Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz suggested his country could launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear program, calling it “a global problem” at a conference on Tuesday. He also criticized the 2015 nuclear deal – abandoned by the US in 2018 – and the possibility of its revival, though the negotiations to that effect don’t seem to be going anywhere.
“Iran is a global problem. It is not just Israel’s private problem,” Gantz said in Jerusalem, during a conference hosted by Israel’s Channel 13.
“We are able to seriously harm and delay the nuclear [program],” he added, when asked if Israel was capable of delaying Iran’s progress towards creating an atomic weapon, or stopping it outright.
The former head of the Israeli military, who was brought back into the caretaker government in June, insisted that the nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 was a “bad agreement” that would only temporarily delay Tehran’s atomic ambitions. Lifting the sanctions would enable Iran to develop its economy and eventually legitimize a return to the nuclear program at a later date, Gantz argued.
The defense minister was also skeptical about whether US President Joe Biden could revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which his predecessor Donald Trump unilaterally exited in 2018.
“I don’t see any big indications of that at the moment,” he said, conceding that it remained a possibility.