Defense Minister Israel Katz said that while President Trump is pursuing a nuclear deal with Iran, Israel must retain the ability to act independently to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Katz said he and Prime Minister Netanyahu have instructed the IDF to prepare accordingly, and reiterated that Israel will not withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and northern Samaria.
Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed at 18:11 Jerusalem that he and Prime Minister Netanyahu have formally instructed the IDF to prepare for independent military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, even as President Trump leads nuclear negotiations with Tehran. The instruction, Katz said, ensures Israel retains an independent capacity to act should the emerging deal fail to meet core principles on nuclear weapons, missiles, and Iran's terror proxies.
The directive lands as the latest in a thread The Zioneer has tracked since 15:23 Jerusalem, when Netanyahu framed the struggle against Iran's nuclear program as a 30-year personal mission and cited full agreement with Trump. By 17:24, Katz had issued a series of statements — first acknowledging the US-led talks while instructing the IDF to prepare, then specifying that Israel expects the deal to uphold core principles, and finally detailing that the IDF will not withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and northern Samaria. The 18:11 confirmation from Katz's office formalizes the military-readiness directive and provides the first specific operational instruction from the civilian leadership to the IDF. The corroboration has been consistent throughout: each statement has been attributed directly to Katz's office.
As The Zioneer reported on June 8, Jerusalem has previously rejected Tehran's attempt to link a cessation of direct missile strikes to an end of IDF operations against Hezbollah. A June 5 report noted that Iran had attacked Kuwait and that nuclear talks had hit a cash-demand wall, while on June 9 Netanyahu warned the cabinet to prepare for potential isolation as US military activity surged in the region.
What remains open: the timing and scope of the operational preparation, whether it includes an explicit authorization to strike, and how it interacts with the pace and outcome of the US-Iran negotiations.
4 developments
- DevelopingKatz: PM and I ordered IDF to prepare for independent military action against Iran
- DevelopingIsraeli government orders IDF to keep preparing target banks for future escalation, expects US-Iran deal to collapse
- DevelopingSenior Israeli security source: Israel and US coordinate joint strike scenarios on Iran
- ConfirmedKatz in situation assessment: Iran's nuclear program eliminated, IDF ordered to prepare for independent strike
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