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Israeli sources believe that the attack on Iran last month hampered the Islamic Republic’s development of two types of nuclear warheads and an “electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon that could cripple Israel electronically,” The Washington Post reported on July 26.
Israel launched the attack on June 13, stating that its goal was to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. Later, however, it expanded its targets to include the Islamic Republic’s missile program. A ceasefire was suddenly announced on June 24, just two days after the United States joined the war by attacking three key nuclear sites.
The damage to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs was compounded by Israel’s assassination of the first tier, second tier and most of the third tier of Iranian physicists and nuclear scientists, sources cited by the Post said.
The assassinations reportedly halted Iran’s development of the EMP, a weapon that emits powerful bursts of electromagnetic energy that can paralyze electrical networks.
Development of an EMP weapon was promoted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as an alternative to nuclear arms, since atomic weapons are nominally banned under a religious decree, known as “fatwa” in Arabic, by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to the Post.
Despite Khamenei’s fatwa, Israeli sources told the newspaper that they believe Iran was making progress on two types of nuclear warheads: a standard fission warhead, which splits atoms, and a more complex fusion warhead, which forces atoms together.
Work on the fusion-warhead project was halted as a result of Israel’s strikes against Iranian nuclear scientists, the Post said.
“Iran is no longer a nuclear threshold state” and would require one to two years to build a nuclear weapon, a well-informed Israeli source told the newspaper, noting that Israel would likely be able to detect and destroy a potential Iranian effort to quickly build a crude nuclear device.
The Israeli attack on Iran claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, according to the authorities of the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with a series of deadly ballistic missile attacks that killed 28 people in Israel.
While Israel officials, including those who spoke to the Post, insist that the attack dealt a heavy blow to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, there are strong indications that Israel may be actually preparing another attack on the Islamic Republic.
Last month, Mossad chief David Barnea said that Israel inflicted significant damage on Iran but indicated that Israel needs to continue its operations.
Furthermore, a report published by The New York Times earlier in the week revealed that Israel might be behind a series of blasts that rocked the Islamic Republic. The series began after the end of the 12-day war.
Defense Minister Israel Katz also warned very recently that a renewed campaign against the Islamic Republic was a possibility.
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