Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Aviv Kohavi announced that the army was accelerating its operational plans against Iran due to the progress in its nuclear program.
“The progress of the Iranian nuclear program has led the army to accelerate its operational plans and the recently approved defense budget is earmarked for that,” Kohavi said, as quoted by the Israeli Jerusalem Post.
His statements came in parallel with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett arrived in the United States, and before his meeting with US President Joe Biden and other senior officials.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned that Tehran was only two months away from having the ability to build nuclear weapons and called on the international community to develop a new plan that does not include reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced, last week, that Iran had put in place a new mechanism to accelerate the production of enriched uranium by 60 percent, stressing that Iran had produced enriched uranium metal with a fissile purity of up to 20 percent for the first time, at a time when diplomatic talks to save the 2015 nuclear deal are witnessing stalling.
France, Germany and Britain expressed, in a joint statement, their deep concern, last Thursday, about the IAEA report, saying that the move constituted a serious violation of Tehran’s commitments.
Iran’s special envoy, Rob Malley, said in an exclusive interview with the American Radio Farda that his country was ready to resume the Vienna negotiations if Tehran decided to return to the discussion table.
