IDF Requests Major Budget Increase to Prepare for Possible Attack Against Iran

JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel's military is requesting billions of dollars in shekels to prepare for an attack against Iran's nuclear program, Israeli media report. 

The IDF requested the funds during negotiations over the military's budget, which the new government will pass in the coming months, according to a report from Israel's Kan public broadcaster.

The report also said Israel is preparing for the possibility that indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States in Vienna fail to stop Tehran's nuclear program. Iran and Israel have held indirect talks since April in an effort to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which granted Iran economic incentives in exchange for limits on its nuclear activity. Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plane of Action (JCPOA) – in 2018 and hit Iran hard with heavy sanctions, which led to Iran repeatedly violating the agreement. 

Critics of the JCPOA said it failed to address Iran's ballistic missile program and its development of a nuclear warhead. Supporters of the agreement argue that it significantly decreased Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 3.67% and delayed Iran’s breakout time – the time it would take the country to gather enough fissile material to build a nuclear weapon.

The nuclear talks in Vienna adjourned in June, but their future is in question this week after an Iranian diplomatic official told Reuters on Wednesday that Iran is unwilling to resume negotiations until after hardliner President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes office. 

“They are not prepared to come back before the new government,” the source said. “We are now talking probably not before mid-August.”

Israel has vowed to stop Iran's nuclear program, but security officials told Channel 12 they are concerned that a delay in funding and planning could lead to a situation where Israel is “waving a gun without any bullets in it.”

This warning came as Defense Minister Benny Gantz called for Israel to increase its preparations for the possibility of a nuclear Iran, even though Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear weapon.

“We have no choice but to expand our force build-up, to continue to rely on our human capital, and to adapt our capabilities and our plans,” Gantz said at a graduation ceremony for Israel’s National Defense College.

“All of these threats demand that we speed up and increase our preparedness to carry out our mission with an iron wall of action and not to get by with just words,” Gantz said.

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