IDF Chief: US Will Strike Iran Within Weeks
Israeli military chief estimates U.S. will strike Iran within two months as regional tensions rise during Islamic Revolution commemorations. Jerusalem fears potential nuclear deal could ignore missile threat.
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told senior officials in recent days that he expects the U.S. to launch military strikes against Iran within the next two to eight weeks, according to a report Sunday on Israeli military radio.
The assessment comes as the region enters what Israeli security officials describe as a period of heightened tension. Iran on Saturday began observing the "Ten Days of Fajr," an annual commemoration of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that runs through Feb. 11. Mid-February will mark 40 days since the deaths of thousands of antigovernment protesters in Iran in early January, a traditional mourning period that Israeli officials expect could fuel further unrest.
Israeli intelligence assessments point to divisions within Iran's leadership over how to respond to mounting U.S. pressure. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected compromises in negotiations with Washington and maintains a hard line, according to Israeli officials. Other senior Iranian officials, however, favor a more conciliatory approach.
The divergence reflects broader anxieties in Jerusalem about the direction of Trump administration diplomacy with Tehran. Israeli officials worry that any deal could focus narrowly on nuclear enrichment while leaving Iran's ballistic-missile program untouched.
"Trump will be able to say he reached a better deal than Obama, but it will still be a bad deal for us and the whole region," one Israeli security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said such an agreement would allow Iran to "continue to produce missiles in crazy quantities and continue to operate their proxies."
Despite Israeli strikes during the recent conflict, Iran hasn't yet rebuilt its ballistic-missile arsenal to prewar levels, Israeli officials said, though Tehran is approaching that threshold.