With negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program stalled, Israel is working to strengthen its capabilities against the Islamic Republic, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Monday.
“We are allocating resources to strengthen our capabilities in the face of the challenges in the region, especially Iran,” he told military reporters.
Gantz’s comments came hours after Prime Minister Naftali Bennett landed back in Israel following his first meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington. Iran was a central topic of the meeting between the two leaders.
Following the meeting, Biden pledged that the US is committed to ensuring that Iran would never develop nuclear weapons but “if diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options.”
Though Washington continues on the diplomatic path hoping to bring Tehran to sign a new deal, the Americans are fully aware of Jerusalem’s concerns of a future deal.
Though the US and Israel share intelligence – and cooperation between the two allies is increasing following Israel’s move to CENTCOM’s area of responsibility – Gantz said that if there is no deal, “we are working to define what Plan B is and start other actions as President Biden said.”
According to Gantz, a nuclear Iran would lead to a regional arms race that would be a danger to the entire world.
“If Iran reaches a nuclear threshold, I have no doubt that many countries will also try to acquire this capability and it will lead to an arms race that will endanger many countries in the world and not just the Middle East.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi also told reporters last week that Israel’s military is accelerating its operational plans against Iran due to the progress of its nuclear program.
“The progress of the Iranian nuclear program has led the IDF to accelerate its operational plans and [a good part of] the recently approved defense budget is earmarked for that,” he said.
WITH NO diplomatic options likely to push Tehran to stop its nuclear program, Israel’s military believes that the Islamic Republic needs to be aware that should it continue with the program, it will face harsher sanctions and a true military option to stop it.
The NIS 58 billion defense budget set for the IDF in the coming year is expected to allow the Israeli military to focus on the threats posed by Iran across the region, with some NIS 3.5 billion designated specifically for this.
Israel considers Iran’s nuclear program as its number one concern. Although it has consistently denied seeking to build a nuclear bomb, tensions have risen as the West seeks to resume talks on reviving the deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.
Turning to Lebanon, Gantz said that the defense establishment is preparing for conflict with Hezbollah along with other fronts simultaneously.
“The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is very disturbing, but so is Hezbollah’s intensification,” he said. “We are preparing for conflict in the northern arena as well as for a situation where we are fighting on two fronts in the North and South.”
During the May fighting between Israel and terror groups in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militant groups in Lebanon fired several rockets towards northern Israel. At the beginning of the month, Hezbollah fired a salvo of 20 rockets following an Israeli airstrike that targeted a road used by the Palestinian terrorists who had fired rockets towards Kiryat Shmona.
Though Israel has blamed the rocket fire on Palestinian groups, according to Gantz “we see Hamas trying to establish infrastructure in Lebanon as well.”
Regarding Gaza, the defense minister said that the government is sticking to its promise that “what was will not be” and that its policy is to increase the nature and intensity of Israel’s retaliation while at the same time working on civilian issues as well as the transfer of Qatari money to poor Gazan families.
Since the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, dozens of incendiary and explosive balloons have been launched towards southern Israel. In response, the Israeli army has struck Hamas targets in Gaza.
“Our attacks in Gaza are precise and hit infrastructure that hurts Hamas and deprives it of capabilities,” he said, adding that nevertheless he “cannot guarantee” that there would not be another round of fighting with Gaza.