Iran has furnished the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist group with a selection of cruise missiles, including the Kh-55, which is potentially capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. This weapon has a range of 3,000km. This report came from Western intelligence sources on Monday, May 16, when the Israel Navy joined the Israel military’s large-scale “Chariots of Fire” exercise.
The Kh-55 was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s as an air-launched cruise missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. The Iranian conversion can be launched from land or from a naval vessel.
While building up a stock of precision-guided surface missiles, Iran’s Lebanese proxy has also, with the help of Iran and Syria, been quietly accumulating a pile of marine cruise missiles, capable of posting a major threat to the Israeli Navy. Its purpose is to clamp a sea blockade on Israel in a war. Even a partial blockade would seriously disrupt israel’s ability to conduct wartime operations and interfere with its military and civilian supply routes.
The sea-launched missiles now in the hands of Hizballah are listed by Western intelligence as: the C-802, the Iranian version of the Chinese subsonic cruise missile, which has a range of 200km; the Russian Yakhont subsonic cruise missile which has a range of 300km and was passed to the Lebanese group by Syria – with Moscow’s consent; Nor – 200km range; Gadar-110, an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 2,000km; and Ghadir, an anti-ship cruise missile which has a range of 300km.
Defense minister warns cost of dealing with Iran will be higher in a year; warns Tehran against transfer of advanced weapons to proxies; says Israel’s position on Ukraine ‘ethical’
In this June 6, 2018, frame grab from Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting, IRIB, state-run TV, three versions of domestically built centrifuges are shown in a live TV program from Natanz, an Iranian uranium enrichment plant, in Iran. (IRIB via AP)
Defense Minister Benny Gantz claimed on Tuesday that Iran was working to finish the production and installation of 1,000 advanced centrifuges enriching uranium, including at a new underground site at the Natanz nuclear facility.
“Iran continues to accumulate irreversible knowledge and experience in the development, research, production, and operation of advanced centrifuges. It stands just a few weeks away from obtaining fissile material needed for a first bomb,” Gantz said during an Institute for National Security Studies conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University.
“During these very days, Iran is making an effort to complete the production and installation of 1,000 advanced IR6 centrifuges at its nuclear facilities, including a new facility being built at an underground site near Natanz,” he said.
Last month the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency confirmed that Iran had set up a new centrifuge parts workshop at its Natanz nuclear facility.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said the machines were moved from Karaj, near Tehran, to the new location, which he said was some three floors belowground, possibly to protect it from airstrikes.
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The workshop had been set up in one of the halls of Natanz’s fuel enrichment plant, where Iran has thousands of centrifuges, Grossi said.
Natanz, in Iran’s central Isfahan province, hosts the country’s main uranium enrichment facility. (AP)
Iran’s centrifuge facility in Karaj was targeted in what Iran described as a sabotage attack in June. Natanz itself has twice been targeted in sabotage attacks, assaults that Iran has blamed on Israel.
Talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled. There is concern that Iran could be closer to being able to construct an atomic weapon if it chose to pursue one.
The nuclear deal collapsed four years ago when former US president Donald Trump withdrew the United States and imposed crushing sanctions on Iran. In the meantime, Iran has vastly expanded its nuclear work, while insisting that it is for peaceful purposes.
“The price for tackling the Iranian challenge on a global or regional level is higher than it was a year ago and lower than it will be in a year,” Gantz said.
The defense minister also said two Iranian drones downed over Iraq in February were intended to reach terror groups in the Gaza Strip or West Bank.
“The [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard [Corps] launched a pair of drones from Iran itself, towards Israel. Among other things, based on the fact that the UAVs had parachutes attached, we estimate that the purpose of the launch was to parachute them into the Gaza Strip or Judea and Samaria and for them to be collected by terrorist organizations,” he said.
An Iranian Shahed-136 drone is launched during a military exercise in Iran, December 2021. (Screenshot: Twitter)
The Israel Defense Forces has confirmed it intercepted at least four other Iranian drones heading for Israel or the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent years.
The defense minister warned that Iran’s attempts to transfer “accurate munitions” to its proxies, including via Syria, were continuing. “Israel will continue to halt these efforts and prevent the threat to its citizens and the region,” he said, days after an airstrike in the northwestern Masyaf area of Syria was attributed to Israel.
