Report: Preconditions in place for Israeli Iran strike

Ronen Bergman, writing this week in the New York Times Magazine, assesses that three preconditions are in place: Israel is able to cause major damage to Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program and is able to withstand a counterattack; Israel has tacit American support; all other methods short of an attack are close to exhausted and this may be the last chance for a successful attack.

Bergman bases his conclusions on interviews with a range of top Israeli defense officials. Notably, two of them — Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya’alon, the deputy prime minister and minister of strategic affairs — speak extensively on the record.

Barak tells Bergman that the opportunity for a successful strike will likely close out this year.