The airstrikes carried out by Israel at the end of October against Iran hit “an element of the nuclear program” of the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Monday, November 18.
“It is not a secret, it has been published, an element of the nuclear plan was hit in this attack but the program itself and its ability to function have not yet been eliminated,” Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset (Parliament).
On October 26, Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on military sites in Iran, in retaliation for Iranian missile launches against Israel on October 1.
In 2015, Iran and several countries including the United States concluded an agreement in Vienna, after 21 months of negotiations. The text provided for a reduction in international sanctions targeting Iran, in exchange for guarantees that the country does not seek to acquire atomic weapons. Tehran fiercely denies having such military ambitions. Three years later, Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement and reinstated heavy sanctions against Iran. Since then, this country has considerably increased its reserves of enriched materials to 60%, close to the 90% necessary to develop an atomic weapon, according to the IAEA. The nuclear deal capped this rate at 3.65%.