The Iranian centrifuge production site bombed in a drone attack on Wednesday was reportedly on a list of targets that Israel presented to the Trump administration last year.
A small quadcopter drone was used in the attack on the Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, the report said, citing an Iranian source who was not identified. The drone was apparently launched from within the Islamic Republic, not far from the site, and succeeded in hitting the target. An intelligence source said that in contrast to Iranian reports that the attack had been thwarted, the drone did in fact strike the facility. The extent of the damage, if any, was not yet known.
The source also said that the Jewish state suggested striking Iran’s uranium enrichment site at Natanz and assassinating Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the scientist who established the country’s nuclear program.
Fakhrizadeh was killed in November 2020 in an attack Iran blamed on Israel, while a mysterious explosion damaged a large number of centrifuges at the Natanz plant in April 2021. Israel’s former Mossad spy agency chief recently indicated that the Jewish state was behind that incident.
In related news, Tehran reportedly failed to launch a satellite into orbit earlier this month, and appears to be preparing for another attempt. Satellite imagery captured by space tech companies Maxar and Planet Labs shows increased activity at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in recent days, according to an analysis of the images by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.
Iran’s Defense Ministry in February said it had test-launched a new satellite carrier with its “most powerful” solid-fuel engine to date.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington, D.C., to discuss regional security challenges and Israeli concerns about the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. “In these meetings, Kochavi is presenting multiple ways to prevent Iran from acquiring military nuclear capabilities,” the IDF said in a statement.
Kochavi arrived in Washington on Sunday and is slated to return to Israel on Friday.
The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran Deal in May 2018, and proceeded to impose crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The Biden Administration is said to be considering a near wholesale rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era penalties in a bid to get Tehran to return to compliance with the nuclear accord.
Meanwhile, it was announced that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold his first meeting with new Foreign Minister Yair Lapid next week. The two countries’ top diplomats have in recent days had phone conversations about Iran and ways to further Israel’s normalization with Arab states.
In other diplomatic news, President Reuven Rivlin met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to discuss the message the former will deliver to US officials during his White House visit next week. The two hashed out the positions that Rivlin will present to US President Joe Biden regarding key regional issues such as Iran, the Gaza Strip, and Syria.
The Biden Administration is committed to pushing the Palestinian Authority to reform its ‘welfare policy’ that includes payments to convicted terrorists and families of Palestinians killed while carrying out terror attacks, a senior US State Department official asserted. “There should be no question about this. This has been a longstanding priority of prior administrations and remains a top US priority,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Taylor Force Act passed by Congress in 2018 suspended US aid to the PA as long as it continued to implement the policy, which awards stipends to prisoners based on the length of their sentences.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised his qualms about the payments during his meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last month. Abbas assured the top diplomat that Ramallah was working to reform the policy.
In return for such prospective reforms, the Palestinian Authority is reportedly seeking a commitment from the White House to deem unconstitutional legislation passed by Congress in 1987 classifying the Palestine Liberation Organization and its affiliates as terror groups.
None of the over $235 million in aid announced by the Biden Administration in recent months is slated to go directly to the PA or Hamas in Gaza. Instead, it will be funneled to various USAID programs as well as the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was in Israel for the inauguration of his country’s embassy in Jerusalem. The event was attended by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Hernández was also expected to meet later in the day with Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who played a major role in facilitating the embassy move.
The Honduran embassy is the fourth to be established in Jerusalem in recent years after the United States, Guatemala and Kosovo. In response, Jerusalem is set to open a diplomatic mission in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras; this, after opening a temporary representative office there last August.
Honduras recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in August 2019.
Vaccinated foreigners will with only few exceptions be barred from entering Israel until at least August 1, the Israeli government has decided, in response to an increase in daily coronavirus cases. And if the average daily number remains above 100 for the next week, Jerusalem will reinstate its indoor mask mandate.
Vaccinated tourists were originally supposed to be permitted to enter the country starting on July 1. But in recent days Israel has been hit by the so-called Delta variant of the pathogen, raising the number of active cases from less than 200 to 554. At the peak of the pandemic, the figure hit over 85,000.
To tackle the current outbreak, the government also decided to establish a new coronavirus cabinet.
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Recommended Reading
- Hold Hamas Accountable for Human-Shields Use During the May 2021 Gaza War (Orde Kittrie, Foundation for Defense of Democracies)
- Pressure on Europe About Palestinian Textbooks Is Working (Donna R. Edmunds, Jewish News Syndicate)
- President Rivlin Meets With Israeli Olympic Team Ahead of Games (i24News)
- Former Hamas Prisoner Gilad Shalit Gets Married (Yoni Froim, Ynet)
- 14 Family Friendly Trails for Summer in Israel (Susannah Schild, Times of Israel)