“The quantity of this strategic weapon in the hands of Iranian emissaries has increased significantly in the past year,” Gantz said. “In Iraq, there are hundreds of [munitions]; many dozens have been added this year. In Yemen, the number of [munitions] has increased in the past year, and the Houthis hold dozens of them.”
Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks during at an Institute for National Security Studies conference at Herzliya’s Reichman University, May 17, 2022. (Gilad Kvalarchik)
Speaking on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gantz said Israel was in the right place “ethically and strategically,” adding that he supports transferring additional defensive equipment to Ukraine.
Israel has avoided aligning too closely with either side since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24. It is one of the few countries that maintains relatively warm relations with both Ukraine, a fellow Western democracy, and Russia. However, the rhetoric coming from Jerusalem shifted in the wake of the reports of widespread civilian killings by the Russians and comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claiming that Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”
While Jerusalem has increasingly shifted its tone to align more with Western powers, it has so far steadfastly declined to contribute to the Ukrainian military effort, instead sending humanitarian aid and defensive equipment to be used by emergency services.
Gantz said supporting Ukraine must not come at the cost of Israel’s “broad operational considerations, which are also an anchor for regional stability.”
Israeli strikes have continued in Syrian airspace, which is largely controlled by Russia, even as ties with Moscow have deteriorated in recent weeks. Israel has found itself at odds with Russia as it has increasingly supported Ukraine, while seeking to maintain freedom of movement in Syria’s skies.
International Atomic Energy Organization director general Rafael Mariano Grossi, right, speaks with with Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, left, during their meeting in Tehran, on March 5, 2022. (AP)
With Israel’s national security adviser in Washington to meet his counterpart, Israeli officials have reportedly said the chances of world powers signing a new nuclear deal with Iran are greatly diminished.
According to reports in the Israel Hayom newspaper and the Kan public broadcaster on Tuesday, US administration officials are closer than ever to admitting defeat on US President Joe Biden’s stated goal to return to the 2015 deal.
Talks in Vienna between Iran and world powers have been stalled for six weeks, reportedly over Iran’s demand that Washington delist its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from a US terror list.
“The possibility that the parties will sign an agreement in the foreseeable future is dwindling at an exponential rate,” an official told Israel Hayom. A source cited by Kan suggested that the White House “is much more willing these days, then it was in the past” to admit the talks are likely to fail.
According to an Axios report on Monday, the Biden administration “has recently started discussing a scenario” in which the deal won’t be revived.
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Last week, a senior Israeli diplomatic official claimed that Biden administration officials notified their European counterparts that Washington does not plan on delisting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata (L) and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in front of the White House, on October 5, 2021. (Jake Sullivan/Twitter)
National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata met with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan on Monday in Washington, a day after Biden told Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he would visit Israel in the coming months.
According to the US readout of the meeting, Sullivan told Hulata that “the United States is attuned to Israel’s concerns about threats to its security, including first and foremost from Iran and Iranian-backed proxies.”
During his conversation with Biden on Sunday, Bennett said that “I am sure that President Biden, who is a true friend of Israel and cares about its security, will not remove the Revolutionary Guards from the [State Department’s] list of [Foreign] Terrorist Organizations,” per the Israeli readout.
On Monday, Iran called for a new meeting “as soon as possible” in the Vienna negotiations it has been holding with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly, and the United States indirectly.
“It is appropriate that a face-to-face meeting is held as soon as possible,” Iran foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told his weekly press conference. “It is not yet decided where and when to have this meeting and at what level it should be held, but it is on the agenda.”
The 2015 deal gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs meant to guarantee that Tehran could not develop a nuclear weapon, something it has always denied wanting to do.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh speaks to the media during a press conference in Tehran, on April 25, 2022. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
The United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-US president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back its own commitments.
Iran and the US, adversaries for decades, have been exchanging views through the European coordinator of the Vienna talks, Enrique Mora.
Khatibzadeh said Iran and the European Union agreed that “prolonging the pause in the negotiations is not in anyone’s interest.” He added that the talks “have not stopped and are continuing through the coordinator of the Vienna negotiations.”
