Key points
- Israel plans strikes this year: WSJ
- Fordow, Natanz nuclear sites possible targets
- Netanyahu wants Washington’s nod first
ISLAMABAD: Israel may be planning major strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in the first six months of 2025, a report by the Wall Street Journal revealed citing US intelligence sources.
For this purpose, Israel is reportedly seeking potential US backing under the Trump administration.
The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported Wednesday that an American intelligence assessment determined that Israel may be considering strikes on Iran’s two nuclear facilities this year.
The Washington Post was more specific, claiming Israel plans to attempt a strike on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025.
US intelligence assessment
The stories are reportedly based on a report produced by the intelligence directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defence Intelligence Agency, published in January.
The assessment, conducted during the final days of the Biden administration, claims that Israel has been considering large-scale strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, to exploit Iran’s perceived weaknesses.
The WSJ also reported that Israel is expected to urge the current administration to back the idea, as US President Donald Trump is seen as someone who could potentially join the strikes.
“Maximum pressure”
According to the Jerusalem Post, Trump signed last week a national-security memorandum regarding his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. While he did not exclude the possibility of Israeli strikes on Iran, he showed a preference for a diplomatic method first.
“Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” he wrote last week on Truth Social.
US military sources told the WSJ that American support, including in the form of weapons, would prove essential for Israel to successfully carry out such attacks.
Possible strikes’ blueprint
The Washington Post lays out two possible attacks: one, a distance attack, known as a standoff strike, which involves the launching of air-launched ballistic missiles, or ALBMs, outside of Iranian airspace; the second, arguably riskier option, involves Israeli air craft entering Iranian airspace, flying near the nuclear sites and dropping BLU-109s, a type of bunker buster.
Notably, the sale of guidance kits for BLU-109s to Israel was approved by the Trump administration last week, the Jerusalem Post said.
Additionally, it was reported that Israel is concerned about the time frame as the opportunity to stop Iran’s nuclear capabilities shrinks.
However, the Washington Post added that the intelligence assessment found that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities would – in the best-case scenario – only set Tehran back by months, or maybe even weeks. It also suggested that such strikes would propel Iran to pursue weapons-grade enrichment of uranium.
Khamenei’s decree
In 2005, during an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) convention, an official statement was made regarding a fatwa Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signed which stated Islam banned nuclear weapons, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Earlier this week, in an extraordinary intervention by leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was told that Iran must have nuclear weapons to face down “existential threats” from the West, according to the Telegraph.
