Israel would not be able to attack Iran’s nuclear programme without the US, a former Israeli prime minister has warned in an interview with The Telegraph.
Mr Olmert also revealed for the first time that when he made the decision as Israeli leader in 2007 to launch an attack on Syria’s nuclear programme, he had forewarned [Gordon Brown, then the UK prime minister](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gordon-brown/).
There were two world leaders who knew about the attack, Mr Olmert said. “One was President Bush, with whom I took counsel for a long time.”
“The only other head of state that I shared this information with was Gordon Brown. I told him about the atomic reactor in Syria and that we were going to destroy it.”
The government and agencies, Mr Olmert continued, responded to his sharing of intelligence with gratitude. “They told me they would never forget the trust that Israel bestowed upon them, sharing such sensitive information before a military operation.”
The US had successfully frozen the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. But then a certain orange idiot – with Bibi’s strong support – decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. So, quit Bibi, and we’ll quit Trump, then we can talk again.
He means Maverick.
We made a whole Tom Cruise movie out of it and everything.
Yeah, sounds like something you say just before you attack the bunkers.
Iran has indicated they are willing to engage on a new agreement, there’s no way the Biden administration agrees to assist in this attack, an attack which likely at best will only postpone Iran’s nuclear ambitions temporarily, when there’s a better chance of either this administration or the next coming to a new agreement.
Like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
Both David Petraeus and retired Gen. Ken McKenzie who were CENTCOM commanders gave public interviews where they did not sound confident that the nuke program can be ended with air strikes because they say Iran has built these facilities very deep into mountains that bunker busters cannot penetrate into all sites scattered all over the country. Gen. McKenzie said even for US military such an operation would be logistically complex and he doubts Israel has that capacity at all with their smaller air-force and limited logistical arm.
Correction:the Israelis WANT the us to do their dirty work
Olmert has been out of power since early 2009, more than 15 years ago. He doesn’t have any more knowledge about Israel’s current capabilities than the average Redditor.
That said, my completely uninformed guess is that he’s right. Iran’s nuclear sites are spread out across the country and buried deep underground. Israel likely doesn’t have the resources to reach them all.
Yea, no. Do it yourself.
Olmert has been out of the picture for more than 15 years. And when he was in the picture, he brought about the disastrous management of the Second Lebanon War (2006). Moreover, he’s a convicted corrupt career politician. His opinion with regards to what Israel can, or can’t do militarily is quite utterly worthless.
‘They called dibs. Gotta respect the dibs’
No you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
No **you do it**!
***No, you*** *do it!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
**No** you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
**No you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
Obama already destroyed their Nuclear program.
Trump gave it back to them.
Why do we have to be the ones to do it? Let it be Israel or Saudi Arabia’s turn.
That clown has no idea what he’s talking about
Didn’t Trump pull out of that deal Obama made to inspect their nuclear facilities?
No shit, and estimates are it would take 60-90 days and American troops…fuck that.
We don’t need another war thanks.
How about the US STOP fighting Israel’s wars. They’ve been killing people in that part of the world for over 20 years, spent *trillions* of dollars and had several thousand American soldiers come back in caskets and accomplished *nothing*. Absolutely fucking bupkis.
Let the Israelis fix their own shit.
Leaving the JCPOA is probably the biggest foreign policy mistake of the past decade. The Mossad knew that iran was abiding to the agreement. Trump even said himself when he withdrew from the agreement that it was due to irans ballistic missile programm which makes it even weirder how his supporters still pretend the worlds 2 biggest intelligence agencies would somehow not notice a nuclear weapons program, that requires thousands of people, is absurd.
The High Sparrow has spoken.
Why doesn’t the US simply destroy everyone’s nuclear program?
Are they stupid?
Not our job
Facts on the fucking ground, same as it been for years; Iran could have nukes in weeks. They could bolt them onto a ballistic missile in a day. They have chosen not to.
It’s a power game we’re playing.
The only good thing happening here is that they’re still playing the game. Just like the tit for tat rocket exchanges, and the strongly worded statements. Let’s keep it that way.
Shouldn’t have pulled out of the Iran-US nuclear agreement.
Israel wants to drag us into a war with Iran so bad. And the administration is sleepwalking right into it
Yup, and another round of ground warfare in the sand pit is a real vote winner in the US.
Why don’t we help Ukraine defeat Russia first. That would isolate Iran and deter China. The Russian airbase Israel bombed in Syria was full of weapons that would have landed in the hands of Hezbollah. As much as I think the evil mullah regime in Iran should be toppled. But this would be a major war the world does not need right now.
Besides, Netanyahu needs to stop escalating this conflict and allow an investigation that looks into the intelligence failure that led to Oct 7th attack in the first place. Biden is correct when he says Netanyahu is escalating this conflict because it helps Trump, who he prefers to win in November. And of course prolonging this conflict halts all the corruption investigations and keeps Netanyahu in office and out of jail
The Navy has been ordered to destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant in an unnamed foreign country before it becomes operational. The plant, located in an underground bunker at the end of a canyon, is defended by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), GPS jammers, fifth-generation Su-57 fighters and F-14 Tomcats.
30 comments
From The Telegraph:
Israel would not be able to attack Iran’s nuclear programme without the US, a former Israeli prime minister has warned in an interview with The Telegraph.
[Ehud Olmert](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/17/nato-should-help-restore-gaza-strip-says-ehud-olmert/) said Israel might not have the “[capacity to penetrate the deep underground bunkers](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/19/us-air-force-bunker-buster-penetrator-bombs-weapons-bombers/) that are spread in different parts of Iran”.
