According to an exclusive report published early Saturday morning by Reuters, Israel might take military action against Iran on a limited scale in hopes of destroying the Islamic nation’s nuclear weapons capabilities.
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This comes after Israel was reportedly rebuffed by the Trump administration from planning a larger strike with American military help:
NEW YORK, April 19 (Reuters) – Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Israeli officials have vowed to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and Netanyahu has insisted that any negotiation with Iran must lead to the complete dismantling of its nuclear program.
The report continued:
Over the past months, Israel has proposed to the Trump administration a series of options to attack Iran’s facilities, including some with late spring and summer timelines, the sources said. The plans include a mix of airstrikes and commando operations that vary in severity and could set back Tehran’s ability to weaponize its nuclear program by just months or a year or more, the sources said.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Trump told Netanyahu in a White House meeting earlier this month that Washington wanted to prioritize diplomatic talks with Tehran and that he was unwilling to support a strike on the country’s nuclear facilities in the short term.
But Israeli officials now believe that their military could instead launch a limited strike on Iran that would require less U.S. support. Such an attack would be significantly smaller than those Israel initially proposed.
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If Israel does attack Iran, it would likely only be under certain conditions: (emphasis added)
Parts of the plans were previously presented last year to the Biden administration, two former senior Biden administration officials told Reuters. Almost all required significant U.S. support via direct military intervention or intelligence sharing. Israel has also requested that Washington help Israel defend itself should Iran retaliate.
Reuters reported that “[a] senior Israeli official told Reuters that no decision has been made yet on an Iranian strike.” There was not comment from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office.
In lieu of a comment, the U.S. National Security Council pointed Reuters to Pres. Trump’s remarks during a press gaggle on Thursday, in which “he told reporters he has not waved Israel off an attack but that he was not ‘in a rush’ to support military action against Tehran.”
On Friday, Israeli officials reportedly met with White House Envoy Steve Witkoff, about the U.S.’ ongoing talks with Iran, which resumed Saturday, Israeli sources told Axios:
Why it matters: Ron Dermer and David Barnea, Israel’s strategic affairs minister and the director of the Mossad intelligence agency, slipped into Paris for the low-profile meeting with Witkoff to try to influence the U.S. position ahead of the second round of talks in Rome on Saturday, the officials said.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned the U.S. will reach a deal with Iran that’s similar to the one the Obama administration signed in 2015, and President Trump himself abandoned.
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We wrote about round one of the nuke talks last Saturday
READ: Remarkable: There’s a New Update on Direct Talks Between the US and Iran
The second round of meetings with Iran
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held both direct and indirect discussions during the meeting that lasted more than four hours, according to a U.S. official.
“We agreed to meet again next week and are grateful to our Omani partners for facilitating these talks and to our Italian partners for hosting us today,” a senior U.S. administration official said.
Meanwhile, Araghchi wrote in a statement posted on X:
“We made clear how many in Iran believe that the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] is no longer good enough for us. To them, what is left from that deal are ‘lessons learned’. Personally, I tend to agree. The initiation of expert level track will begin in coming days with a view to hammer out details [of a deal].”
Oman’s foreign ministry, which is acting as the mediator in the talks, described the current level of understanding, that Araghchi and Witkoff “have agreed to enter into the next phase of their discussions that aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy.”
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Round three of the meetings is now scheduled for next Saturday in Muscat. the capital of Oman.
We’ll keep you posted.
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