Defense minister hints assassinations may resume, says Israel considering air strikes against nuclear facilities
As the world moves closer to ratifying a nuclear deal that Jerusalem says won’t keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear arsenal, Ya’alon told German newspaper Der Spiegel that Israel would do anything necessary in order to assure Tehran does not get atomic weapons, including taking military action.
“Ultimately it is very clear, one way or another, Iran’s military nuclear program must be stopped,” Ya’alon said, according to a retranslation from an interview published in the German daily. “We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. We prefer that this be done by means of sanctions, but in the end, Israel should be able to defend itself,” the defense minister said.
He added that he was “not responsible for the lives of Iranian scientists,” according to Der Spiegel, which will publish the full interview on Saturday.
Ya’alon further stated that Israel was considering carrying out airstrikes on Iranian military facilities, the German paper reported.
Iranian technicians working at a facility producing uranium fuel for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor, outside Isfahan, in 2009. (AP/Vahid Salemi)
Five Iranian nuclear scientists were killed in the last decade, most of them by bombs placed on their cars, according to foreign media reports.
Israel was blamed by Iran to be behind the assassinations, but never admitted any involvement.
No Israeli was ever caught, though a number of Iranian were hanged after being accused of collaborating with Jerusalem.
The last assassination occurred in late 2013 and have since halted, reportedly as a result of American pressure as negotiations between world powers and Tehran over the nuclear program ramped up, according to CBS news. MORE