Israel is considering a substantial strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities now that President Trump is in office and Joe Biden is out, according to a report citing US intelligence agencies.
A strike could come sometime this year, with Israeli leaders feeling Trump is far more likely to back an attack on Iran than Biden ever was, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The intelligence came from an assessment compiled by the Biden administration in the final days of its existence.
The report explained that the balance of military risks had shifted in the Middle East after Iran’s defenses had weakened following a year of war and proxy wars in the region — leaving it vulnerable.
Israel has been talking for months about the need to hit Iran’s nuclear sites — but Biden categorically ruled the option out while he was in office.
Such attacks would likely require American munitions to be viable, and now that Trump is in office Israeli leaders belive they are far more likely to get that support, the report concluded.
A follow-up report conducted in the early days of Trump’s presidency reiterated that Israel’s plans to conduct strikes stood, sources familiar with it told the Journal.
The Trump administration entertained a joint bombing operation with Israel against Iran’s nuclear sites during the presidential transition, but Trump has largely opted to pursue diplomacy for now — and has been outspoken about playing down rhetoric towards Tehran.
“Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED,” Trump wrote last week on his social media platform, Truth Social.
In addition to feeling they’ll have Trump in their corner, the Jewish nation reportedly also believes the window of opportunity to hit Iran is closing.
Israel has been increasingly keen to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities, which the country’s minister of defense, Israel Katz, called “the threat of annihilation hanging over the State of Israel.”
“Iran, today, is more exposed than ever to damage to its nuclear facilities,” Katz said in November.
After Iran launched a missile strike on Israel in October, retaliatory strikes left its missile defense system all but destroyed.
Iran has also spent more than a year since Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel supporting the terror group and others in the region in their wars against the Jewish nation, which has left its resources and ability to defend itself depleted.
While Iran does not have viable nuclear weapons and has said it is not pursuing them, the country has large stocks of the materials required to produce them and is believed to be closer than ever to reversing course and trying to make the devastating bombs.
Israeli officials have previously said attacking Iran’s nuclear sites would be “extremely difficult,” pointing out that many of the facilities are buried in fortified underground bases.
