Iran He alleged that his attack was retaliation for the assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh; of the elimination of the head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah; and a prominent Iranian general identified as Abbas Nilforushan both in Lebanon.
The American newspaper “The Washington Post” analyzed images and videos of the attack on Tuesday and confirmed over the weekend that At least 25 Iranian missiles hit three Israeli military facilities.
According to that medium, 20 missiles hit the air base of Nevatimin the south of the desert Néguev; and three others hit the base of Tel Noflocated in the central part of the occupied territories.
In addition, at least two missiles fell near the headquarters of the Mossad in Tel Aviv.
On Sunday, Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallantassured that Iran failed to touch “the capabilities of the Israeli air force” in Tuesday’s attack.
“No aircraft were damaged, no squadron was taken out of service. “Whoever thinks that a simple attempt to harm us will deter us from acting should take a look at (our achievements) in Gaza and Beirut.”Gallant highlighted in a visit to the air base of Nevatim.
“We are powerful in both defense and attack, and this will be reflected in the way we choose, at the time and place we choose. You know what to do, we know what to do and at the end of this we will make sure we win this warGallant told fighter jet pilots during his visit.
On Saturday, The Times of Israel reported that The response to the Iranian missile attack will be “serious and significant” and that the Israel Defense Forces (FDI) were spending a lot of their time planning it.
The preparation of Israel is known while The United States seeks to dissuade the country from attacking Iran’s nuclear or oil infrastructure as part of the answer.
A senior US State Department official told CNN that it is “very difficult to know” whether Israel will take advantage of the anniversary of the Hamas attacks of October 7 to launch retaliation.
“We hope to see some wisdom and strength, but as you know, there are no guarantees.”the official said when CNN asked him if Israel has assured the United States that Iran nuclear sites They will be out of their field of action.
In the middle of last week, President Joe Biden declared that the United States would not support Israel attacking the Iranian nuclear program. He also advised against targeting the oil industry.
For its part, Iran said Sunday that it has already prepared its response plan in case Israel attacks their territory.
“If Israel acts, there is no doubt that the Iranian counterattack will take place,” indicated the Tasnim news agency, citing a military source.
While the head of Iranian diplomacy, Abbas Araqchi, warned on Saturday that “For every action, there will be a proportional and similar reaction of Iran, and even stronger.”
According to the Israeli portal Ynet.com, The United States is concerned that an Israeli attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure will harm its economy at this electoral juncture, due to the possible increase in world oil prices. He also estimates that it would trigger a regional war.
Besides, Washington believes that an attack on nuclear facilities could lead to an all-out war in the Middle East.
Ynet stressed that it is not easy to attack nuclear facilities in Iran completely enough to neutralize them for years. “It is most likely that Israel “I need US help if I want to achieve it,” he noted.
Opinion…
Israel, the possible retaliation and a precedent
By Andrés Gómez de la Torre
Specialist in defense and intelligence issues
The projected eventual strategy of Israel to attack nuclear power plants Iran is not new from the point of view of Israeli defense policies. What would be done now would be to replicate what was done in June 1981 against Iraq in the Operation Operawhen in a preemptive strike the Israeli Air Force bombed and destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor Osirak located very close to the capital, Baghdad.
Regarding a possible attack on the nuclear power plants of IranTo begin with, this has a strategic difficulty. Planes or missiles would have to fly over airspace Jordanwhich has certainly fought in favor of Israel; about Saudi Arabia or about Iraq. So, this matter raises certain questions related to the willingness of those countries for Israeli action.
Additionally, it should be noted that the United States is opposing Israel carrying out attacks on Iran’s nuclear power plants.
Is this an escalation? The concept of proportionality in this scenario is under review and has become quite relative. I think that in the Israel – Iran case, this concept of proportionality, these mini-escalations or controlled escalations, have already entered a new phase of strategic concepts applied to war conflicts.
