'Drawing a Red Line in The Sand': Iran Reconsiders Nuclear Policy Following Israeli Threats
© AFP 2023 / ATTA KENARE
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The Iranian commander asserted that Iran is prepared to repel any Israeli attacks on its nuclear facilities and has also identified the location of “all Israeli nuclear facilities”.
In response to potential threats from Israel against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Brigadier General Ahmad Haghtalab, commander of Iran's Nuclear Centers Protection and Security Corps of the IRGC warned that any aggression would result in a forceful response. Iran is also reconsidering its nuclear policy following Israel’s threat.
Dr. David Oualaalou joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Thursday to discuss Iran's policy change. Oualaalou is an international geopolitical consultant, global speaker, author, veteran, and former international security analyst in Washington, DC.
“There's a lot of elements pertaining to this particular shift in policy, should this move forward,” said Oualaalou. “So it behooves critics to put to rest these nonsense statements that, for example, Iran's nuclear program will dominate the world because that's what was stated. That it's going to wipe out Israel, that it's going to take over the Middle East. No, no, no, no, no, no, it has nothing to do with that.”
“Because back then, the idea was that Iran was not thinking in terms of the bomb in itself. It wanted to have the nuclear capability for civilian use,” he added, noting that the under the Trump administration, the US pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and in doing so, he said, "[violated] any or all the treaties that usually manage these kind of agreements.”
“[By] reimposing more sanctions on Iran, what is Iran supposed to do?” he continued. “Any time [a government] crosses the threshold of the 90% of enrichment that means that uranium becomes weapons grade. But with the circumstances right now that just took place with Israel attacking Iran in Damascus and Iran responding, one of the wild cards that's going to be now, which will create an even worse scenario for Israel, is that if Iran makes the decision to move forward with building the bomb.”
The geopolitical consultant added that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made a mistake in claiming that their missile defense system intercepted 99% of Iran’s missiles, and that the correct percentage is 84%, a journalist claimed.
BREAKING: ISRAEL NOW SAY THEY REPELLED ONLY 84% OF IRAN’S MISSILE ATTACKS AND NOT 99%
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) April 18, 2024
Insights from air defense analysts reveal a lower rate of attack interception than initially claimed by IDF officials, with an estimated repulsion rate of around 84% according to Israeli… pic.twitter.com/rFpTZbTqIN
“Gone [is] that era when Israel will not have to think about retaliation from Iran because Iran now put the red line in the sand,” Oualaalou said. “What concerns me now the most, especially in that part of the world, is the upcoming military drill between the Philippines and the US that will be outside the territorial waters of the Philippines. That is, to me, a major provocation towards the Chinese.”
“Haven't we had enough with the massive amount of debt that the country, our country, is sinking into and [we're] just sending money at the expense of an average American here? Shame on our government,” he added.
“The [US] is concerned about [its] military bases in the Middle East that are within reach of every type of missile that Iran has developed. And once we start seeing body bags coming here, you're going to see the change in the policy. And, this is why [the US] is concerned as to how far Israel is going to go, and that is the reason why its war cabinet has not reached a decision whether to retaliate against Iran or not, because they know what the consequences will be,” said Oualaalou.
On Thursday, the US Department of the Treasury announced that the had US imposed new Iran-related sanctions on 16 individuals and two entities, targeting the country's UAV program, steel and automobile industries in response to Iran's retaliatory strike on Israel over the weekend. It was reported on the same day that the UK also added the general staff of the Iranian armed forces and the navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to its sanctions list, according to the updated document.
On Thursday night, Israel reportedly struck a site in Iran, according to US officials. An explosion was heard in the city of Qahjavaristan, Isfahan, according to Iranian Media.