The Vienna talks, which started a year ago, aim to return the US to the nuclear deal, including through the lifting of sanctions on Iran, and to ensure Tehran’s full compliance with its commitments.
“It is clear that if the US had given the right answers to the remaining issues… everyone would have been in Vienna by now,” said Khatibzadeh.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said last week that “if Iran wants sanctions-lifting that goes beyond the JCPOA, they’ll need to address concerns of ours that go beyond the JCPOA.”
‘Israel can do and take whatever actions they need to take,’ ambassador to Jerusalem tells Channel 12; Blinken reportedly asks Bennett for Iran deal ‘alternative’
US Ambassador Tom Nides is interviewed by The Times of Israel at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, on January 7, 2022. (David Azagury/US Embassy)
US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said on Thursday Israel won’t be faced with any American restrictions if it wishes to act against Iran, whether or not a nuclear deal is signed between Tehran and world powers.
Asked in a Channel 12 interview if the US expects Israel to “sit quietly and not do anything” if a deal is signed, Nides replied: “Absolutely not. We’ve been very clear about this. If we have a deal, the Israelis’ hands are not tied. If we don’t have a deal, the Israelis’ hands are certainly not tied.”
“Israel can do and take whatever actions they need to take to protect the state of Israel,” he added.
“The president,” he stressed, “will do whatever he can do to make sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon… It’s clear we’d like to do it through a diplomatic channel.”
Regarding the progress of the negotiations on a deal, he said: “The Israelis know very clearly exactly what is going on. I’m not suggesting they necessarily like it always, but there are no secrets here.”
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In this September 21, 2016, file photo, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard troops march in a military parade in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
Nides dodged a direct question on whether Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps will be delisted from the US list of terror groups as part of a revived deal, as he also did in a Channel 13 interview.
Tehran has said that taking the IRGC off a US terror list is a condition for restoring the 2015 agreement.
Israeli officials have openly expressed their concerns over this possibility, including during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel earlier this week for the Negev Summit.
During a press conference on Sunday with the American top diplomat, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett referred to Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia last week, which he called “horrific,” adding that he was concerned over the possible removal of the IRGC from the US Foreign Terrorist Organizations list as part of a revived nuclear deal with Tehran.
“I hope the US will hear concerned voices in the region, from Israel and others, on this issue,” he said.
Bennett also protested the notion of the IRGC being delisted during a cabinet meeting earlier Sunday.
“We are still hoping and working toward preventing this from happening,” he said.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (right) with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, on March 27, 2021. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
Blinken said during the press conference that “there is no daylight” between the US and Israel on the efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as well as countering its threats to the region.
He added that the US will maintain that stance regardless of whether a new Iran nuclear deal is reached.
“Deal or no deal, we will continue to work together and with other partners to counter Iran’s destabilizing behavior in the region,” he said.
Blinken asked Bennett during their meeting on Sunday for his alternative to a nuclear deal with Iran, according to a report Thursday by the Axios news site, citing a senior State Department official and an Israeli official.
According to the report, Blinken asked Bennett how he would stop Iran from being capable of obtaining a nuclear weapon, when at its current enrichment pace, it would be able to do so within weeks.
Israeli officials said Bennett told him Iran can be deterred from enriching uranium to weapons-grade, if it knows Western nations will ramp up sanctions to the level they’ve been imposed on Russia, the report said.
The Israeli official also reportedly said that Bennett described a revived Iran deal as “a Band-Aid” solution for a few years that would allow Iran to expand its support for its regional terror proxies.
“It is us here in the region that will have to deal with that afterward,” Bennett told Blinken, according to a senior Israeli official.
Iran’s Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency Kazem Gharib Abadi, Political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran Abbas Araghchi, and Deputy Secretary-General and Political Director of the European External Action Service Enrique Mora stand in front of the ‘Grand Hotel Vienna’ where closed-door nuclear talks take place in Vienna, Austria, on June 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Lisa Leutner)
The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action gave Iran relief from heavy sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program to prevent it from obtaining atomic weapons, a goal Tehran denies it seeks. In 2018, the Trump administration pulled the US out of the deal and reimposed sanctions. Iran has responded by dropping many of its commitments and ramping up enrichment and other elements of the program.
