Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu \u2013 facing a crucial election later this year \u2013 has hinted that he may be considering taking unilateral action to prolong a costly war with Iran, even as Washington and Tehran appear to be close to an interim deal to open the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe heard today the commander of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad Vahidi, declare that Iran intends to continue developing a nuclear weapon,\u201d Netanyahu claimed<\/a> in an assertion, even though no official statement from Vahidi on the matter has been released by the Iranian government or official media.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n Still, Netanyahu saw the opportunity to once again frame Iran\u2019s nuclear threat as existential.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Israel\u2019s prime minister, I am determined to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,\u201d Netanyahu told attendees at a state ceremony in West Jerusalem.<\/p>\n Describing the United States as \u201cIsrael\u2019s greatest ally\u201d, Netanyahu nevertheless added that he was prepared to do \u201cwhatever is necessary\u201d to guarantee Israel\u2019s security.<\/p>\n Israel has officially struck Iran only once since April\u2019s initial ceasefire<\/a> between the US and Iran took effect, even after it later broke down and the two sides resumed hostilities in the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n But observers \u2013 including US President Donald Trump \u2013 believe that Netanyahu wants to keep the US engaged in the fight against Iran, which began in late February with a joint US-Israeli attack that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n Addressing reports that Netanyahu planned to bring fresh intelligence to Washington alleging that Iran was stockpiling uranium at its Pickaxe Mountain<\/a> facility near Natanz in central Iran, Trump told reporters: \u201cI don\u2019t need Bibi to tell me that. Bibi is telling me that because he wants me to stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n He then sharpened his criticism<\/a> of the Israeli prime minister, adding: \u201cWhy don\u2019t you just tell it to me? Why do you have to announce it to the world?\u201d<\/p>\n Fight alone<\/p>\n With the US and Israel unable so far to topple the Iranian state or force concessions on the Strait of Hormuz, many analysts believe that the war has been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n Iran\u2019s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 formerly a free waterway \u2013 has paralysed much of the world\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n Global oil prices have increased, with shortages in the supplies of liquified gas, fertiliser exports, sulphur supplies, and petrochemical feedstocks all threatening to ripple through international supply lines.<\/p>\n \u201cThe war against Iran is a strategic catastrophe,\u201d said Ahron Bregman, an Israeli security analyst and senior teaching fellow in the Department for War Studies at King\u2019s College London. \u201cNone of the original aims has been achieved\u2026 Trump is desperate for an exit. Almost at any price. He only cares about opening the [strait].\u201d<\/p>\n But in Israel, the focus is less on the world\u2019s economy, and more on the perceived danger posed by Iran and its allied groups across the region.<\/p>\n Netanyahu has consistently pursued a hawkish line on Iran, a power he has repeatedly claimed is on the brink of crossing the threshold<\/a> to nuclear weapons capability.<\/p>\n He is also thought to have been among the loudest voices that pushed for Trump to withdraw<\/a> in 2018 from a nuclear deal agreed to by previous US President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s strategy is clear,\u201d said Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Israel\u2019s Misgav Institute for National Security. \u201cIran remains close to achieving nuclear capacity and has shown it\u2019s able to continue producing ballistic missiles and supplying its proxy forces in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n The war on Iran was currently a fiasco from Israel\u2019s perspective, Michael added, with both the US and Iran insisting that they had won.<\/p>\n Michael, however, framed the current negotiations as \u201cuseless\u201d, and unlikely to produce lasting security in the region, reflecting the sentiment in the Israeli security establishment.<\/p>\n Israel, Michael said, was prepared to fight alone if necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael can only have one strategy,\u201d Michael said, \u201cto strike directly at the head of the octopus that threatens global civilisation and to do that alone, if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n That might inflame tensions with the US, Michael added, concluding, \u201cI can\u2019t see any other option.\u201d<\/p>\n Inconceivable<\/p>\n However, while some in Israel were confident of the country\u2019s ability to strike unilaterally at Iran in defiance of US wishes, others expressed caution, suggesting that Netanyahu\u2019s talk of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon might simply be little more than rhetoric ahead of an election that could conceivably jeopardise both his legacy and, as a result of his long-running corruption trial<\/a>, his personal freedom.<\/p>\n The US relationship is important to the Israeli electorate, but relations between Netanyahu and Trump appear to be frostier than normal.<\/p>\n