 "The Natanz Uranium Enrichment facility in Iran. Source: File Photo / AP")
In his first meeting with the Israeli military’s brass, new Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Iran is “more exposed than ever to strikes on its nuclear facilities” at the moment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Katz as the defence minister last week after firing Yoav Gallant. While Gallant was a check on Netanyahu, Katz is seen as a yes-man.
“We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal – to thwart and eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel,” Katz further said on X regarding the meeting.
Israel has long considered Iranian nuclear weapons as an existential threat. Iran and Israel are archenemies and Iran is formally committed to the destruction of Israel , which it considers its biggest enemy along with the United States.
Following the Israeli attacks on Iran last month, the nuclear facilities are more vulnerable than ever as Israel took down most of Iran’s air defence, including all of the S-300 air defence batteries supplied by Russia. A top Biden administration official said that Iran was “essentially naked” after Israeli attacks.
The statement indicating at the possibility of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear sites has come as Donald Trump has won the US presidential election. In his first term, Trump was a hawk on Iran, scrapping the nuclear deal and assassinating top general Qassem Soleimani.
However, it is not known what stance Trump would take in his second term as he has declared he would not pursue wars and would not staff the administration with hawks or interventionist foreign policy hands.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden had urged Israel to not strike Iran’s nuclear or oil facilities in the two rounds of attacks this year in retaliation for Iranian barrages. It is now clear if Trump would impose similar conditions.
Following Trump’s scrapping of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Iran is now closer than ever to building a nuclear weapon. Top US officials have said that Iran is in a position to develop a nuclear weapon within weeks or months after getting the go-ahead from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.