Israeli officials told The New York Times that retaliation for last week’s missile attack may target military, intelligence or leadership sites.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Israel is not expected to hit Iranian nuclear facilities in retaliation for last week’s attack in which Tehran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at the Jewish state with negligible results, The New York Times reported Monday.
Citing unnamed “former and current senior Israeli officials,” the paper said it is “likely” that Israel would instead go for military, intelligence or leadership sites.
The most strategic targets, Iran’s nuclear production plants, which experts agree are only weeks away from manufacturing a bomb if the order to do so is given, “seem to have been reserved for later,” the paper said, if the mullahs decide to escalate after the upcoming Israeli response plays out.
The Israeli officials also expressed doubt over whether Israel could seriously damage such crucial locations as the centrifuge plants that have been enriching uranium to near weapons-level in recent years.
These are dug deep into mountains or underground and the U.S. has consistently refused to sell Jerusalem its heaviest bombs, which are the only weapons considered capable of destroying such reinforced sites.
Israeli right-wingers have called Iran’s direct attack, which theoretically could have killed thousands and caused immense damage, an act of war that demands serious action.
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett wrote on X immediately after the missile strike, “Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East….We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime…. We must remove this terrible threat to our children’s future.”
Israel’s allies, however, are not on board, fearing that such a move would lead to an explosion in the region that could drag them in as well.
Speaking after a virtual meeting with representatives of the other G7 countries U.S. President Joe Biden had said Wednesday in response to a question on the subject that he would not support such a strike.
“The answer is no,” the president said. “All seven of us agree that [Israelis] have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.”
The White House statement following the meeting said the seven economic leaders of the world had condemned the Iranian ballistic missile attack as “unacceptable” and that they would coordinate a response “including new sanctions.”
Stricter implementation of existing sanctions was also something “we are looking at right now,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a subsequent briefing.
Iran’s oil facilities, which are also a high-potential target for an Israeli airstrike, being Tehran’s main economic lifeline, could be hit this way instead.
While much of Iran’s oil sales go to China, which is not tied to the American financial system that bars the Islamic Republic from using it, independent research firm ClearView Energy Partners said in an October 1 note that about a quarter of Iran’s crude production could potentially be choked off by more vigorous sanctions enforcement.