Pyotr Lukimson, Israel. Exclusively to VK
Israel was ready to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities in August 2012. The decision to delay this attack was made at the nick of time when it appeared that Iran had destroyed a part of uranium which was useful for creating a nuclear bomb. The defense minister Ehud Barak stated on this.
According to the minister, in August Iran unexpectedly decided to transform 38% of 189 kg uranium (which was earlier enriched up to 20%) into a powder. Such powder is not useful for a nuclear bomb, but it can be used for curing cancer. This step took Iran back to 8-10 months from creation of a bomb; therefore, the Israeli army rejected the operation which was almost prepared.
At the moment Israel is thinking about reasons for which the Iranian authorities could do this step. The point is obviously not about readiness to yield under pressure of sanctions, as official Tehran states about it openly and its views remain the same. At the same time, Tehran knows well that Israel and the West learn immediately about events happening on the Iranian nuclear facilities. The transforming of this part of uranium was not accidental. The Israeli intelligence believes that Iran tried to gain time for better preparation to resistance of an Israeli attack.
Meanwhile, Israeli military forces and the police continue preparing to a possible war against Iran. Now they say that a possible strike may be launched in March-April 2013 – if Iran comes close again to creating a nuclear bomb. Most probably the area space of the Arab countries which see a threat in Iran as well will be used for a strike. It seems Israel managed to establish secret contacts with stable moderate regimes in the Arab countries. That is why they stopped exaggerating the Palestinian problem and focused on Syria. By the way, the prime minister of Israel Benyamin Netanyahu noted in one of his recent interviews that a strike on Iran would not cause any disasters and be welcomed by the Arab world.
At the same time, military experts who gave interviews to Vestnik Kavkaza rejected a version of the Western media that the recent bombing of armory in Sudan was the last rehearsal of a strike on Iran. According to the experts, a strike of Iran will be absolutely different from the operation in Khartum. First of all, the Iranian nuclear facilities are spread all over the country rather than concentrated in one place; secondly, the level of the Iranian missile defense system is much higher than of Sudan’s.