European-sponsored talks in Vienna are aiming to bring the US back into the deal and see Iran recommit to its terms in return for lifted sanctions.
‘Nobody like violence’
Asked by Channel 12 about Israel’s efforts to tackle terrorism amid a wave of attacks, Ambassador Nides said: “We’re not going to tell the government what to do.”
Regarding Blinken’s highlighting of settler violence and settlement expansion during his recent visit, as opposed to Palestinian terrorism, Nides said: “No one likes violence. Period. It doesn’t matter if it’s settler violence [or], you know, Palestinian violence.”
Nides said he made clear, in his own confirmation testimony, that the Palestinian Authority’s payments to terrorists and their families must be halted: “Martyr payments… must stop,” he said.
He stressed US support for the two-state solution, noting: “We can’t lose the vision… [though] we can’t impose anything on anyone.”
Nides also said the US was “very comfortable with what the Israelis are doing vis-à-vis Ukraine,” despite complaints out of Washington that Israel had failed to adopt anti-Russia sanctions or send equipment to Ukraine’s army.
A soldier walks amid the destruction caused after the shelling of a shopping center in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
“When we have issues, we express them, as Israel expresses them to us… I am very comfortable today on the relationship, with what they’re doing with Ukraine,” Nides said.
Israel has long maintained good relations with both Ukraine and Russia, and has been seeking to use its unique position to broker an agreement between the two sides, as it tries to walk a tightrope maintaining its ties to both countries.
Ukraine has repeatedly pushed Israel for more support since Russia launched its invasion. But Israel has been seeking to avoid antagonizing Russia, which has a strong presence in Syria, where Israel carries out military action against Iran-linked groups.
Both countries determined ‘that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon,’ US secretary of state says in Jerusalem; Lapid emphasizes shared ‘vision of peace through strength’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) at a press conference in Jerusalem, March 27, 2022 (Foreign Ministry)
The US and Israel are committed to ensuring that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a Sunday press conference in Jerusalem, as the allies acknowledged differences over negotiations with Tehran.
“When it comes to the most important element, we see eye to eye. We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon,” Blinken told reporters in Jerusalem alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Yair Lapid.
At the same time, he said that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was the best way “to put Iran’s nuclear program back in the box it was in,” as Lapid reiterated Israel’s “disagreements” with Washington over negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran.
Israel has firmly opposed the terms of the 2015 deal and has said that reactivating the original deal is insufficient to curb the Iranian threat.
Lapid noted that military and diplomatic strength “guarantees peace,” emphasizing that the US and Israel shared “a vision of peace through strength.”
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He added that “Israel will do anything we believe is needed to stop the Iranian nuclear program. Anything. From our point of view, the Iranian threat is not theoretical. The Iranians want to destroy Israel. They will not succeed. We will not let them.”
“The world cannot afford a nuclear Iran,” Lapid said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) walks by the side of Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, following a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, on March 27, 2022. (Jacquelyn Martin / POOL / AFP)
Blinken also condemned Iran-backed Houthi attacks on Saudi and Emirati civilians and infrastructure.
“Beyond its nuclear efforts, Iran continues to engage in a whole series of destabilizing activities,” Blinken said.
“The US will continue to stand up to Iran when it threatens us or when it threatens our allies and partners,” he said, noting the US was “fully committed to expanding cooperation through the Abraham Accords,” ahead of Sunday’s Negev Summit with foreign ministers from four Arab countries.
Forces loyal to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis take part in a mass funeral for fighters killed in battles with Saudi-backed government troops, in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, on April 8, 2021. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP)
He thanked Lapid for his leadership in finding new opportunities for the Abraham Accords and noted Israel’s efforts to mediate in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“We greatly appreciate Israel’s strong repudiation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” he said, adding that he appreciates Israel’s stated determination not to be used as a sanctions bypass.
Blinken was briefed by Israel’s senior expert on the issue before the press conference.
The top US envoy also praised Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s mediation efforts in the conflict, and Israel’s Shining Star field hospital in Mostyska, western Ukraine.
