A senior Israeli diplomatic source over the weekend rejected the assessment of the former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, who told Israel Hayom in an interview published on Friday that "at this time, a return to the nuclear deal [with Iran] is good for Israel."
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According to the senior Israeli official, "Reserve General Hayman was a serious, thinking officer, and the argument he raised as to the advantages of returning to the nuclear deal is not unfounded. With that, in the holistic view and after a deep, extended examination of the matter, the costs of a nuclear deal far outweigh the benefits."
A nuclear deal, the senior official countered Hayman, would not buy time for Israel.
"The immediate significance of returning to a nuclear deal, if it happens, is a jumpstart to the Iranian economy, which is currently in shambles, and injecting billions of dollars to its proxy organizations. The money that will be transferred to terrorist groups will fuel their activities and pose immediate challenges to the [Israeli] defense establishment. Therefore, a deal won't buy Israel time; but rather the opposite, will make things very difficult for it," the official said.
As stated, Hayman told Israel Hayom over the weekend that a nuclear deal with Iran "would diminish and offset the amount of enriched uranium Iran has; it would set it back and it would buy [us] a very long time because enrichment takes a long time."
Israel could put this time to good use, he continued. "It can be used to issue threats, improve military capabilities, form international coalitions, or put in place infrastructure for the day after the current deal elapses."
"At any point in time, things should be examined according to the data available," Hayman added. "So what does Iran have at the moment? According to Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Iran already has more than 50 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%, when one bomb requires 42 kg, meaning that they have exceeded the amount of fissile material sufficient to produce the first bomb.
"This means that the situation that would have happened once the nuclear deal elapsed [in 2030] wouldn't have been as bad as the current situation, as Iran has stockpiled so much enriched material and its abilities have advanced beyond what the deal had allowed it to pursue.
"Therefore, my conclusion is that in the reality of here and now, reaching a deal is the right thing," he said.
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