Former Mossad chief and minister Yuval Steinitz told Army Radio that despite disappointment with the emerging agreement, Israel's military achievements against Iran are substantial: Iran is no longer a nuclear threshold state, its nuclear program has been set back years, and Tehran cannot produce tens of thousands of missiles as planned, possessing only what remains in its arsenal.
Yuval Steinitz, former Mossad director and minister of national infrastructure and energy, offered a strategic assessment on Army Radio (Galei Tzahal) that balances acknowledgement of a diplomatic compromise with emphasis on the security achievements already secured through military action.
Steinitz stated that while many Israelis may be disappointed by the contours of the emerging US-brokered agreement with Iran, the operational campaign — primarily attributed to Israeli strikes and intelligence efforts — has fundamentally altered Tehran's strategic position. He assessed that Iran is no longer a 'nuclear threshold state,' a term denoting a country with the technical capability to produce a weapon in a short timeframe. The nuclear project has been delayed by years, and Iran now lacks the industrial base to manufacture the tens of thousands of missiles it had planned, relying only on what remains of its pre-existing arsenal.
The assessment adds a distinct voice to the ongoing Israeli debate over the emerging US-Iran memorandum, which as The Zioneer reported earlier this week, has drawn sharp criticism from some analysts who warn it is a strategic trap that freezes Israeli military momentum. Steinitz, a veteran of strategic decision-making, does not endorse the agreement but argues that the battlefield outcomes have already shifted the facts on the ground — a framing likely to influence the security and political establishment's internal discussion.
What remains open: Steinitz did not address whether the diplomatic framework solidifies those gains or leaves Iran a path to reconstitution once sanctions are lifted.
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Source and signal
- Internal intake