A Ukrainian flag hangs at a schoolhouse that has been converted into a field hospital, in Mostyska, western Ukraine, March 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
He said the people of Israel were standing with Ukraine, citing protests in Tel Aviv and the work of the United Hatzalah emergency service.
Blinken said he will discuss the effects of the Ukraine conflict in the region with regional partners at the upcoming Negev Summit. “Normalization [of Arab countries with Israel] is becoming the new normal,” he said.
He noted the US funding of Iron Dome system, and condemned last week’s stabbing attack in Beersheba.
Blinken added he will reiterate to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the Biden administration’s commitment to strengthening ties with the PA.
Demonstrators gather at Habima Square in Tel Aviv on March 20, 2022, to watch a televised video address by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Jack Guez/ AFP)
Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel was enjoying a period of good foreign relations.
“To anyone who has not noticed – Israel’s foreign policy is in a good period,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “Israel is an important actor on the world and regional stage. We are cultivating old ties and building new bridges.”
He said “the old peace” — with Egypt — is meeting “the new peace” of the Abraham Accords.
Also on Sunday, US special envoy Robert Malley said the United States will maintain sanctions on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards even if there is a deal to limit the country’s nuclear program.
“The IRGC will remain sanctioned under US law and our perception of the IRGC will remain,” Malley told a conference in Doha, despite Iran’s demands that the Corps be taken off a US terrorist list as a condition for a revived nuclear accord.
US Special Representative for Iran, Robert Malley, participates in a panel at the Doha Forum in Qatar’s capital on March 27, 2022. (MARWAN TAHTAH / MOFA / DOHA FORUM)
“We’re pretty close,” Malley said of the negotiations, but added: “We’ve been pretty close now for some time. And I think that tells you all you need to know about the difficulty of the issues.”
Bennett and Lapid had previously said: “The attempt to delist the IRGC as a terrorist organization is an insult to the victims and would ignore documented reality supported by unequivocal evidence.”
Over the weekend, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said that a deal with Iran will likely be renewed “in a matter of days.”
Times of Israel staff and Agencies contributed to this report
Logo for the Negev Summit, March 27-28, 2022. (Courtesy)
The speed with which the Sunday-Monday “Negev Summit” has been pulled together, the storied location, and the expanding list of participants, combine to underline the significance of this unprecedented get-together of foreign ministers in Israel.
Being hosted by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at Sde Boker, the Negev home and burial place of Israel’s founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion, the gathering at so resonant a locale constitutes further dramatic symbolic confirmation of Israel’s legitimacy and regional importance by Abraham Accords partners Morocco, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
Their foreign ministers will, simply by their presence, be upgrading relations with the country Ben-Gurion was so central to establishing. There is even talk of a photo opportunity at Ben-Gurion’s grave.
Joined by visiting United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israel’s new regional allies will also be gathering along with the foreign minister of the country’s first peace partner, Egypt, for formal and less formal meetings, consultations, and meals. These talks come just a week after Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi hosted Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan for a markedly warm and well-publicized summit of his own. Efforts have been ongoing to add Jordan’s foreign minister to the list — in vain, as of Saturday night.
In fact, the Negev Summit coincides with a planned visit to Ramallah by Jordan’s King Abdullah, designed to help find ways to alleviate Israeli-Palestinian tensions in the run-up to the fraught Ramadan period. Blinken, who will be holding talks with Israeli leaders and with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday before he heads south to Sde Boker, would doubtless have been pleased to see not only Jordan but also Abbas at the Negev Summit.
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But Bennett, opposed to negotiating with the PA president, would have resisted this. Abbas’ standing among the Palestinians, already low, would hardly have been strengthened by his attending a diplomatic festival somewhat honoring Israel’s founding premier. And, in any case, the Palestinian leader is largely irrelevant to the agenda that is bringing these ministers together.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the grave of former prime minister David Ben-Gurion, in Sde Boker, on November 10, 2021. (Haim Zach/GPO)
For Israel’s boosted regional legitimacy is central not merely to the location of this summit, but to its core focus — the effort to muster an effective alliance against the common threat, Iran.
