Israel has not given assurances to the Biden administration that targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities is off the table in retaliation for the Iranian ballistic missile strikes earlier this week, a top US State Department official told CNN on Friday.
IIRC from reading an few earlier articles, the limiting factor is that Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities are underground and can potentially only be penetrated with very large weapons. According to what I read, Israel apparently doesn’t have conventional weapons that can penetrate, which would mean that the US, with heavier bombers, would have to do the strike (and Biden said that he didn’t support hitting the nuclear facilities).
That being said, I haven’t seen anything about using multiple weapons to impact the same spot, and I’m suspicious that with the accuracy of weapons today, it may be possible to just repeatedly hit a single spot and break through.
“Israel can damage Iran’s nuclear program without US assistance, but it is unclear if it can by itself carry out the type of sustained and penetrating conventional attack that would seriously set back the program,” Farzan Sabet, senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told Business Insider.
And I guess that it’s not impossible that Israel could have – knowing that Iran has underground facilities – built something that they’ve kept quiet specifically aimed at penetration.
I don’t know how hard building a tandem-charge weapon is, but Israel has produced the tandem-charge Spike, and I imagine that they could have some kind of heavier tandem-charge weapon that they’ve quietly tucked away for this sort of situation.
Something I’ve been starting to wonder has to do with Israel’s possible nuke(s). I’m wondering if the reason why Biden keeps bowing to Israel is that Biden calls Netanyahu, tells him to stop or he’ll restrict weapons, and then Netanyahu tells him that if Israel doesn’t get US weapons, then they’ll feel backed into a corner with no other options. Biden gets the implication and backs down. As such, if Israel does indeed have a nuke or nuke(s), they may not need the US to attack Iran’s facilities, but are giving the US a chance to do it for them to avoid nuclear weapons coming into play.
I hope I’m wrong. I’d honestly rather have a president who is spineless than a president who’s being forced into a corner by a supposed ally because they’re threatening to nuke everyone. The latter is extremely scary because it means that calling their bluff could end in a nuclear war.
IIRC from reading an few earlier articles, the limiting factor is that Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities are underground and can potentially only be penetrated with very large weapons. According to what I read, Israel apparently doesn’t have conventional weapons that can penetrate, which would mean that the US, with heavier bombers, would have to do the strike (and Biden said that he didn’t support hitting the nuclear facilities).
That being said, I haven’t seen anything about using multiple weapons to impact the same spot, and I’m suspicious that with the accuracy of weapons today, it may be possible to just repeatedly hit a single spot and break through.
EDIT:
https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-not-able-to-take-down-iran-nuclear-sites-own-2024-10
https://archive.ph/nk1KB#selection-2009.126-2017.96
And I guess that it’s not impossible that Israel could have – knowing that Iran has underground facilities – built something that they’ve kept quiet specifically aimed at penetration.
I don’t know how hard building a tandem-charge weapon is, but Israel has produced the tandem-charge Spike, and I imagine that they could have some kind of heavier tandem-charge weapon that they’ve quietly tucked away for this sort of situation.
Something I’ve been starting to wonder has to do with Israel’s possible nuke(s). I’m wondering if the reason why Biden keeps bowing to Israel is that Biden calls Netanyahu, tells him to stop or he’ll restrict weapons, and then Netanyahu tells him that if Israel doesn’t get US weapons, then they’ll feel backed into a corner with no other options. Biden gets the implication and backs down. As such, if Israel does indeed have a nuke or nuke(s), they may not need the US to attack Iran’s facilities, but are giving the US a chance to do it for them to avoid nuclear weapons coming into play.
I hope I’m wrong. I’d honestly rather have a president who is spineless than a president who’s being forced into a corner by a supposed ally because they’re threatening to nuke everyone. The latter is extremely scary because it means that calling their bluff could end in a nuclear war.