The Biden administration’s failure to present a credible military response to Iran’s expanding nuclear program has brought Israel closer than ever to launching a military strike on Tehran, according to a retired Israeli general.
Retired brigadier general Amir Avivi, who spent 30 years in the Israel Defense Forces and now serves as chairman of the Israel Defense and Security Forum think tank, predicted that Israel could launch a strike in as little as three months if the Biden administration does not unite its Middle Eastern allies around a plan to combat Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon.
An Israeli military strike, Avivi said in a wide-ranging interview, “is bad for everybody, but this is at the moment what’s going to happen, and maybe happen in three months, in six months, maybe a year.”
Israel’s deadline for a strike is shrinking due to Iran’s relationship with Russia and support for its war in Ukraine. Moscow could provide Iran with advanced air defense systems that would make it harder for Israel to attack its nuclear sites. And without an anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East, Israel’s options are limited, Avivi said.
Israel and its Arab neighbors that fear a nuclear Iran “need the West to wake up and react to this development,” Avivi said. “At the moment, the U.S. is sitting on the fence, not deciding to lead and build a coalition that will stabilize [the region] and challenge” the Iran-Russia alliance.