Iran’s main nuclear sites
- Natanz. Located 300 kilometers south of Tehran, in the province of Isfahanis the nuclear power plant most important in Iran. It houses the country’s main uranium enrichment center.
“Natanz is considered the heart of the Iranian nuclear program”explained the German channel DW. He added that the infrastructure has been subject to sabotage and cyberattacks attributed to Israel.
The plant has about 100,000 square meters and It is built eight meters underground.
In 2002, Iranian opponents living abroad revealed its existence. In February 2003, Iran He acknowledged that the news was true.
Natanz It is designed to house 50,000 centrifuges. The UN estimated that by February of this year there were 6,400 centrifuges in operationare new and technologically advanced, allowing uranium to be enriched more quickly.
Enriched to between 3 and 5%, the uranium It is used to power nuclear power plants for the production of electricity. Up to 20% is used to produce medical isotopes, used especially in the diagnosis of some cancers. To make a bomb, the enrichment must be brought up to 90%.
In August of this year, a confidential report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) pointed out that Iran has 164.7 kilos of uranium enriched to 60%, a level close to that necessary to manufacture an atomic weapon, although reaching that goal is a complex task, according to experts.
- Isfahan. According to DW, the Isfahan nuclear technology center, located in the city of the same name, is a facility for the production of uranium that prepares that radioactive material so that it can be enriched. In the plant, uranium dioxide, also known as “yellow cake”, is converted into uranium tetrafluoride (UF4 and uranium hexafluoride (UF6). This chemical compound is used in centrifuges to get rich uranium.
In Isfahan About 3,000 scientists work there. It has a small research reactor, but the Iranian regime recognizes plans to build a larger reactor and uranium enrichment facilities.
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- Bushehr. This nuclear power plant has a 1,000 MW reactor. It was built by Russia and was officially delivered in September 2013, after years of delay. It is used for the production of electricity and is not used for military purposes.
- Tehran. DW reported that the Tehran Research Reactor (RIT) It is used for research related to the production of radioisotopes for medicine, important in the diagnosis of nuclear medicine and in treatments against cancer. cancer.
However, the RIT could also be used for military purposes if it were used uranium highly enriched.
- Ford. It is located 160 kilometers south of Tehran, near the city of Qom. The plant is inside a mountain to protect it from air attacks. On the spot highly enriched uranium is produced.
Iran informed the IAEA of the construction of Fordo on September 21, 2009. He presented it as an “emergency plant” for civil use, but in 2012 it began to enrich uranium.
According to the international agreement signed in 2015 with the great powers, Iran agreed that Fordo would limit itself to enriching uranium to 3.67%, a sufficient amount for civilian uses. But once the agreement was broken by the United States in 2018, the enrichment of uranium in this place multiplied the limit.
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- Arak. In operation since 2006 and located 240 km west of Tehran, the reactor the Arak could produce plutonium suitable for the construction of nuclear weapons. However, after the 2015 nuclear deal, the reactor was modified to eliminate that possibility.
Iran He says he built the reactor to produce isotopes for use in agriculture, medicine and industry. However, Western experts argue that a reactor with a capacity of 40MW is unnecessarily large for these uses.
- dear ones The Agriculture and Nuclear Medicine Research Center of dear ones It is used for research purposes and to produce important materials in the medical field. But this facility could also be used to produce and develop centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium.
In June 2021, the facility was the target of a sabotage attempt that, according to Iranian sources, failed.
- Parchin: Located about 30 kilometers south of Tehran, it officially functions as a testing ground for conventional weapons and missiles. However, the IAEA assures that activities related to the development of nuclear devicesalthough Iran always denied it.
- Saghand. It is a uranium mine which is in the desert region of Yazd province, about 200 kilometers northeast of Yazd city. It is one of the uranium deposits of Iran less known and provides raw uranium, used for the country’s atomic program, detailed DW.
It came into operation in March 2005 and is estimated to contain between 3,000 and 5,000 tons of uranium oxide.