Former Reagan Official: Brief Iran Conflict Exposed Israel’s Vulnerability

DID Press: Western demands on Iran have steadily expanded and now go well beyond the nuclear issue. According to the former U.S. official, Western powers are no longer insisting only that Iran be denied access to nuclear energy, but are now also seeking to restrict the country’s missile capabilities.

Referring to the recent brief confrontation between Iran and Israel, the official said the clash clearly demonstrated that Iran possesses the practical capability to inflict devastating blows on Israel and could even pose a serious threat to the state’s existence.

He added that the West has effectively dismantled any agreement with the Iranian government aimed at preventing a move toward nuclear weapons, while the same short conflict showed that the primary threat to Israel is not Iran’s nuclear program, but rather its missile capabilities.

According to the former official, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded after the confrontation that Israel is vulnerable and that Iranian missiles are capable of causing severe damage. As a result, Tel Aviv is reluctant to repeat such a direct confrontation and is instead seeking to push the United States toward taking more costly and escalatory actions against Iran.