Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has warned that his country will “stand independently” against Iran if necessary, while President Joe Biden pursues his plan to revive the Joint Global Action Plan (JCPOA), despite opposition American conservatives and Middle Eastern allies.
Gantz – who is currently Defense Minister as part of a power-sharing deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – told Fox News Radio on Thursday that Israel is constantly plotting plans to attack Iran and deny Iran’s nuclear weapons. Tehran, with or without American support.
Gantz’s warning comes after weeks of mounting tensions in the Middle East, with attacks on American and Iraqi troops by Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups, American and Israeli air strikes in Syria, an attack on Israeli ships in the Gulf of Oman and intensified operations against Saudi Arabia by Iran-supported Houthis in Yemen.
The Biden government appears to be trying to keep the low-intensity regional conflict separate from the JCPOA negotiations, but Gantz told Fox News Radio that Israel was not. “We must not put aside all regional aggression,” said Gantz, noting incidents in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Iranian influence on Islamic militia forces in the Gaza Strip and besieged Lebanon.
“We are on high alert all the time,” said Gantz. “The problem with Iran must be resolved.” Asked whether the country had ready-to-use attack plans, the defense minister said his forces were constantly reviewing the situation.
“We are working on it,” said Gantz. We have them in our hands, of course, but we will continue and constantly improve them to the highest professional level possible. “
Gantz was to assume the post of Israeli prime minister in November 2021 under the power-sharing agreement. But Gantz’s Blue and White coalition is on track to record a bad result in the country’s next election – the fourth in two years – that would put an end to its leadership hopes.
Despite political chaos, Israeli leaders are largely united in Iran. Netanyahu and Gantz are staunch critics of the JCPOA, arguing that Iran cannot be trusted to enforce any agreement and that the Obama-era agreement was too lenient.
Netanyahu was a key proponent of ex-President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the deal in 2018, and he and other Israeli leaders have been pressing Biden to withdraw from the deal.
Netanyahu said last month that Israel will disrupt Iran’s nuclear program “with or without” the revived Biden deal, while Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff Aviv Kohavi said in January that his forces were drawing up plans attack on the country.
Israel is unlikely to get on board with any American re-entry into the JCPOA, which the country sees as inherently flawed and a threat to its strategic position. Observers have suggested that Israel could take unilateral action against Iran even without American permission, for example, military attacks or cyber attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel had previously attacked nuclear facilities in Syria, Iraq and Iran, while Israeli operatives would also have killed several Iranian nuclear scientists in the past decade, including researcher Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November.
“American policy must be American policy and Israeli policy must remain Israeli policy,” said Gantz. “The only thing I would like to suggest to my American colleagues is that they don’t practice what I usually call ‘strategic blinking,'” he added. “The threat from the Iranians is real.”
“Israel will never allow Iran to become capable of producing nuclear weapons or anywhere near that,” Gantz told Fox News radio. “If the world stops them earlier, it is very good. But if not, we must remain independent. And we must defend ourselves.”
The Biden government and Tehran are stuck in an impasse over who will take the first step to revive the JCPOA. Iran wants Biden to lift all Trump-era sanctions imposed after the U.S. pulled out of the deal in 2018, before reducing its nuclear activity in line with the JCPOA. But the White House wants Iranian nuclear compliance before any sanctions are eased.
The US proposed new negotiations with JCPOA signatories, but Iran rejected the offer demanding relief from sanctions before any negotiations.
State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Thursday that Iran “should not wait for anything, because we state very clearly that we are prepared for constructive dialogue. That is the offer that is on the table. “
“If Iran resumes its full compliance with the JCPOA, the United States will be prepared to do the same,” said Price.
JACK GUEZ / AFP via Getty Images