Fears of an all-out war in the Middle East are surging as an expert has warned of Israel‘s potential to launch a retaliatory strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
On Monday, Iran launched a barrage of 180 missiles at Israel, though an Israeli security official claimed most of them were shot down by the country’s air defence systems.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), however, said that 90 percent of the missiles struck their intended targets, adding that hypersonic missiles had been used for the first time.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed retaliation, warning that Iran “will pay” for its attack. He told his security cabinet: “Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it.”
Amid the escalating conflict, BBC‘s Security Correspondent Frank Gardener warned that Israel may ignore Western calls for de-escalation, instead going so far as to target Iran’s nuclear facilities.
He said on an episode of Newscast: “This is dangerous stuff because as sure as night follows day, Israel is going to retaliate to this, and this time it probably won’t listen to any Western calls for restraint.
“It’s going to do what it wants to do and I think that could include hitting the launch sites for those missiles that hit Israel during the day.
“They may even go further and try and use this opportunity to hit Iran’s nuclear facilities. They may go after Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps bases. There’s no knowing in Israel‘s current mood as to where they will stop with this.”
This sentiment has been echoed by Israeli officials, with the country’s former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett calling it the “greatest opportunity in 50 years” to “destroy Iran’s nuclear program”.
He wrote in a post on X: “Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years, to change the face of the Middle East. The leadership of Iran, which used to be good at chess, made a terrible mistake this evening.
“We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime.
“To strike the head of the octopus of terror, that, in its cowardice, sent its tentacles (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, etc.) to murder us, while the Ayatollahs sat safely in their palaces in Tehran.”
Former US Defence Secretary William Cohen added to these claims, saying Israel will “conceivably” target Iran’s nuclear programme.
He told CNN: “I think the Israelis feel that they have got the upper hand, and Iran and its proxies are on their heels, and now is the time to really take it to the source of their problems – and that’s Iran.
“I expect they would level a very serious attack in Iran, against a number of facilities, possibly their oil industry, but conceivably their nuclear facilities.
“This has been a prime objective of the Israelis at some point in time to prevent Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon.
“Iran seems to be getting closer to that possibility, and I think the Israelis are going to at least think seriously about whether now is the time to launch a military attack against the Iranians.”