Occupied Jerusalem -

In May 2018, when US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement with Iran, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared “victory” when he presented at a press conference the Mossad’s theft of Iran’s nuclear archive.

But the Israeli celebration of the alleged victory by Netanyahu now seemed lost and illusory, following the statements of former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, during the work of the national security conference for the newspaper, "Haaretz", which was launched to coincide with the seventh round of the Vienna negotiations.

"It is known that Iran has significantly increased its uranium enrichment rate since Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, and this must be stopped, and the destruction of nuclear facilities must be part of returning to the nuclear deal," Cohen said.

The former Mossad chief questioned the possibility that the Vienna negotiations would lead to a "good agreement" for Israel, stressing that "only the agreement that would include dismantling the nuclear facilities in Natanz and Bordeaux would be considered by Tel Aviv as a good agreement."

Cohen stressed that Israel, from his point of view, should maintain an independent military capacity in order to thwart the Iranian nuclear program, saying, "I do not think that that is impossible. If Israel wants to get rid of the Iranian nuclear program, it can do that, and we will have to do that."

Israel says dismantling Iran's nuclear facilities is the only deal it can accept (Getty Images)

Fall into a deep sleep

Meanwhile, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Israeli leadership has known since 2019 that Iran is rapidly progressing towards producing a nuclear bomb, "but it has done nothing to prevent it."

The newspaper’s military and security affairs editor, Yossi Yehoshua, wrote that the Intelligence Division, the Chief of Staff, Defense Minister and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the security ministerial staff were all aware of Iran’s accelerating efforts to reach a nuclear weapon in 2019, but they did nothing.

Yehoshua saw that a series of alarming errors in the Israeli decision-making circle, at the time, required examination and investigation.

He wondered whether "the Israeli leadership fell into a deep slumber and did not rise to the impact of these dangerous developments."

While the Chief of the Military Staff Aviv Kohavi in ​​recent weeks ordered the army to prepare for a military attack against Iran, Yehoshua says, "Why was this option not available before when they learned that Iran has accelerated its nuclear project, and is rapidly advancing towards a nuclear bomb?" What he described as "negligence" on the part of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, at the time.


The bad and the worse

In the campaign of blame and review as well, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who strongly opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran, says that "the nuclear agreement at the time was bad, but Trump's decision to withdraw from it was worse."

According to Ya'alon, Trump's move, which Netanyahu celebrated, with regard to the Iranian nuclear issue, was the mistake of the contract;

From the moment he withdrew from the agreement, alternative options were needed, such as Israel preparing for a military operation against Iran, "which has to choose between acquiring a nuclear bomb or the regime's survival."

Former Israeli army chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot, joined the voices criticizing Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, saying that the United States' withdrawal from the nuclear agreement was a negative decision on Israel, "it freed Iran from censorship and the terms of the agreement, and pushed its nuclear project." to a more advanced stage.

Eisenkot made it clear at a political-security conference at Israel's Reichmann University that Trump's policy of pressure on Iran did not lead to the collapse of the regime, and will not push Tehran to abandon the nuclear project. Rather, Trump's withdrawal has strengthened the Iranian nuclear threat and Tehran's missile capacity.

Israeli officials blame Netanyahu for celebrating the Trump administration's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, which allowed it to develop its project (Al Jazeera)

The responsibility lies with Netanyahu

The former Israeli security minister, Ehud Barak, seemed more severe when he criticized Netanyahu, and deliberately clashed with the administration of former US President Barack Obama, in 2015, when the nuclear agreement was signed, and blamed him for the repercussions and repercussions of Trump's withdrawal from the agreement.

Under the title "On the steps that Israel must take against Iran," Barak wrote an article in the newspaper "Yediot Aharonot" accusing Netanyahu of urging Trump to withdraw from the agreement in 2018, saying that "the unilateral withdrawal is an obsessive step, as it allowed and empowered Iran." progress towards a nuclear threshold state.

The seriousness of the failure that occurred, according to Barak, becomes clear "when we realize that preparing for a military option against the Iranian nuclear program requires a few years and huge American assistance."

However, the result, according to Barak, "is the predicament that Israel is in now. Within a few months, Iran could become a nuclear state and it cannot be stopped and prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons at any time of its choosing."

It is believed that Iran is seeking, through its possession of nuclear weapons, to maintain the regime's survival and freedom of action in the Gulf, enhance its regional and global position, immunize itself from any interference or attack targeting it, and achieve a strategic balance against Israel in the Middle East.

But Barak also ruled out the possibility that America would change its priorities represented in the conflict with China and reduce its military presence in the Middle East, or that Tel Aviv would now succeed in persuading Washington to launch an attack against the Iranian nuclear, saying, “It is not at all clear if America or Israel currently has a plan.” capable of carrying out this objective.

Despite this, Barak believes that Tel Aviv urgently needs close coordination with America to confront Iran, pointing out that "a nuclear Iran" is a change that greatly harms Israel's strategic situation.


Find alternatives

For his part, Ofer Shelah, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Research at Tel Aviv University, believes that the external pressure on Tehran, which culminated in the Trump administration's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement and the imposition of a sanctions regime that severely damaged the Iranian economy, did not defeat the Iranians nor force them to abandon the deal. their project.

Shelah also believes that the operations attributed to Israel, which included Iranian nuclear facilities, "were not useful." Today, Israel is in a position that is not relevant to the negotiations to return to the nuclear agreement, and where the US administration does not hide that Israel, in its view, is almost a source of inconvenience, and its ability The effect is almost non-existent.

The researcher asked: What can Israel do at this stage?

It is believed to be "a demand to stop arrogance and military threats that no one takes seriously", as well as forming a broad regional front, with countries concerned about the possibility of a "nuclear Iran".

In the absence of an alternative vision, Shelah believes that Israel is required to continue the clandestine campaign, with the help of friendly countries to consider broadening the discussion against Tehran, creating challenges for Iran on other fronts, threatening its interests, and quietly working on military options as a last resort to thwart the nuclear threat.