CNN
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The US intelligence agency recently warned both the Biden and Trump administrations, who are likely to try to hold the key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, according to sources familiar with the assessment.
Israeli willingness to use military force has opposed President Donald Trump’s current desire for peace deals with Tehran, and the recent US intelligence agency has revealed that major attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites have been in the Middle East It warns that it could increase the risk of wider war.
Overall, Israel is also pursuing a broader goal of triggering an Iranian regime change, one of the recent US Intelligence Reports said.
The action that Israel believes will go further than challenge targets against Iranian military targets last year is that Israel has been killed in retaliation for a ballistic missile attack launched in Israel. I stated.
Taken together, the US intelligence report assessment reflects the competing interests the Trump administration faces as it navigates Middle East tensions surrounding Israel.
Trump said he wanted to attack the nuclear deal with Tehran.
Last week, the president said he prefers a “nuclear peace agreement” over “blowing Iran to the blacksmith” over joint military action with Israel.
“I want to do a nuclear-free deal with Iran, Trump said in an interview with the New York Post.
Iranian officials said earlier this month that they had not contacted the Trump administration over consultations.
CNN contacted the Israeli Embassy in Washington for comment.
White House officials declined to comment, citing “the issue of intelligence.”
The US Intelligence Report Assessment was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
At least one US intelligence report prepared by the Pentagon in the past few weeks has stated that Israel’s intentions are to destroy both Iran’s nuclear facilities and its ballistic missile capabilities, and Israel’s ultimate goal is to turn the Iranian regime into The point is to defeat it, two sources familiar with the intelligence reporting agency said. .
Complicating Israel’s military programmes is the simple fact that they do not have the ability to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme without US aid. This includes bombs that penetrate modern facilities, such as air refueling and bombs needed to penetrate deep underground facilities. According to sources, the US information report.
“If you want to do an actual attack, you can do a complete attack that takes everything out. Only the US can do that,” said Israel “continuously” considering options to hit Iran. said a former Biden administration official.
However, the US Intelligence Evaluation highlights the fact that Trump’s calculations on Iran are likely to face pressure from multiple directions, including Israel’s desire for additional military action against Iran. During his first term, Trump closed the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Tehran and ordered a US-led strike in 2020 against Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first world leader Trump has been invited to the White House for a second term, and the two are solid political allies. The Israeli Prime Minister sat next to him and Trump proposed to permanently remove Palestinians from Gaza, so he was sharply broken by traditional US policies regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Trump was The cheering proposal said Trump cheered. “A revolutionary and creative vision” that was “a much better for Israel.”
It is still unclear how Netanyahu will utilize its relationship with the president on Iran’s issues.
In the weeks leading up to the 2024 US presidential election, Israeli officials took advantage of Iran’s weakened state by raising ideas for additional strikes with Biden administration officials at least a handful of opportunities. Going further, the program, which had a discussion to target its nuclear program, a former Biden official told CNN.
Israel’s Oct 25, 2024, bombing of Iran’s missile production facilities and air defenses combined with an economy weakened by sanctions and the destruction of Israel’s regional proxies, bringing Tehran to the military most in decades I’ve been put in a weak position.
Israel did not target Iran’s nuclear facilities, particularly in October. Biden warned Israel against it, saying he wanted to return to Iran “proportionally” with Israel after the Israeli bombing on October 1, 2024.
Israel wanted to go further. Last fall, the US intelligence agency evaluated Israel as considering a unilateral attack on nuclear powers, hoping that pressure from the US public would persuade them to join the Biden administration, according to intelligence A person familiar with the reporting agency told CNN.
The Biden administration is open to the idea, and to some extent it has investigated whether Israel’s success in strikes against Iran’s target in October opened up new opportunities, a former senior official said.
However, these debates between Israeli and Biden officials stopped after Trump’s November election victory. The previous official added, as the decision was made that no preemptive military strikes would take place during the transition period.
At the time, US and Israeli officials agreed to a move by Iran’s nuclear launch programme to encourage military responses, and sources say evidence of a change in Iran’s stance before Trump took office was in the office. I couldn’t see it. I’m familiar with this issue.
Israel also already focused on engaging with Trump’s transition team, knowing it would compete with a new administration that could potentially want to attack the deal.
But Trump’s desire for deals does not appear to have eased Israel’s desire to take additional military action against Iran to capitalize on the destruction given during the recent strike at the end of October. yeah.
Recent US intelligence report assessments suggest that Israel has not decided whether to use military aircraft or long-range missiles to carry out strikes, but both options have degraded Iran. They try to utilize their air defense capabilities. .
But he explained that such a strike is not all about minimizing and ending Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump recently slammed Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkov to oversee his diplomatic involvement with Iran. Witkov is widely seen as the “deal maker” who surrounded himself in his first term, in contrast to Iranian Hawks and Trump. Even before taking office, Witkov worked with his Biden administration counterparts to seal the Gaza ceasefire.
Trump recently distanced himself from former officials like Brian Hook who pushed a more aggressive stance towards Iran. The departure is seen as another indication that the president is interested in taking a more diplomatic approach.
At the same time, Trump’s decision to strip former staff of their security details despite still facing threats from Iran to their role in killing Soleimani is a consequence of his changing stance. has been seen by some officials as.
But Trump has yet to reveal exactly what US relations with Tehran will look like after tensions rose to unprecedented levels in the fallout of the Israel-Hamas War.