Israeli Military Intelligence Backs Iran Nuclear Deal

Officials say it gives them more time to prepare to attack Iran

A lot of Israeli officials have spent years, if not decades, lining up loudly against Iran diplomacy, and even more loudly against the Iran nuclear deal. Many won’t revisit this approach, it’s just a commitment with years of momentum behind it.

This position used to be a default in Israel, but increasingly top military intelligence officials, including generals, are contradicting it, saying that there are merits to seeing a nuclear deal with Iran, even an imperfect one.

Officials have set out that case for months, that any deal is going to limit Iran’s activities and greatly increase monitoring Iran’s civilian program, things which aren’t happening in the absence of a deal.

Moreover, and this is a somewhat less viable reason to want a deal, the generals are also saying that the deal would buy Israel time to prepare to attack Iran outright, which seems to be the sort of goal that resonates across the political mainstream within Israel.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.