As with the Abraham Accords themselves, regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia will be absent from the Sunday-Monday proceedings but present in spirit, and potent behind-the-scenes. Jerusalem and Riyadh, though not formally allied, are working to bolster regional unity against Tehran — not rhetorically but practically, via intelligence sharing, the development of regional missile alert and defense systems, and more.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (R), Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi (C), and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meet in Sharm el-Sheikh, March 22, 2022. (Spokesman of the Egyptian Presidency)
Behind the handshakes and the smiles, it is the US secretary who may find himself something of the awkward guest at this extraordinary gathering. He will be bringing news of the progress toward a revived P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, designed to rein in the ayatollahs’ rogue nuclear weapons program in return for the lifting of sanctions and, possibly, the delisting of Iran’s global-troublemaking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity.
Bennett is a strident opponent of a revived deal; Lapid has said he would rather the US walk away from the talks than strike a bad deal. The other participants in the Negev Summit, and the Saudis watching from home, share a deep concern that Iran will be both empowered, emboldened, and enriched by the deal that is taking shape, and a realization that the US has all-too-many other global challenges to grapple with.
It was, of course, the US, and specifically the Trump administration, that brought the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco together with Israel in the Abraham Accords, a process that has helped modern Israel gain greater recognition than ever before in this region.
The Negev Summit signals that these new partners are now working together more closely than ever, simply because they have to — in part because they know that the US now has other preoccupations and priorities, and fear that it underestimates the dangers posed by Iran.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel +972-3-9358509 www.iai.co.il
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) recently unveiled the Scorpius family of electronic warfare (EW) systems. Scorpius is the first electronic warfare (EW) system in the world capable of simultaneously targeting multiple threats, across frequencies, and in different directions.
Scorpius is based on the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology, which provides a breakthrough in EW performance – enabling a new generation of electronic warfare capabilities.
Scorpius N (naval) is an EW system dedicated to defending ships against advanced threats.
With AESA’s multi-beam capability, Scorpius can simultaneously scan the entire surrounding region for targets and deploy narrowly focused beams to interfere with multiple threats across the electromagnetic spectrum. The system is able to target a range of threats, including: UAVs, ships, missiles, communication links, low probability of interception (LPOI) radars, and more. Scorpius effectively disrupts the operation of their electromagnetic systems, including radar and electronic sensors, navigation, and data communications.
Scorpius’ technological breakthrough is characterized by unprecedented receiver sensitivity and transmission power (ERP), far exceeding those of legacy EW systems. This allows Scorpius to detect multiple threats, of different kinds, simultaneously, from dramatically increased distances, and to address each threat with a customized response.
Scorpius is capable of operating across multiple domains including:
Ground: Scorpius G (ground) is a ground-based EW system designed to detect and disrupt ground- and airborne threats. Scorpius-G is a mobile system that can be quickly deployed by vehicle. Scorpius G represents a new category of air defense systems: “Soft-kill” air defense, which creates an electronic dome of protection above a wide geographic sector to neutralize a broad range of modern threats.
Naval: Scorpius N (naval) is an EW system dedicated to defending ships against advanced threats in the marine arena, including over-the-horizon anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV), and airborne imaging radars. Scorpius’ extremely high range provides early detection and targeting of threats, which is essential for effective protection in the naval domain.
Air: Scorpius SP – a self-protection pod for combat aircraft, and the Scorpius SJ, a standoff jammer that disrupts enemy aerial and ground-based electromagnetic operations across a vast sector.
Training: Scorpius T (training) provides EW training for pilots. Scorpius-T can emulate a variety of modern air-defense systems, simultaneously, from a single platform. Its advanced emulation capabilities support training for fifth-generation aircraft. Scorpius T officially made its debut during the international air force exercise Blue Flag 2021.
According to Adi Dulberg, General Manager, Intelligence Division, IAI: “The modern battlefield depends on the electromagnetic domain for sensing, communications, and navigation. Protecting the use of the electromagnetic domain for our forces, while denying its use by the enemy, have become mission-critical for success in combat and for ensuring the superiority of our forces in the field.”
Attack said to destroy hundreds of drones near Kermanshah, prompting this week’s revenge missile fire at, on site alleged to have launched UAV-destroying mission
In this photo released on May 21, 2021, by Sepahnews, the website of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a new drone, called Gaza, is displayed in an undisclosed location in Iran. (Sepahnews via AP)
A UAV attack in the middle of February reportedly caused major damage to Iran’s drone fleet, prompting Iran to fire missiles this week at a site in Iraq that it claims was an Israeli intelligence base.
