While talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the West continue in Vienna, behind the scenes there are much more aggressive alternative plans that may be employed to end the conflict.
The newspaper stated - in a report by its Middle East correspondent Richard Spencer - that both Israel and the United States have threatened for many years to bomb Iran in order to destroy its nuclear capabilities to the extent that no one is now paying attention to the repeated threats of Tel Aviv and Washington.
In 2007, John McCain joked during his run for president that he wanted to "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran", to the tune of a popular song by the American group "Beach Boys" repeating the phrase "ba ba ba" close to "Pump". (which means bombing in English).
And in 2015, John Bolton, the former undersecretary of state in the administration of George W. Bush for arms control, called for military action against Tehran, in an article entitled "To stop the Iranian bomb.. Bomb Iran," in which he stated that time is very short, but An air strike against Iran could still work.
After becoming a national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, he also failed to achieve his goal. Trump even mocked his aggressive tendencies, saying that Bolton wanted to "hit" every country he did not like with nuclear weapons, and asked him mockingly at one time if Ireland was also "within" His list" of countries he wants to conquer.
Two days ago, leaks reported that US and Israeli military leaders were planning joint exercises aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear facilities, but there was little response.
With the resumption of the Vienna negotiations aimed at restoring the 2015 agreement to restrict the Iranian nuclear program in exchange for the resumption of sanctions relief, it is clear that Washington - the newspaper adds - simply wants to exercise more influence on Tehran, although several things have changed this time.
First, in the past few years, Iran has been able to take steps that unequivocally lead to the building of a nuclear weapon. It has enriched uranium to a purity of 60%, which is not much less than the 90% needed for a nuclear bomb and far exceeds the level designated for non-military uses. .
Tehran also recently admitted for the first time publicly that its nuclear program contains military components.
Israeli steps
In addition, Israel, in turn, has taken active steps towards military action to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb, according to Israeli media leaks.
Last October, a carefully published report in the Israeli media said that the new government headed by Naftali Bennett had allocated about $1.4 billion to develop bombs for warplanes, drones, and bunker-busting bombs to strike Iran if necessary.
A few days earlier, the US Air Force announced a successful test of the GBU 72 laser-guided bunker-busting bomb. This type of guided bomb is of paramount importance in the Iranian case, as it is designed to penetrate solid barriers of the type that Iran has built it around its nuclear sites, many of which are deep in the mountains.
But the important question for the Americans - concludes the newspaper - remains whether involvement in another war in the Middle East is actually possible for them militarily and politically.
There is also widespread skepticism within Israel about the readiness of Tel Aviv to take unilateral military action against Iran, despite all the threats from former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the angry expressions of his successor Bennett and his Defense Minister Benny Gantz.