WarSclerotic

Speaking at the International Institute of Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Yatom, a former Labor Party MK, said that only military force will succeed in stopping Iran.

“Since the sanctions are not enough I am hopeful that the world will come to its senses and reach the conclusion that in order to stop the Iranian nuclear arms race we will have to attack some of their nuclear facilities,” Yatom said in rare comments for a former top Israeli security official regarding the use of military force against Iran.

While some of the Iranian nuclear facilities are scattered throughout the country and are built underground in fortified bunkers, if the world “mobilizes its capabilities” it would be possible to cause enough damage to delay the program.

“If the modern air forces led by the United States mobilizes its capabilities it is possible if not to completely remove the threat to delay it for years to come,” Yatom said.

While refraining from discussing specific Israeli capabilities, Yatom said that if the world failed to meet the challenge, Israel would “retain the right to self defense.”

“Figure out for yourselves what that means,” he then told the audience.

Yatom said that Israel could not live with a nuclear Iran. “I don’t want to be in a situation that I will be sitting in Israel and my fate will be in the hands of others especially when we are talking about a lunatic regime,” he said. “I don’t want to be the subject of an Iranian experiment.”