Iran
Ex-parliamentary chairman Ali Motahhari’s admission that Iran’s nuclear program was military from the start has caused a stir in Iran and reflects the disagreements within Iran’s military-religious leadership on the development and use of nuclear weapons.
The meetings with Iranian officials will be attended by senior Hamas members from Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, according to Iranian media.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart discussed “regional and global security issues” in Washington.
With Tehran digging in its heels over its demand that the IRGC be delisted as a terrorist organization, and adding fresh demands, Israeli diplomats say Jerusalem’s working assumption is that a new deal will not be forthcoming.
The heads of state also “discussed the Iranian issue, in particular the Iranian demand to remove the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) from the US Foreign Terror Organization (FTO) list.”
It emphasizes that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its Quds Force are responsible for training and funding Islamic terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Professor Jacob Nagel says that a “no deal” scenario is better than the current faulty proposal and that the time for new proactive steps to stop Iran’s nuclear program is overdue.
“At the end of the day, all missiles, including space launchers, are built by Iran’s military industries, and all of the industries belong to the IRGC. The connection was always there to begin with,” says Tal Inbar.
“If you make slightest move against our nation ... our armed forces’ destination will be the heart of the Zionist regime,” says Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi.
Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on American-Israeli relations, says the White House remains fixated on a poor Iran deal, though good ties between the Israeli and U.S. defense ministers have facilitated some coordination.
Mohammad Pakpour, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, insists that Iran “should avenge him.”
Israeli observers say certain Sunni Gulf states are seeking to drive a wedge between Iran and Syria.
