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Israel has signalled it will press on with its bombing raids against Iran, while leaving open the possibility that the military campaign will end if US strikes are shown to have destroyed the Islamic republic’s nuclear capabilities.
Defence minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were still assessing the impact of US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, and that he had “validated” his country’s offensive to continue in coming days.
Military spokesperson Effie Defrin also said that the IDF was still operating according to its original “plan and goals” and preparing “for the extension of this campaign” if necessary. Israel, which launched its war on Iran last week, continued to strike dozens of military targets across the Islamic republic.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said he cannot say whether Iran’s nuclear programme has been eliminated.
“I can’t say it’s been eliminated. I can say it’s been hit very hard, both by the Israeli attacks and absolutely by the American attack overnight,” he told CNN on Sunday.
Some Israeli officials are privately leaning towards wrapping up the offensive in the wake of the US strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow.
A person familiar with the situation said what Israel did next would depend on how Iran responded to the US attack, but the preference was to move towards diplomacy.
“Israel will respond according to the developments,” the person said, adding that if the fighting were to end now, Israel would have achieved most of its military objectives.
A member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition said that while there were still some goals to be achieved, “what happened tonight gives us hope that if this whole thing stops abruptly, the achievements will be very significant”.
“In terms of the endgame, to some extent it depends on the Iranians. If they . . . start attacking American bases, the way I understand the Americans they will react heavily, and the situation could escalate,” the person said. “On the other hand, if the Iranians try to return to the negotiating table . . . I think [the Americans] are ready for that.”
At the start of the Israeli assault on Iran 10 days ago, officials said the primary objective was to “eliminate the threat” from Tehran’s missile and nuclear programmes. Israel also killed some two dozen of Iran’s top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Netanyahu suggested the war could ultimately lead to a change of regime in Iran, with an uprising to oust the Islamic republic, or even the assassination of its supreme leader.
But shortly after the US strikes on Saturday night, the Israeli premier issued a statement praising the “Rising Lion” military campaign in the past tense, saying: “together we achieved unprecedented achievements in Israeli history”.
“You remember, from the beginning of the operation, I promised you that Iran’s nuclear facilities would be destroyed, one way or another. That promise was kept,” Netanyahu added.
Israel’s continuation of air strikes could indicate it wants to keep military pressure on the Islamic republic, including by striking military targets and ballistic missile sites, as Tehran weighs its response to the raid on nuclear sites.
According to an Israeli military official, by Saturday the IDF assessed that “over 50 per cent” of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers had been “neutralised”. Other estimates indicated even larger damage to the missiles themselves and their indigenous production capabilities. Iran has not commented on the impact of the strikes.
Israeli officials had also said that the campaign would not end until all of Iran’s nuclear sites, but in particular the Fordow enrichment facility buried deep beneath a mountain, were destroyed.
Fordow was believed to be impervious to Israeli strike capabilities, requiring the US to deploy 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs, known as Massive Ordnance Penetrators, delivered by B-2 stealth strategic bombers.
Trump said all three sites had been “completely and totally obliterated” but no evidence of the damage has yet been made public.
While Israeli jets continued to pound Iran, Iran fired two barrages of over 20 ballistic missiles at Israel on Sunday morning. Strikes in the central cities of Tel Aviv and Ness Ziona, as well as the northern city of Haifa, injured 20 people, according to local health officials.
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