Israeli air force has no way of stopping Iran’s nuclear programme, former PM says
▶ Ehud Olmert tells Thomas Harding that Israel lacks the military capability to penetrate Iranian bunkers
Israel’s air force cannot halt Iran’s nuclear programme with a military campaign because it lacks bombs and aircraft with sufficient range, the country’s former prime minister has told The National.
For many years, Israel has threatened to destroy the Tehran regime’s nuclear sites if they reached weapons-grade.
Iran is understood to have enriched its uranium to 60 per cent, close to the 90 per cent that is required.
But Ehud Olmert, 78, who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, told The National that this was not an option as the Israeli air force could not penetrate the 60-metre mountain bunkers protecting the nuclear plants. “Israel has no means to be able to destroy the nuclear programme of Iran,” he said.
“We can destroy their headquarters, important projects, railways, roads and airports.
“Israel can do a lot to damage Iran’s infrastructure but Israel has no means to be able to destroy the nuclear programme of Iran.”
Israel’s F-35A stealth aircraft, which have a maximum range of 2,200km, are unable to fly to Tehran and return because Israel does not have sufficient in-flight refuelling tankers.
“Nuclear facilities are 50 or 60 metres underground, which makes it almost immune to any military attack from the above,” Mr Olmert said.
“F-35s don’t have the range to fly to Iran and back as we don’t have enough tankers.”
While Iran’s immediate border is 1,200km away, military sites such as Bandar Abbas airbase are more than 2,000km away.
The Israeli Air Force does have seven Boeing 707 tankers but the issue, according to defence analysts, is scale.
There are also said to be fuel drop-tank shortages for its large fleet of F-15 and F-16 fighter-bombers, which suggest they would “struggle to hit Iran for a prolonged war”, a defence source said.
In response to Mr Olmert’s claim, Lt Col Peter Lerner, a spokesman for Israel’s military, said: “We have full confidence in our capabilities to deal with all of the threats in the region.”
Mr Olmert called on his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu, to stop the Gaza campaign and make a deal with Hamas to ensure the return of the 102 remaining Israeli hostages.
He also suggested the government could be faced with a “major setback” if it did not progress with the peace process, as tension between Israelis and Palestinians increases. Having “destroyed a very major part of Hamas’s military capacity”, Mr Olmert called for a ceasefire in return for Israeli hostages.
Mr Netanyahu rejected this proposal as right-wing members of his coalition would be outraged at any deal with the Hamas militant group.
“It is probably going to break up his government in 24 seconds, not 24 hours,” Mr Olmert said. He accused the Prime Minister, who faces corruption charges, of being ready “to pay in national interest, including lives of hostages if not lives of soldiers, for his … survivability”.
“He needs to be removed – there is no way that he can stay in power,” said Mr Olmert, who served a short jail term for corruption. “I would have never ever flirted with Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, this is the basic fundamental error of policy of the highest historical proportions.”
He said if he had dealt with the authority, “there is only one item on the agenda and this is peace”.
The only way for Israel to prevent the deteriorating security situation is to negotiate with the Palestinians for a two-state solution, Mr Olmert said.
“There is an opportunity for major progress and there is a risk for a major setback,” he said. “The question is whether we will be wise enough to understand that.”
But he warned there was a “very sophisticated manipulation” by right-wing forces against the peace process who were opposed to any concessions “at any cost”.