Israel’s remarkable run of military successes since October 7 have left the Islamist regime in Tehran in a dire position. Its closest ally, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, has been overthrown. Hamas and Hezbollah military forces have been reduced to a shadow of their former selves, and the Houthi regime in Yemen is on life support following a devastating series of strikes by U.S. forces.
And Israel – which has spent decades seeking to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb – may now be in a position to cripple the Islamic Republic’s efforts to accomplish this. IAF raids have effectively destroyed Iranian air defenses, leaving its nuclear facilities nearly defenseless against air attack.
There are reports this week that President Trump effectively nixed for now a joint US-Israel military operation against Iran. Trump said that while Iran cannot be permitted to get a nuclear bomb, his first choice would be to peacefully negotiate an end to Iran’s program.
But time is not on the side of those seeking to accomplish this, Israeli security analyst Or Yissachar told a Jewish Policy Center webinar on Thursday. Yissachar, who serves as the vice president of research with the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), warned that although Iran ”is at its weakest point” in history, this fact could conceivably cause it to step up its efforts to detonate a nuclear bomb,
Iran’s nuclear enrichment work “is now putting a gun on the table, threatening to rapidly break out to nuclear weapons at any given time,” Yissachar says, adding that “time is not on our side” when it comes to preventing Iran from detonating a nuclear bomb. “We can’t take a chance,” he said.
Yissachar was scathing in his criticism of Israeli security policies towards Hamas-ruled Gaza prior to October 7.
“Inaction has a price,” he said. “You cannot have terrorist armies on your borders” and think that by giving Palestinians construction jobs in Israel, you will prevent them from attacking you.
Yissachar said that when he visits Israeli border communities today, residents “are terrified” that if the current war ends in a less-than-decisive manner, “we are setting the stage for the next massacre.”
