Iran is being made to suffer. Israel, which is furious with the Biden administration, has outfoxed Tehran and Washington DC simultaneously. The Biden administration and the Ayatollah have been left wondering what just struck them with such precision, and so devastatingly. Yesterday, TFI reported how the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran had suffered an ‘accident’ that reeked of Israeli participation. And, today, it has become close to certain that Israel and its spy agency – Mossad were involved in the power blackout which Iran’s most important and secure nuclear facility suffered. However, Natanz is hardly all that Israel has struck in the past one week.
With its continuous attacks on Iran’s strategic assets, facilities and individuals, Israel has cemented the belief of many, both within and outside Iran, that the Jewish nation is willing to go to any extent, and against any world superpower to prevent Tehran from getting its hands on a nuclear weapon. Israel knows that a nuclear deal with Iran, which Joe Biden is so romantically pushing for, will by no means act as an impediment to the Shi’ite nation’s military nuclear programme. In fact, the nuclear deal would only further embolden Tehran and also oxygenate its sanction-ridden economy.
For Israel, the battle is that of existence, and now is the time to fight. If Iran lets its guard down at this moment or decides to mutely spectate from the galleries, it would effectively be digging its own grave. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in no mood of giving up just yet. So, Iran has been battered with three back-to-back attacks by Israel.
Last Tuesday, Israel attacked an Iranian shipping vessel with its mines. Iran has been attacking Israeli vessels for quite some time now. In that context, the unprecedented attack by Israel on ‘Saviz’ has sent a resounding message which continues to echo in Tehran.
Interestingly, the ship attacked by Israel was weaponised and used most often by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). A Saudi owned channel in 2018 claimed, “It has been equipped with four 50-caliber machine guns that have been hidden by the ships’ crew…It also has a satellite and highly-developed military communications system.”In light of such details, one can gauge the importance of the ship for Iran, and how easily Israel was able to target it.
Then, on Sunday came the attack on the Natanz nuclear facility. Reports suggest that the attack on the site, where the new and advanced centrifuges started operating just hours before the blackout, has taken Iran’s nuclear programme back by at least nine months. It is therefore not surprising that Iran is threatening Israel with retaliation for what it has termed an act of “nuclear terrorism” on its soil. It has now been authoritatively established that the attack was indeed orchestrated by the Mossad.
The same can be ascertained from the fact that Israeli Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi gave a rare strong hint pointing to Israeli involvement, as he said, “The IDF’s actions throughout the Middle East are not hidden from our enemies’ vision, who are observing us, seeing our capabilities and carefully considering their next steps.”
The remark was made by the top General at a time when US’ defence secretary Lloyd Austin was on an official tour to Israel on Sunday. While the Pentagon chief declared an “enduring and ironclad” American commitment to Israel, the Jewish nation was working to protect itself from Iran and Joe Biden’s mess in the region.
If you thought Israel was done with Iran just yet, you are horribly wrong. As it turns out, Israel also seems to have been involved in Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, meeting with a rather extreme accident, while travelling to Kashan on Sunday to visit the Natanz facility.
According to Iranian news agency IRIB, Kamalvandi fell from a seven-metre height and suffered injuries on his head and an ankle. All said and done, how does a nuclear official of Iran, on his way to a site which has been attacked by Israel, just happen to fall into a 7-metre-deep gorge?
The simple fact remains that Israel has sent out a loud and clear message to all Iranians involved in the nuclear programme: ‘If you do not abandon or sabotage it, we will get to you, and it will not be a pretty sight thereafter.’ Iran, which for so long has been taking Israel casually, has just been made to realise that the Jewish nation can strike deep into the heart of Iran and cause grave damages to it. Joe Biden, meanwhile, has been told that Israel does not need the United States to defend itself, and can very well imperil Iran’s nuclear programme alone. Netanyahu has thus outsmarted both Khamenei and Biden.