Netanyahu: Iran will pay heavy price for murder of civilians, Israel nearing victory
It is true that Israel has taken a substantial bite out of Tehran's nuclear program, but it is far from down for the count.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday arrived at the scene of the overnight Iranian missile strike on Bat Yam, where he said that Iran would pay the price for the strike and urged Israelis to follow Home Front Command guidelines.
“Iran will pay a very heavy price for the murder of civilians. We will also achieve our goal. We are here because we are in an existential battle, which today is understood by every citizen of Israel,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu: Think would what would happen if Iran had 20,000 ballistic missiles
“Think about what would happen if Iran had 20,000 missiles like this. It would be an existential threat to Israel. That is why we launched a war of salvation against a dual annihilation threat, and we are doing so with strength.”The prime minister added that Israel is "nearing a victory" against the Islamic Republic, saying that the IDF has destroyed Isfahan's nuclear facility. "Without it, it is impossible to build nuclear weapons, he added.
Netanyahu's statement is partially true, but not entirely.
It is true that Israel has taken a substantial bite out of Tehran's nuclear program, but it is far from down for the count.
For example, due to the strike on Natanz and on other sites, the Islamic Republic has lost much of its centrifuge fleet for enriching uranium, much of its enriched uranium, and at least the presumed lead site for producing uranium metal and hemispheres to place on a nuclear warhead at Isfahan.
However, given the centrifuge fleet and enriched uranium at Fordow and some other sites, the program's leftovers are still quite advanced.
The IDF has repeatedly denied having attacked Fordow, and Israel is repeatedly asking the US to join the fray.
The US has a 30,000 MOAB (Mother of All Bombs), which most analysts believe could penetrate the Fordow facility under the mountain.
One unclear question is whether there is another site that can take highly enriched uranium and convert it into uranium metal and hemispheres for use on a nuclear warhead, and how long it would take Iran to replace that site if there is no other such site currently.
If this one task could be replaced in several months or even a year, then the remaining pieces of Iran's nuclear program mean that the nuclear threat is only delayed, and only for that period of time, but not removed.
In contrast, if Fordow was also destroyed, it could take much longer for Iran to rebuild its entire fleet of centrifuges, enough to enrich enough uranium for a nuclear weapon.
