Communications

Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, said that after Assad’s fall, “the biggest question mark concerns Iran’s nuclear program.” “Tehran could theoretically enrich uranium to a military-grade level of 90% as early as tomorrow and attempt to build a nuclear device within a few months,” Citrinowicz wrote in Ma’ariv this week. “This...

Since the United States’ withdrawal from the multilateral nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, Iran’s nuclear program has progressed almost unimpeded. Although Tehran is careful not to cross the line of military-grade enrichment (90 percent), the program has progressed without interruption. While Iran is suffering from sanctions...

Raz Zimmt, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that snapback is only a “symbolic step,” noting that the U.S. and EU never lifted their sanctions on Iran and that China doesn’t abide by them anyway. “It sends a message to the Iranians if you have U.N. Security Council sanctions, but in practicality, it doesn’t have much...

Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, told Jewish Insider that the choice of targets was meant to “fulfill the American request not to strike nuclear or oil [sites] because the administration doesn’t want a regional war on the eve of an election.” At the same time, Israel wanted to “draw a line for the Iranian leaders, that it...

Yet Iran’s nuclear advancements continue. According to Sima Shine, director of the Iran and the Shi’ite Axis Research Program at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, within two to three weeks, Iran can enrich enough uranium for three nuclear devices. The parallel effort of creating a nuclear warhead, she told JNS this month, would take more time, though...

Sima Shine, director of the Iran and the Shi’ite Axis Research Program at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, highlighted the alarming progress, telling JNS that it was important to distinguish between Iran’s fissile material and the actual work of building a nuclear bomb. “Regarding fissile material, they are very, very close. Within two to three...

The assassination of Abbas Nilforoushan, deputy commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was a hefty blow to the Islamic regime in Tehran, as well as its regional proxies, Benny Sabti, an Iran researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said in a Tuesday interview with Maariv. Nilforoushan was also the commander of the Quds Force in...

Mr. Araqchi’s threats to attack Israel aside, however, Iran is moving ever-closer to becoming a nuclear state. “There are a lot of suspicious activities that might not yet indicate an Iranian decision to break through to a nuclear weapon, but seem designed to shorten the process in case such a decision is made,” an Iran researcher at Tel Aviv University, Raz Zimmt, tells the...

Dr. Raz Zimmt, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, offered a slightly different perspective. Zimmt acknowledged Iran’s significant, though gradual, progress in its nuclear program in the years since President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. But he said that Iran likely has not made a definitive decision...

Israel sees three core threats from Iran: its nuclear program, its ballistic missile program and its regional influence. On nuclear weapons, Iran is too close for comfort. And if the aim was to prevent Iran from becoming a threshold state – it's already there, said Iran expert Raz Zimmt, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and Tel Aviv...