(REUTERS) Israel is revising military options for a possible clash with Iran, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government braces for differences with the incoming US administration on Iranian nuclear policy.
US President Donald Trump sided with Netanyahu by quitting the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposing sanctions on it that had been lifted in return for limits on activities that could, potentially, produce nuclear weapons in the future.
Tehran responded by breaching many of those restrictions.
President-elect Joe Biden wants to rejoin the deal if Tehran – which denies developing the bomb – returns to strict compliance.
Israel, alarmed by Iranian rhetoric that it is a state that should not exist, is wary of the softer line, even though threats of US military action from Trump did not curtail Iran’s nuclear moves.
During the previous Democratic administration of Barack Obama, which championed diplomacy with Iran, Israel occasionally threatened preventive airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
Some US officials at the time doubted that Israel – whose advanced military includes a reputed nuclear arsenal – could effectively hit Iranian targets that are distant, dispersed, and well-defended.
Israeli officials have voiced hope that Biden will maintain Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran, involving tough sanctions until the Iranian nuclear program is dismantled.
But one of them, Finance Minister Israel Katz, acknowledged on Army Radio: “There are disputes (with Biden) regarding the perspective on Iran, and of course that will prove challenging.”
Katz sounded encouraged by Biden’s intent to include Iran’s ballistic missile program in any renegotiation of the nuclear deal. Biden’s pick for US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, signaled openness, during a Jan 3 CNN interview, to consulting “regional players” – a possible allusion to Israel.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Ynet TV the Netanyahu government was not yet in formal dialog with the incoming administration. But asked if Israel was trying through informal channels to sway Biden on Iran, Cohen said: “Yes. There are efforts.”
