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Israel believes that the damage it inflicted on Iran’s ballistic missile program during the 12-day June war was less severe than initially assessed, Al-Monitor reported on December 11.
The report revealed that Iran currently possesses around 2,000 heavy ballistic missiles, roughly the same number it had on the eve of the war.
The Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder shared this information with visiting United States Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz earlier this week, in a sign that Israel is again urging Washington to act against Iran.
“This is a threat that Israel will not be able to accept for long, and we must coordinate with the Americans the red lines and actions we will take in the future, perhaps even in the near future,” a source familiar with the matter told Al-Monitor.
An earlier report by Ynet revealed that a senior representative of the Israeli military told lawmakers during a closed meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Iran was able to resume large-scale production of ballistic missiles
The representative warned that Iran’s missile program is “recovering at a fast pace” and remains a top strategic priority for military planners in the Islamic Republic, according to the Israeli news website.
Additionally, Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said recently that Iranian officials told him missile factories are operating “around the clock” and that “if there is another war, they hope to fire 2,000 missiles at once instead of the 500 missiles they fired over 12 days.”
Western diplomats also raised concerns in recent weeks that Iran is trying to accelerate the restoration of its missile program, according to Euronews.
The European television news network said, citing regional officials briefed on intelligence assessments cited by Ynet, that the Islamic Republic is making up for the “planetary mixers” – a key component of solid fuel production for missiles – which were destroyed by Israel during the war by resorting to older methods of producing needed rocket fuel.
Right after the end of the war, Israel claimed that some two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, around 250, were destroyed, along with around 1,000 of the missiles.
It acknowledged, however, that the Islamic Republic managed to launch more than 500 ballistic missiles. A total of 36 missile impacts across Israel were reported. Later, it was revealed that the real number of impacts was higher. The missiles claimed the lives of 28 people, all but one of them civilians, and wounded more than 3,000 others.
Notably, Israel’s multi-layered air defense network became way less effective towards the end of the war with Islamic Republic.
All recent reports related to Iran’s missile program came out as the Islamic Republic was holding large-scale naval exercises. Multiple missiles, including new types, were test fired during the drills.
These warnings, which came from official and unofficial channels, at the same time appear to be a part of a media campaign meant to incite against Iran’s missile program, possibly to justify a new war on the Islamic Republic. Israel can no longer use the nuclear program as a pretext as it itself and the U.S. claimed that it was set back for years.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on November 11, Trump once again repeated that Iran’s nuclear capacity was wiped out by the U.S. and Israel during the June war. He also renewed threats to the Islamic Republic, but kept them limited to the nuclear program.
“But if they do want to come back, and they want to come back without a deal, then we’re going to obliterate that one, too,” Trump said.
There is no doubt that Iran is restoring its missile program, its first means of deterrence. However, there is no evidence whatsoever that the Islamic Republic is working on expanding the range of its missiles beyond the 2,000 kilometer limit it has so far committed to.
The missile program has always been a flashpoint in talks between Iran and the U.S., but the Trump administration does not appear to be willing to go to war again over the issue.
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surprise. not really. santa could flyover too.
america bombed iran’s nuclear lab remember ,the one funded by obama and biden’s thoughtful generosity . trump already said yesterday if they have more we will blow them up.too .