Israel army says had intel Iran nuclear program nearing ‘point of no return’

The Israeli military said on Friday that the intelligence it had gathered showed Iran was approaching the “point of no return” on its nuclear program.

“In recent months, accumulated intelligence information has provided evidence that the Iranian regime is approaching the point of no return,” it said in a statement.

“The convergence of the Iranian regime’s efforts to produce thousands of kilograms of enriched uranium, alongside decentralized and fortified enrichment compounds in underground facilities, enables the Iranian regime to enrich uranium to military-grade levels, enabling the regime to obtain a nuclear weapon within a short period of time,” it added.

In a separate briefing to journalists, Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said that Israeli jets had also “attacked and damaged” Iranian air defense systems.

Defrin said Israel saw a three-pronged threat from Iran.

Firstly, Iran was “rushing toward a nuclear bomb”, he alleged.

“We are now revealing for the first time, based on intelligence, that the Iranian regime has established a secret program,” he said.

“As part of this program, senior nuclear scientists in Iran secretly conducted experiments to advance all the necessary components for building a nuclear weapon.

“This is unequivocal proof that the Iranian regime is working to acquire nuclear weapons in the near future,” he claimed.

Defrin said the second part of the threat involved Iran building thousands of ballistic missiles “with plans to double and triple them.”

“The third component: the Iranian regime continues to arm, fund and direct its proxies across the Middle East against the State of Israel,” he added.

“Our operation’s goal is to eliminate the threat.”