Hundreds of drones are assessed to have been destroyed in the attack on an airbase near Kermanshah, in Western Iran, Haaretz reported Tuesday, without citing sources for the extent of the damage.
While Israel has acknowledged it targets the bases of Iranian forces and allied terror groups in Syria, as well as arms shipments believed to be bound for Iran-backed groups in the region — and is believed to have carried out covert actions inside Iran — an airstrike on Iranian territory would be very unusual.
Tehran officials have blamed Israel for the attack, though neither country had made any mention of the incident until this week. Israel has not commented at all on the alleged strike.
On Sunday night, the Lebanese television station Al Mayadeen, which is linked to the Iran-back Hezbollah terror group, reported on the Kermanshah attack for the first time.
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Citing “reliable sources,” it said there were six drones that took part in the raid and claimed they were launched from Iraqi Kurdistan.
The station said it was because of the drone attack that Iran fired missiles at a site near the US consulate in Erbil overnight Saturday. Iran has said the target of the missiles was a location being used by Israeli intelligence and, according to Al Mayadeen, it was from there that the February drone attack was launched.
The Lebanese report also claimed that as a result of the missile attack on Erbil, four Israeli officers were killed and seven more injured, four of whom were in a critical condition.
The US State Department has condemned the strike, which hit near a sprawling American consulate, and Kurdish authorities have denied the area was being used by Israel.
A general view shows a damaged mansion following an overnight attack in Erbil, the capital of the northern Iraqi Kurdish autonomous region, on March 13, 2022 (SAFIN HAMED / AFP)
Israel has repeatedly warned that Iranian drones are a significant threat to the region — especially as Tehran arms proxies stationed along Israel’s borders. Military officials said last week that Iran’s “UAV terror” is a new and global issue, accusing Tehran of directly attacking both military and civilian targets in the Middle East.
The IDF also published footage of what it said were intercepts of Iranian drones.
The timing of the IDF’s publication was thought to be related to the ongoing, and reportedly near-completed, nuclear talks in Vienna.
Negotiators on all sides have signaled in recent days that a potential agreement to revive the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is close. Israel has highlighted the fact that the emerging nuclear deal does not address the drone issue.
The IDF believes Iran is attempting to arm all of its proxies in the region — in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen — with hundreds and even thousands of UAVs, in addition to providing military training.
In this image released by the military on February 17, 2022, a drone belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group is seen after being downed by troops on the border with Lebanon. (Israel Defense Forces)
Military officials say the IDF is always on full alert to protect Israel’s skies from drones. However, last month Israeli air defenses failed to down a small drone that entered the country from Lebanon, which Hezbollah claimed responsibility for launching.
A series of incidents over the past few months indicate an escalation in the shadow conflict between Israel and Iran.
A cyberattack on Monday took down Israeli government websites for over an hour on Monday evening. Israeli officials did not immediately say who was behind the attack, but some media reports were quick to point the finger at Iran.
It came as Iranian state television reported that the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard arrested members of a “network” working for Israel that planned to sabotage Iran’s major underground nuclear facility at Fordo
No casualties after several projectiles fired toward building in Iraqi Kurdistan; Iran media claims without evidence that Israel operating sites there and they were target
Illustrative: US Marines guard the Baghdad Embassy Compound in Iraq, Jan. 5, 2020. (US Marine Corps/Sgt. Kyle C. Talbot)
As many as 12 missiles were fired Sunday toward the US consulate in Iraq’s northern city of Irbil, with several missiles hitting the building, Iraqi and US security officials said.
Iranian state media agency IRNA, citing local reports, claimed without evidence that “secret Israeli bases” were targeted in the attack.
A US official said the missiles were launched from neighboring Iran.
Officials gave different accounts of damage. A US official said missiles hit the consulate, but a second American official later said there was no damage and no casualties at any US government facility.
Iraqi authorities said several missiles had hit the US consulate. The consulate building is new and currently unoccupied.
