Israel would not be able to attack Iran’s nuclear programme without the US, a former Israeli prime minister has warned in an interview with The Telegraph.
Mr Olmert also revealed for the first time that when he made the decision as Israeli leader in 2007 to launch an attack on Syria’s nuclear programme, he had forewarned [Gordon Brown, then the UK prime minister](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gordon-brown/).
There were two world leaders who knew about the attack, Mr Olmert said. “One was President Bush, with whom I took counsel for a long time.”
“The only other head of state that I shared this information with was Gordon Brown. I told him about the atomic reactor in Syria and that we were going to destroy it.”
The government and agencies, Mr Olmert continued, responded to his sharing of intelligence with gratitude. “They told me they would never forget the trust that Israel bestowed upon them, sharing such sensitive information before a military operation.”
rom_sk on
The US had successfully frozen the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. But then a certain orange idiot – with Bibi’s strong support – decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. So, quit Bibi, and we’ll quit Trump, then we can talk again.
NyriasNeo on
He means Maverick.
MuzzledScreaming on
We made a whole Tom Cruise movie out of it and everything.
Zeke83702 on
With all the money Americans have given Israel you’d think they could do it themselves. Bunch of whiny little beggars if you ask me.
GayFurryHacker on
Yeah, sounds like something you say just before you attack the bunkers.
Murderousdrifter on
Iran has indicated they are willing to engage on a new agreement, there’s no way the Biden administration agrees to assist in this attack, an attack which likely at best will only postpone Iran’s nuclear ambitions temporarily, when there’s a better chance of either this administration or the next coming to a new agreement.
Like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
loiteraries on
Both David Petraeus and retired Gen. Ken McKenzie who were CENTCOM commanders gave public interviews where they did not sound confident that the nuke program can be ended with air strikes because they say Iran has built these facilities very deep into mountains that bunker busters cannot penetrate into all sites scattered all over the country. Gen. McKenzie said even for US military such an operation would be logistically complex and he doubts Israel has that capacity at all with their smaller air-force and limited logistical arm.
Kickstand8604 on
Correction:the Israelis WANT the us to do their dirty work
No_Bet_4427 on
Olmert has been out of power since early 2009, more than 15 years ago. He doesn’t have any more knowledge about Israel’s current capabilities than the average Redditor.
That said, my completely uninformed guess is that he’s right. Iran’s nuclear sites are spread out across the country and buried deep underground. Israel likely doesn’t have the resources to reach them all.
BlahBlahBlackCheap on
Yea, no. Do it yourself.
alimanski on
Olmert has been out of the picture for more than 15 years. And when he was in the picture, he brought about the disastrous management of the Second Lebanon War (2006). Moreover, he’s a convicted corrupt career politician. His opinion with regards to what Israel can, or can’t do militarily is quite utterly worthless.
Rulweylan on
‘They called dibs. Gotta respect the dibs’
theanedditor on
No you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
No **you do it**!
***No, you*** *do it!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
**No** you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
**No you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
ultimatemuffin on
Obama already destroyed their Nuclear program.
Trump gave it back to them.
ConorsTitaniumShin on
Why do we have to be the ones to do it? Let it be Israel or Saudi Arabia’s turn.
refaelha on
That clown has no idea what he’s talking about
DudeofallDudes on
Didn’t Trump pull out of that deal Obama made to inspect their nuclear facilities?
Pusfilledonut on
No shit, and estimates are it would take 60-90 days and American troops…fuck that.
DadVap on
We don’t need another war thanks.
TheMannX on
How about the US STOP fighting Israel’s wars. They’ve been killing people in that part of the world for over 20 years, spent *trillions* of dollars and had several thousand American soldiers come back in caskets and accomplished *nothing*. Absolutely fucking bupkis.
Let the Israelis fix their own shit.
Cherocai on
Leaving the JCPOA is probably the biggest foreign policy mistake of the past decade. The Mossad knew that iran was abiding to the agreement. Trump even said himself when he withdrew from the agreement that it was due to irans ballistic missile programm which makes it even weirder how his supporters still pretend the worlds 2 biggest intelligence agencies would somehow not notice a nuclear weapons program, that requires thousands of people, is absurd.
silly-rabbitses on
The High Sparrow has spoken.
crojin08 on
We can destroy the world too that doesn’t mean we are going to do it and not for a war criminal like Netanyahu change your leadership
ultimatepizza on
Why doesn’t the US simply destroy everyone’s nuclear program?
Are they stupid?
Clutterboxx on
Yeah dying for the interests of Israeli leader’s fuck ups is completely off the table
RaisinBrain2Scoups on
Not our job
jericho on
Facts on the fucking ground, same as it been for years; Iran could have nukes in weeks. They could bolt them onto a ballistic missile in a day. They have chosen not to.
It’s a power game we’re playing.
The only good thing happening here is that they’re still playing the game. Just like the tit for tat rocket exchanges, and the strongly worded statements. Let’s keep it that way.
28 Comments
From The Telegraph:
Israel would not be able to attack Iran’s nuclear programme without the US, a former Israeli prime minister has warned in an interview with The Telegraph.
[Ehud Olmert](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/17/nato-should-help-restore-gaza-strip-says-ehud-olmert/) said Israel might not have the “[capacity to penetrate the deep underground bunkers](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/19/us-air-force-bunker-buster-penetrator-bombs-weapons-bombers/) that are spread in different parts of Iran”.
Instead, he suggested, an attack on [Iran’s nuclear programme](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/02/israel-urged-to-attack-iran-nuclear-programme/) would have to be carried out by the US with Israeli assistance.
“Then it’s a different story. It has to be an American decision,” Mr Olmert said. He added: “[There are many other targets for Israel](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/02/israel-options-retaliatory-strikes-iran-weapons-leaders-oil/) that will be painful and significant and possibly also deter [Iran].”
Joe Biden has said he doesn’t support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites [in retaliation for the 180 ballistic missiles](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/10/05/israel-significant-attack-oct7-massacre-anniversary/) fired by Tehran at Israel last week. But pressure has been building from Donald Trump, who said over the weekend he supports strikes.
Mr Olmert also revealed for the first time that when he made the decision as Israeli leader in 2007 to launch an attack on Syria’s nuclear programme, he had forewarned [Gordon Brown, then the UK prime minister](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gordon-brown/).
There were two world leaders who knew about the attack, Mr Olmert said. “One was President Bush, with whom I took counsel for a long time.”
“The only other head of state that I shared this information with was Gordon Brown. I told him about the atomic reactor in Syria and that we were going to destroy it.”
The government and agencies, Mr Olmert continued, responded to his sharing of intelligence with gratitude. “They told me they would never forget the trust that Israel bestowed upon them, sharing such sensitive information before a military operation.”
The US had successfully frozen the Iranian regime’s nuclear program. But then a certain orange idiot – with Bibi’s strong support – decided to withdraw from the nuclear agreement. So, quit Bibi, and we’ll quit Trump, then we can talk again.
He means Maverick.
We made a whole Tom Cruise movie out of it and everything.
With all the money Americans have given Israel you’d think they could do it themselves. Bunch of whiny little beggars if you ask me.
Yeah, sounds like something you say just before you attack the bunkers.
Iran has indicated they are willing to engage on a new agreement, there’s no way the Biden administration agrees to assist in this attack, an attack which likely at best will only postpone Iran’s nuclear ambitions temporarily, when there’s a better chance of either this administration or the next coming to a new agreement.
Like it or not, it’s just the way it is.
Both David Petraeus and retired Gen. Ken McKenzie who were CENTCOM commanders gave public interviews where they did not sound confident that the nuke program can be ended with air strikes because they say Iran has built these facilities very deep into mountains that bunker busters cannot penetrate into all sites scattered all over the country. Gen. McKenzie said even for US military such an operation would be logistically complex and he doubts Israel has that capacity at all with their smaller air-force and limited logistical arm.
Correction:the Israelis WANT the us to do their dirty work
Olmert has been out of power since early 2009, more than 15 years ago. He doesn’t have any more knowledge about Israel’s current capabilities than the average Redditor.
That said, my completely uninformed guess is that he’s right. Iran’s nuclear sites are spread out across the country and buried deep underground. Israel likely doesn’t have the resources to reach them all.
Yea, no. Do it yourself.
Olmert has been out of the picture for more than 15 years. And when he was in the picture, he brought about the disastrous management of the Second Lebanon War (2006). Moreover, he’s a convicted corrupt career politician. His opinion with regards to what Israel can, or can’t do militarily is quite utterly worthless.
‘They called dibs. Gotta respect the dibs’
No you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
No **you do it**!
***No, you*** *do it!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
**No** you do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
**No you** do it!
*No,* ***you do it****!*
No **you** do it!
*No,* ***you*** *do it!*
Obama already destroyed their Nuclear program.
Trump gave it back to them.
Why do we have to be the ones to do it? Let it be Israel or Saudi Arabia’s turn.
That clown has no idea what he’s talking about
Didn’t Trump pull out of that deal Obama made to inspect their nuclear facilities?
No shit, and estimates are it would take 60-90 days and American troops…fuck that.
We don’t need another war thanks.
How about the US STOP fighting Israel’s wars. They’ve been killing people in that part of the world for over 20 years, spent *trillions* of dollars and had several thousand American soldiers come back in caskets and accomplished *nothing*. Absolutely fucking bupkis.
Let the Israelis fix their own shit.
Leaving the JCPOA is probably the biggest foreign policy mistake of the past decade. The Mossad knew that iran was abiding to the agreement. Trump even said himself when he withdrew from the agreement that it was due to irans ballistic missile programm which makes it even weirder how his supporters still pretend the worlds 2 biggest intelligence agencies would somehow not notice a nuclear weapons program, that requires thousands of people, is absurd.
The High Sparrow has spoken.
We can destroy the world too that doesn’t mean we are going to do it and not for a war criminal like Netanyahu change your leadership
Why doesn’t the US simply destroy everyone’s nuclear program?
Are they stupid?
Yeah dying for the interests of Israeli leader’s fuck ups is completely off the table
Not our job
Facts on the fucking ground, same as it been for years; Iran could have nukes in weeks. They could bolt them onto a ballistic missile in a day. They have chosen not to.
It’s a power game we’re playing.
The only good thing happening here is that they’re still playing the game. Just like the tit for tat rocket exchanges, and the strongly worded statements. Let’s keep it that way.