#Israel bunker buster missile full

Instead of removing US sanctions in return for Iran coming back to full compliance with the nuclear deal – as envisaged by Biden – Israeli officials are pushing for the continuation of the Trump-era maximum pressure campaign to force stricter limits on Iran’s nuclear programme and to curb its regional activities and development of missiles. However, future military action by Israel cannot be entirely discounted, given its long-standing operational planning and its track record of military intervention throughout the region. For now, such signalling is likely designed to increase Israeli leverage over Washington.

These complexities are underscored by renewed Israeli threats to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran. This is a challenge that the US and E3 governments will have to manage carefully if they are to restore the nuclear deal and prevent further escalation in the Middle East.

Netanyahu’s government is once again gearing up to oppose the revival of the deal and seems set to lead a concerted campaign to disrupt the talks, potentially alongside his new Gulf Arab friends. Six years on, there is a sense of déjà vu. Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, took a hardline stance against the original agreement, enlisting the US Republican Party in his efforts as he repeatedly clashed with President Barack Obama. But, even with reinvigorated transatlantic cooperation, they will still face significant obstacles – not least of which will be the responses of Israel and its Gulf Arab allies, which have shown varying degrees of opposition to any international compromise with Iran. These are welcome words for the E3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) as they begin working with the new US administration to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear agreement with Iran. In his first foreign policy speech since entering the White House, President Joe Biden’s message was clear: “diplomacy is back at the centre of our foreign policy”.

Israel bunker buster missile