience in the development, research, production, and operation of advanced centrifuges,” Gantz said during a conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University, The Times reported.

“It stands just a few weeks away from accumulating fissile material that will be sufficient for a first bomb, holds 60 kg of enriched material at 60%, produces metallic uranium at the enrichment level of 20%, and prevents the IAEA from accessing its facilities,” he added.

Tensions remain high between the two countries, especially after the assassination of Iranian Col. Sayad Khodai on Sunday. Iran blamed Israel for the killing. Khodai was shot five times after being approached by two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle, according to ZeroHedge.

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi called on his security forces to “follow up on this matter and I have no doubt that revenge for the pureblood of our martyr will be taken.”  

Khodai was a member of the elite Quds Force. The BBC said the killing was the most high-profile in Iran since the November 2020 assassination of top nuclear scientist Moshen Fakhrizadeh,

TRENDPOST: There is a growing feeling in the international community that the Iran deal is on life support.

One source told Reuters, “They are not yanking the IV out of the patient’s arm … but I sense little expectation that there is a positive way forward.”

Israel has long stated that it will not allow Iran to gain nuclear capabilities. 

In 2012, Netanyahu made an appearance at the UN in New York and held up a cartoon-style drawing that illustrated an Iranian nuclear time bomb ready to explode. It was his attempt to show the Israeli view of Iran’s progress in achieving the ability to make a nuclear weapon. 

The New York Times reported that he “drew a red line through the point at which Iran would have amassed enough medium-enriched uranium to make a bomb—which he said would be in the spring or summer of 2013.”

Gantz followed up Netanyahu’s presentation by saying that Israel stands ready to act alone if Iran continues to accelerate its nuclear program, and the country is updating its plans to strike Tehran’s nuclear facilities.

“The Iranian nuclear escalation must be stalled,” Gantz said. “If not, we must stand independently and we must defend ourselves by ourselves.”

We’ve pointed out that the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Israel possesses at minimum some 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads and has produced enough plutonium for 100-200 weapons.

Thus, it is OK for Israel and other nations to have nuclear weapons but not Iran… or, for that matter, North Korea. Only nations sanctified by a higher political order are permitted to have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. And, as evidenced with Iraq, whether they possess them or not, the very thought of it is enough to invade and destroy an “enemy” nation.