Instead, he suggested, an attack on [Iran’s nuclear programme](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/02/israel-urged-to-attack-iran-nuclear-programme/) would have to be carried out by the US with Israeli assistance.
“Then it’s a different story. It has to be an American decision,” Mr Olmert said. He added: “[There are many other targets for Israel](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/02/israel-options-retaliatory-strikes-iran-weapons-leaders-oil/) that will be painful and significant and possibly also deter [Iran].”
Joe Biden has said he doesn’t support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites [in retaliation for the 180 ballistic missiles](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/05/israel-significant-attack-oct7-massacre-anniversary/) fired by Tehran at Israel last week. But pressure has been building from Donald Trump, who said over the weekend he supports strikes.
Mr Olmert also revealed for the first time that when he made the decision as Israeli leader in 2007 to launch an attack on Syria’s nuclear programme, he had forewarned [Gordon Brown, then the UK prime minister](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gordon-brown/).
There were two world leaders who knew about the attack, Mr Olmert said. “One was President Bush, with whom I took counsel for a long time.”
“The only other head of state that I shared this information with was Gordon Brown. I told him about the atomic reactor in Syria and that we were going to destroy it.”
The government and agencies, Mr Olmert continued, responded to his sharing of intelligence with gratitude. “They told me they would never forget the trust that Israel bestowed upon them, sharing such sensitive information before a military operation.”
The US had successfully frozen the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. But then a certain orange idiot – with Bibi’s strong support – decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. So, quit Bibi, and we’ll quit Trump, then we can talk again.
He means Maverick.
We made a whole Tom Cruise movie out of it and everything.
Yeah, sounds like something you say just before you attack the bunkers.
Iran has indicated they are willing to engage on a new agreement, there’s no way the Biden administration agrees to assist in this attack, an attack which likely at best will only postpone Iran’s nuclear ambitions temporarily, when there’s a better chance of either this administration or the next coming to a new agreement.
Like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
Both David Petraeus and retired Gen. Ken McKenzie who were CENTCOM commanders gave public interviews where they did not sound confident that the nuke program can be ended with air strikes because they say Iran has built these facilities very deep into mountains that bunker busters cannot penetrate into all sites scattered all over the country. Gen. McKenzie said even for US military such an operation would be logistically complex and he doubts Israel has that capacity at all with their smaller air-force and limited logistical arm.
Correction:the Israelis WANT the us to do their dirty work
Olmert has been out of power since early 2009, more than 15 years ago. He doesn’t have any more knowledge about Israel’s current capabilities than the average Redditor.
That said, my completely uninformed guess is that he’s right. Iran’s nuclear sites are spread out across the country and buried deep underground. Israel likely doesn’t have the resources to reach them all.
Yea, no. Do it yourself.
Olmert has been out of the picture for more than 15 years. And when he was in the picture, he brought about the disastrous management of the Second Lebanon War (2006). Moreover, he’s a convicted corrupt career politician. His opinion with regards to what Israel can, or can’t do militarily is quite utterly worthless.
‘They called dibs. Gotta respect the dibs’
No you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
No **you do it**!
***No, you*** *do it!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
**No** you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
**No you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
Obama already destroyed their Nuclear program.
Trump gave it back to them.
Why do we have to be the ones to do it? Let it be Israel or Saudi Arabia’s turn.
That clown has no idea what he’s talking about
Didn’t Trump pull out of that deal Obama made to inspect their nuclear facilities?
No shit, and estimates are it would take 60-90 days and American troops…fuck that.
We don’t need another war thanks.
How about the US STOP fighting Israel’s wars. They’ve been killing people in that part of the world for over 20 years, spent *trillions* of dollars and had several thousand American soldiers come back in caskets and accomplished *nothing*. Absolutely fucking bupkis.
Let the Israelis fix their own shit.
Leaving the JCPOA is probably the biggest foreign policy mistake of the past decade. The Mossad knew that iran was abiding to the agreement. Trump even said himself when he withdrew from the agreement that it was due to irans ballistic missile programm which makes it even weirder how his supporters still pretend the worlds 2 biggest intelligence agencies would somehow not notice a nuclear weapons program, that requires thousands of people, is absurd.
The High Sparrow has spoken.
Why doesn’t the US simply destroy everyone’s nuclear program?
Are they stupid?
Not our job
Facts on the fucking ground, same as it been for years; Iran could have nukes in weeks. They could bolt them onto a ballistic missile in a day. They have chosen not to.
It’s a power game we’re playing.
The only good thing happening here is that they’re still playing the game. Just like the tit for tat rocket exchanges, and the strongly worded statements. Let’s keep it that way.
Shouldn’t have pulled out of the Iran-US nuclear agreement.
Israel wants to drag us into a war with Iran so bad. And the administration is sleepwalking right into it
Yup, and another round of ground warfare in the sand pit is a real vote winner in the US.
Why don’t we help Ukraine defeat Russia first. That would isolate Iran and deter China. The Russian airbase Israel bombed in Syria was full of weapons that would have landed in the hands of Hezbollah. As much as I think the evil mullah regime in Iran should be toppled. But this would be a major war the world does not need right now.
Besides, Netanyahu needs to stop escalating this conflict and allow an investigation that looks into the intelligence failure that led to Oct 7th attack in the first place. Biden is correct when he says Netanyahu is escalating this conflict because it helps Trump, who he prefers to win in November. And of course prolonging this conflict halts all the corruption investigations and keeps Netanyahu in office and out of jail
The Navy has been ordered to destroy an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant in an unnamed foreign country before it becomes operational. The plant, located in an underground bunker at the end of a canyon, is defended by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), GPS jammers, fifth-generation Su-57 fighters and F-14 Tomcats.
[Source](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gun:_Maverick).