Senior military official: We were a step away from an offensive operation in Iran - and we are still there
A senior military official reveals that Israel was close to an offensive operation in Iran before the elections, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu pushed for a move that would provoke an Iranian response and renew the war. The operation was blocked due to opposition in the IDF top brass, but now the assessment of an additional Israeli-American strike in the November window is growing.
A senior military official says that Israel was "a step away from an offensive operation in Iran" and that it is still on alert for such an operation. The article reveals that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed for an operation "not necessarily an airstrike" before the elections, assuming it would provoke an Iranian response and renew the war. The move encountered opposition from the Chief of Staff, the Air Force commander, and parts of the intelligence community, and was shelved. However, the senior official assesses that now, after the elections, there is a high probability of another joint Israeli-American strike on Iran, with the discussed window being the first or second week of November. The article criticizes Netanyahu's nuclear warnings campaign, describing how he shifted from describing total victory over Iran's nuclear program to presenting it as an immediate existential threat.