As tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to boil up, Israel is sounding the alarm about the dangerous ambitions of the Iranian regime. The Israeli news site Haaretz reports that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) now believe Iran will have enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb by the end of this year. The IDF estimates Iran would still need two more years to build a missile capable of carrying a nuke. Iran has bragged about ramping up its uranium enrichment since the U.S. withdrew from the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and re-imposed strong sanctions on Iran. President Donald Trump recently upped those sanctions after Iran fired missiles at U.S. service members in Iraq.
Fred Burton, national security expert and chief security officer at Stratfor, believes Israel's intelligence is likely accurate. "The Israelis are very good on human intelligence, so there's no doubt in my mind that they have contingency plans in place, predicated on their intelligence as to what exactly is the status inside of Iran," he tells KTRH.
Of course, any action taken by Israel toward Iran will also directly affect the U.S. "Whatever Israel tries to do, obviously since the United States has been their staunchest ally, we're going to be dragged into this mess in some form," says Burton. "It's going to be interesting, especially in the wake of the (U.S.) killing of (Iranian General Qassem) Soleimani, to see what next steps the U.S. and Israel take."
Ultimately, Burton believes Israel will be the one to ensure that Iran does not get a nuclear weapon, because of the immediate threat such a weapon would pose to Israel's existence. "This problem is one that the Israeli intelligence service has been looking at for a number of years," he says. "But at the end of the day, they're going to do what they need to do to protect the state of Israel, and I have no doubt that they will."