Having a military contingency plan against Iran's nuclear program is a moral obligation, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said on Sunday.
Kochavi, who spoke at the installment of a new homefront command, said that "making preparations within the homefront for the even of war must be accelerated over the next few years, particularly because we might be required to act against the nuclear threat posed by Iran."
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Kochavi said that it would be irresponsible not to envision a scenario in which military action would potentially be necessary. "Blocking Iran's path to nuclearization through diplomacy is the preferred option, but history has shown time and again that diplomacy can fail or only be a shortlived success."
His comments come against the backdrop of ongoing threats by Iran against Israel and a string of mysterious deaths of its scientists and key operatives that has been blamed on Israel's alleged clandestine sabotage efforts.
"The IDF must prepare for any contingency and development," he said. "Preparing a military option against Iran's nuclear program is a moral imperative and a national security necessity; it is at the heart of our preparations, with many operational plans and resources allocated to it in order to have combat worthiness should the political echelon decide to use it."
On Sunday senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told Al Jazeera that Tehran is technically capable of making a nuclear bomb but has yet to decide whether to build one.
"In a few days, we were able to enrich uranium up to 60%, and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium... Iran has the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb, but there has been no decision by Iran to build one," Kamal Kharrazi said.
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