Such an attack would set back Iran’s nuclear program by weeks or months while escalating tension in the region and risking a wider conflict, according to multiple intelligence reports from the end of the Biden administration and start of the Trump administration, the newspaper reported.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The White House declined to comment. The Post said the Israeli government, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.
“While he prefers negotiating a resolution to American’s long-standing issues with the Iranian regime peacefully, he will not wait indefinitely if Iran isn’t willing to deal, and soon,” Hughes told The Post.
The most comprehensive of the intelligence reports came in early January and was produced by the intelligence directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Post said. It warned that Israel was likely to attempt an attack on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities.
Current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence said Israel has determined its bombing of Iran in October degraded Iran’s air defenses and left the country exposed to a follow-on assault, said the Post, which did not name the officials.
Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired on Monday he would prefer to make a deal with Iran to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon, saying he also believed Iran would prefer a deal over an armed conflict.
Iran has since restarted its nuclear program and is enriching uranium, according to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency.