Israel weighing 5 options post Iran deal, says expert

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israel has five options in hand in case the US reaches a nuclear deal with Iran, according to an expert.

Yonatan Freeman, a professor of political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, told Anadolu Agency that Israel does not have any qualms about the US edging closer to a deal with Iran, but wants its security concerns to be addressed.

He further said Israel is concerned that the deal will destabilize the region by encouraging Iran to continue developing its nuclear program.

Tehran and Washington are both trying the revive the 2015 nuclear deal -- which the former Trump administration abruptly abandoned. The deal puts strict limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange of the lifting of sanctions crippling its economy.

Western countries are also hoping to buy oil and gas from Iran as the EU is set to cut Russian oil imports by this year's end as a punishment for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Freeman laid out five options for Israel to deal with Iran post-deal.

The first is to carry out military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites that produce enriched uranium.

The second option for Israel is to support, secretly or publicly, the Iranian anti-regime opposition in their attempt to topple the existing regime.

Freeman said this option would be similar to what happened in South Africa when the new government ended the nuclear program.

The third option is to use the tactic of "threat to use force" and to activate its deterrence power against Iran.

For the fourth option, Freeman sees that reaching a deal with Iran may push Israel to end its decades-long nuclear ambiguity policy.

He added that Israel would end its ambiguity policy by directly announcing its possession of nuclear weapons, to send a message to Iran of a possible tit-for-tat move.

The fifth and final option, he said, is to intensify Israeli lobbying in the US to push the US administration into withdrawing from the nuclear deal.

- Preparedness for 'nuclear Iran'

Tamir Hayman, the former head of the Israeli army's Military Intelligence, said Israel is already working on accelerating its preparedness for the possibility of Iran being a nuclear power when the deal ends in 2030.

Hayman, who is currently the managing director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said if no deal is reached with Tehran, Israel will have to allocate further resources to increase Israel's preparedness against Iran's nuclear activity

He said there was a possibility of directing a military strike against Iran's nuclear project, if a deal is reached with Tehran, especially noting that Israel is not part of the deal.

Hayman, however, added that if Iran abides by the deal with no nuclear military program, it is likely that Israel's offensive policy against Iran will be focused on Iran's "terrorism exporting."

The term refers to Iran's support of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar