ARIE EGOZI
TEL AVIV: The election of Iran’s new hardline president, coupled with Washington’s eagerness to sign a new nuclear deal, have led Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi to order some units to accelerate preparations for an armed conflict with Iran, sources in the Defense Minister’s office say.
One of the factors that appears to be behind these moves is that after President Ibrahim Raisi takes office on Aug. 3 he will form a new national security board expected to fully obey his orders, Uzi Rabi, a senior expert here on Iran, told BD.
Raisi held his first official press conference since his election during which he stressed that Iran’s foreign relations would not depend on decisions made under the nuclear deal.
Last week the only nuclear power plant in Iran was shut down. Iranian authorities said technical problems forced the operations to be halted in Bushher. The power plant supplies electricity to some of Iran’s critical sites.
Ron Ben Yishay, one of Israel’s senior defense analysts, wrote in the YNET website that the chances that the US and the powers will reach a reasonable compromise with Raisi on Iran’s military nuclear program are slim, as is the case with the ballistic missiles Iran is developing and its regional subversion. Raisi is known as a supporter of the nuclear and missile program.
In a last minute attempt to persuade Washington not to go back to the nuclear agreement with Iran, Israel’s chief of General staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi met today with Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the beginning of his four-day visit to Washington.
The DC trip is Kochavi’s first, and is aimed mainly to present the Americans with intelligence Israeli sources say proves that Iran is cheating on the nuclear agreement. The other topic likely to be discussed is the potential threat posed by Hezbollah in Lebanon, one of the Iranian proxies in the region.
The readout of the meeting offered some hint of the topic, but was predictably bland: “The two leaders discussed several issues of mutual concern including the current security environment throughout the Middle East. Gen. Milley reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to its relationship with Israel.”
During the planned four-day visit, Kochavi will meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the head of US Central Command, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, and the head of US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Gen. Richard Clark.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense met to discuss the implications of Raisi’s election and concluded he may accelerate the trend of Iranian positions on the borders of Syria and Lebanon.
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