Tel Aviv. The tension between the US and Iran is continuously on the rise after Washington declared that the sanctions on Iran are effective. Israel wants to be sure that Washington makes an effort to keep the Israeli defense forces (IDF) qualitative edge by approving the list of systems that Jerusalem has submitted to the US. This brought Israeli defense minister to Washington.
Israeli defense minister is in Washington to meet his US counterpart, Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
Gantz’s office said the 24-hour trip would include “meetings to discuss maintaining Israel’s qualitative edge, international policy vis-à-vis Iran and strategy for stopping its expansion and entrenchment in the Middle East, as well as discussion on defense cooperation and procurement.”
The tension have increased after Revolutionary Guards commander Hussein Salami last week said that he had prepared plans to occupy US military bases in their area in the event of war.
Salami promised that all American forces in the region, in every possible war, would be attacked by Iran, adding that Tehran has “thousands of military brigades on the ground, capable of occupying and burning all American interests and bases in the region.”
Any war against Iran he declared will cause heavy losses to the United States, such as it cannot bear. He stressed that Iran has strengthened its military capabilities to wage a wide-ranging war, air and land against America and defeat it. US President Donald Trump’s allusion to Washington Military options against Tehran are nothing but an exaggeration due to the lack of knowledge about Iran’s military capabilities.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif statement last week, Iran would consider any harassment of its ships by the United States as “pirated” and the United States would bear all the consequences.
Referring to the US administration’s effort to re-impose international sanctions on Iran, Zarif said that the United States is aware that international decisions against his country, which were repealed under the nuclear deal, cannot be renewed.
Nothing will happen. The United States is threatening to punish anyone who sells weapons to Iran. After removing the arms embargo, we will be able to export weapons, and we will be able to get the military equipment we need from Russia and China, he said.”
If this happens, Israeli sources say, Iran may act against Israeli target.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has submitted a list of weapon systems during his last week visit to Washington that are aimed at keeping the qualitative edge of Israel after the U.S agreed to sell the F-35 to the UAE and with the growing threats from Tehran that is furious about the new era between Israel and some Gulf states.
Israeli sources assess that the package will have a price tag of around US $ 8 billion.
The sources assess that in the highest priority is the fast supply of 12 Boeing V-22, another squadron of F-35 that will bring the total number to 75, and the very early delivery of two Boeing KC-46A.
For some time Israel has requested a “wider” access to the core of the F-35 avionic systems. This to enable the Israeli Air Force to equip the stealth fighter with more sophisticated locally made systems that require such access. Some Israeli source say that this request will also be on the table, as part of enabling Israel to keep its qualitative edge.
The sources also assess that the package will include a replacement to the Israeli Air Force Apache AH-64A combat helicopters that are planned to go out of service in 2025.