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Later, Lawk Ghafari, the head of Kurdistan’s foreign media office, said none of the missiles hit the US facility but that areas around the compound had been hit by the missiles.
The area’s governor said it was not clear whether the intended target was the US consulate or the airport, where there is a base for the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.
The airport said it had suffered no damage and flights had not been disrupted.
An AFP correspondent in the city heard three explosions.
Local television channel Kurdistan24, whose studios are not far from the US consulate, posted images on social networks of its damaged offices, with collapsed sections of false ceiling and broken glass.
Irbil is the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
“We condemn this terrorist attack launched against several sectors of Irbil, we call on the inhabitants to remain calm,” Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement.
One of the officials said the ballistic missiles were fired from Iran, without elaborating.
The attack comes several days after Syrian state media reported an Israeli strike near Damascus, Syria. The reports said the airstrike killed two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Iran’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the attack Wednesday and vowed revenge.
On Sunday, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Iraqi media acknowledging the attacks in Irbil, without saying where they originated.
Satellite broadcast channel Kurdistan24, which is located near the US consulate, went on air from their studio shortly after the attack, showing shattered glass and debris on their studio floor.
A security statement said Irbil was targeted “with a number of missiles” early Sunday, adding that security forces were investigating the incident and would release more details later.
The attack comes as negotiations in Vienna over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal hit a “pause” over Russian demands about sanctions targeting Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
US interests and coalition troops in Iraq have regularly been targeted in rocket and armed drone attacks.
Western officials have blamed hardline pro-Iran factions for the attacks, which have never been claimed.
In late January, six rockets were fired at Baghdad International Airport, causing no casualties.
Iraq saw a surge in these sort of attacks at the beginning of the year as Iran and its allies commemorated the second anniversary of the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mehdi al-Mouhandis, killed by American drone fire in Iraq in January 2020.
Supreme National Security Council says negotiators in Vienna will seek ‘creative ways’ to proceed as Moscow links efforts to save 2015 pact to US sanctions over Ukraine invasion
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran on June, 12, 2021. (Vahid Salemi/AP)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A top Iranian official said Monday that his country is seeking “creative ways” to restore its nuclear deal with world powers after Russia’s foreign minister linked sanctions on Moscow over its war on Ukraine to the ongoing negotiations.
The tweet by Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, offers the first high-level acknowledgment of the demands of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“Vienna participants act & react based on interests and it’s understandable,” Shamkhani wrote. “Our interactions … are also solely driven by our people’s interests. Thus, we’re assessing new elements that bear on the negotiations and will accordingly seek creative ways to expedite a solution.”
In recent days, negotiators on all sides in Vienna had signaled that a potential deal was close as the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agreed to a timetable with Iran for it to disclose answers to long-standing questions it had about Tehran’s program.
But Lavrov on Saturday said he wanted “guarantees at least at the level of the secretary of state” that the US sanctions would not affect Moscow’s relationship with Tehran. That threw into question the months of negotiations held so far on restoring the 2015 deal, which saw Iran agree to drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
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On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Lavrov’s demand “irrelevant” as the nuclear deal and sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war were “totally different.” The US under then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018, setting off years of tensions and attacks across the Mideast.
“Getting out of the deal was one of the worst mistakes that’s been made in recent years. It let the entire Iranian nuclear program that we put in a box out of the box,” Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” talk show. “And so if there’s a way of getting back to reimplementing that deal effectively, it’s in our interest to do it and we’re working on that as we speak. It’s also in Russia’s interest.”
Meanwhile, the state-owned, English-language Tehran Times newspaper on Monday published an article suggesting the draft nuclear deal in Vienna would allow Iran to “keep its advanced centrifuges and nuclear materials inside the country.”
It’s “a form of inherent guarantee to make sure that its nuclear program is fully reversible if the US reneged on its commitments again,” the newspaper said, without providing a source for the information.
The 2015 nuclear deal saw Iran put advanced centrifuges into storage under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency, while keeping its enrichment at 3.67% purity and its stockpile at only 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of uranium.
As of February 19, the IAEA says Iran’s stockpile of all enriched uranium was nearly 3200 kilograms (7,055 pounds). Some has been enriched up to 60% purity — a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
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