Iran has not decided to go for a nuke
But we are ready to stop them if they make that decision
IDF Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Aharon Haliva said on Monday that Iran has not yet decided to break out to a nuclear weapon, on either the uranium enrichment or weapons group fronts.
At the same time, Haliva said that the Islamic Republic is advancing on both fronts. The IDF is prepared to prevent Tehran from obtaining a functional nuclear weapon and remains “ready at all times if [Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei or his successor make that decision.”
The IDF intelligence chief reaffirmed that, “Iran is the greatest threat to Israel, their conflict not just restricted to the nuclear issue or the precision missiles issue, or the proxies issue, or Hezbollah.”
Rather, in agreement with Defense minister Yoav Gallant, he said the Islamic Republic is trying to go after Jerusalem in a comprehensive way on multiple fronts simultaneously.
The Palestinians have their own reasons for fighting Israel, but Iranian funds and weapons encourage the Palestinians to fight and make fighting more effective.
Interestingly, Haliva said that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah now views his group’s roadside bomb attack on March 13 near Megiddo as a mistake because he realizes that it could have led to a much wider conflict.
He added that despite Iran’s normalization with the Saudis and other Arab states and Syria’s return to the Arab League, “there are still new opportunities” for Israel to forge more normalization deals to be strong against Iran.
Moreover, he said that Iran’s mistake in helping Russia against Ukraine turned the West against it far more than the Iranian nuclear issue ever has.
Finally, Haliva noted that military intelligence cooperation with the Mossad and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is closer than ever.
He made the remarks at the Herzliya Conference at Reichman University.