BICOM

Last night Israel’s Security Cabinet held a lengthy briefing with intelligence chiefs on the range of threats facing Israel, including the advances in the Iranian nuclear programme. According to a report in Yediot Ahronot this morning, there was some disagreement among intelligence officials about the exact point at which Iran’s programme will reach a point of immunity from Israeli attack. Officials agreed, however, that Iran is not only vigorously pursuing nuclear weapons, but is also making sure to ‘clear up their tracks’.

According to the same report, Israel’s intelligence agencies also presented a list of sanctions that have yet to be applied by the West, including trade sanctions, and noted that European countries are among the opponents of such measures due to fears of the impact on their own economies.
Earlier this week Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the international community needs to set a clear red line on the Iranian issue in order to avoid a military campaign. There has been intense speculation in recent weeks that Israeli leaders have been considering a targeted strike on key Iranian nuclear facilities, fearing that sanctions are not working quickly enough, and that Iran will soon have made its nuclear programme invulnerable to Israeli attack.
According to report, no operational decisions were made during yesterday’s meeting.