Iran is making “hysteric” efforts to produce up to 3,000 ballistic missiles per month, Israel's Maariv newspaper reported on Sunday.
“Although such missiles are considered old-fashioned, imprecise, and can be shot down before they reach their targets, the time they reach their targets is enough to cause serious damage,” the newspaper said quoting Israeli security sources.
In an article published in Maariv, writer Anna Persky said Iran is reviving its nuclear program and is resuming the production of ballistic missiles, but not yet its uranium enrichment.
Quoting Israeli security sources, she wrote: “There has been an ongoing movement in recent weeks around the nuclear reactors that were destroyed in the recent Israeli-US attacks on Iran.”
The sources stressed that the Israeli army’s new military doctrine is based on preemptive strikes to prevent threats before they materialize, but at the same time, they did not rule out a preemptive attack from Tehran.
Persky wrote that Iran is restoring facilities related to the production of ballistic missiles and nuclear facilities damaged by strikes during the 12-day war in June.
For Israel, Iran's nuclear program still remains a serious concern.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to present the Iranian threat during his scheduled meeting with US President Donald Trump” on December 29. “He will try to figure out if Trump is willing to participate in a new war against Iran,” she said.
Persky wrote that Netanyahu will present to the US President with a number of alternatives, including an independent Israeli attack with limited US assistance, a joint strike or a full-scale US operation.
“At the meeting, the main issue will not be what Israel wants to do, but what the United States is willing to offer,” she noted.
In Israel, the “inevitability of a war with Iran” was the headline of all Israeli newspapers over the weekend.
“Iran ramps up missile tests and military drills, renews threats toward Israel,” wrote Yedioth Ahronoth in its headline on Sunday.
It said amid recent reports that Tehran is producing ballistic missiles at a rapid pace and in large quantities, Iran has returned to threatening Israel and showcasing its military capabilities, much as it did before the June war.
But Maariv said the war initiative will rather come from Israel, which perceives Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
Israel is worried about missing the current opportunity. “Today, Iran is still in the midst of reconstruction, but tomorrow it will be more protected, more distributed, and its offensive capability will be more expensive and more dangerous,” Persky wrote.
