Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the world would face a “horrible” nuclear war if Iran manages to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel’s leader addressed the Iranian people on Thursday night and warned that a nuclear Iran “would change the world.”

Netanyahu said a nuclear-capable Iran would destabilize the region, which would quickly become a region filled with “nuclear tripwires.” He said other countries would rush to match Iran’s capabilities. He addressed those who warned Israel that it would face a war if it intervenes. 

“You will face a war if you don’t,” he said. “A potentially horrible nuclear war if you don’t.”

Iran has insisted that it has no interest in developing nuclear weapons and its program is for domestic use. Tehran said the higher readings are due to fluctuations. 

TRENDPOST: Gerald Celente has said: “When all else fails, they take you to war.”

Netanyahu warned that Iran has enriched uranium to 84 percent, which is just shy of the 90 percent needed to be weapons-grade. But the Israeli leader is facing major protests at home over his judicial overhaul and sees relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran improving. (See “ISRAEL LOOKS TO SAUDI ARABIA TO COUNTER IRAN,” 21 Feb 2023.) 

China brokered an agreement between the two countries that The New York Times said left Washington stunned and “on the sidelines.”

“Yes, the United States could not have brokered such a deal right now with Iran specifically, since we have no relations,” Amy Hawthorne, deputy director for research at the Project on Middle East Democracy, told the paper. “But in a larger sense, China’s prestigious accomplishment vaults it into a new league diplomatically and outshines anything the U.S. has been able to achieve in the region since Biden came to office.”

Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, reported that the Saudi-Iran breakthrough was a “complete and dangerous failure of the Israeli government’s foreign policy.”

“This is what happens when you deal with legal madness all day instead of doing the job,” he said, according to The Times.

Riyadh could have been a willing partner for Israel, but there are some problems between the two countries that will not be easily resolved, despite the shared hatred for Iran, namely, Saudi Arabia’s insistence on a Palestinian state.

Nuts Netanyahu

The Trends Journal also noted last week that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency actually gave Iran credit for signaling that it will be more transparent in its nuclear program. (See “UN NUKE WATCHDOG CREDITS IRAN FOR ‘MARKED IMPROVEMENT,’” 7 Mar 2023.)

Besides re-installing cameras at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the IAEA, said Tehran agreed to a 50 percent increase in inspections at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant and access to people of interest in an investigation into uranium traces at undeclared sites.

There are also differences in the approach to Iran beginning to emerge between the U.S. and Israel. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met last week with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallan. Austin told reporters that “diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”

Gallant told Austin: “We must take all measures necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.” 

Gallant seemed to suggest that Israel could resort to military action to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Associated Press reported.