Israeli army Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi warned on Wednesday that Israel must prepared for the possibility of a limited confrontation with Iran in wake of its persistent nuclear ambitions.
During a press conference in Tel Aviv, he said that Tehran has doubled its uranium enrichment and increased its nuclear activity in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal.
“In recent years, Iran has changed its policies and is much more active,” Kohavi said, noting attacks in recent months on petroleum facilities in the Gulf.
“And there’s no response, there’s no retaliation, there are no reprisals,” he said, according to Israeli media.
Moreover, he said Iran was working on entrenching itself throughout the region, setting up bases from where it could launch attacks against Israel.
“We won’t allow Iran to establish a military presence in [Syria], or even in Iraq,” Kohavi stressed.
He added that Iran itself had also become a direct and immediate military threat to Israel, whereas, in the past, it was “back behind the mountains, working on a nuke program.”
“Iran is continuing to develop missiles that can reach Israeli territory. This is somewhat flying under the radar,” he said.
He remarked, however, that he did not believe that Iran or its proxies would imminently launch a war against Israel.
“None of our enemies want a war at this time,” he said.
