June 8, 2025 | The Wall Street Journal
Does Israel Need to Destroy All of Iran’s Nukes?
Partial destruction with the threat of further escalation could nullify Tehran’s nuclear aspirations for years if not forever.
June 8, 2025 | The Wall Street Journal
Does Israel Need to Destroy All of Iran’s Nukes?
Partial destruction with the threat of further escalation could nullify Tehran’s nuclear aspirations for years if not forever.
Bennett Ramberg suggests that Israel doesn’t have the capability to destroy Iran’s nukes (Letters, June 4). We can’t speak for the Israelis, but the conversation among them since Oct. 7, 2023, about the utility of strikes against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites seems to have shifted in favor of raids that needn’t destroy the “totality” of the atomic-weapons program. Partial destruction with the threat of further escalation, which could include Iran’s oil industry, could nullify Tehran’s nuclear aspirations for years if not forever. This calculation would depend on whether Israeli means are sufficient to damage severely the enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordow.
A principal reason Ali Khamenei hasn’t yet tested a nuclear device is surely that he fears Israeli or Western intelligence penetration of his atomic program, which could precipitate military strikes. Fear of such penetration doesn’t disappear with an Israeli strike. It wouldn’t negate renewed, vengeful nuclear ambitions, but it would complicate them. Americans certainly prefer nonmilitary solutions to our foreign problems; Israelis, who often see the Middle East as an array of depressing, bad choices, aim more often for tactical victories that eliminate imminent threats. The Israeli way can lead to egregious mistakes, and the American has repeatedly led us to ignore Tehran’s malevolence, including the death of hundreds of Americans.
Whether the Israelis are willing to undertake preventive strikes without U.S. support remains an open question, especially with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has always sought Washington’s approval and back-stopping. A case can surely be made for unilateral Israeli action since an Iranian bomb is an existential threat to the Jewish state, and a hot Cold War between Israel and a nuclear-armed Iranian theocracy is arguably reason enough to roll the dice.
Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.