Report: U.S. intelligence shows Israel is likely to strike Iran in coming months

 IRNA – Intelligence collected by the United States reportedly shows that the Israeli regime is likely to attempt a strike on targets inside Iran in the coming months.

The Washington Post said on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence reports prepared late under former U.S. President Joe Biden and early in U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing term warned of a potential Israeli strike.

The report could not be independently verified. Iranian officials did not immediately react to the report.

But an attack by the Israeli regime on Iran would mark a significant escalation following a series of Israeli strikes and assassinations against Iranian or Iranian-related targets in recent months.

In April 2024, Israel conducted a missile attack against the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, killing 16 people, including senior commanders with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). Later that month, Israel carried out strikes on targets inside Iran. In July, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Palestinian Hamas’ Political Bureau, while he was in Tehran. And in October, Israel again attacked sites inside Iranian territory.

While Iran conducted strikes on targets in Israel in response to the strikes against the Iranian Consulate and the first Israeli strikes on targets in Iranian territory, the Islamic Republic is yet to respond to Israel’s second strikes on targets inside Iran.

A third Israeli strike on Iranian targets, as reported by The Washington Post, would risk all-out war.

The Post said a specific report, prepared by the intelligence directorate of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in January, showed Israel is likely to attack “Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025.”

The American newspaper cited current and former U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence as saying that the Israeli strike would take one of two forms, “each involving the United States providing support in the form of aerial refueling as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.”

The Israeli regime has since its second strikes on Iran been pushing the narrative that Iran’s aerial defense has been weakened and the country is vulnerable to major strikes on its nuclear sites. Any such attacks would require U.S. participation, and the Israeli narrative that Iran is weakened is believed meant to encourage U.S. officials to aid an Israeli strike.

Iranian officials have rejected claims that Iran has a military nuclear program, insisting that all nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes. They have also warned that Iranian defense remains powerful and Iran would respond to any strike.

The potential participation of the United States in an Israeli strike inside Iran would also be a major escalatory measure under U.S. President Donald Trump.

While speaking of a willingness to engage Iran in negotiations, Trump has nevertheless threatened the country with military strikes.

“Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval, will go in and bomb the hell out of them. I would prefer that not happen,” Trump told Fox News on Monday. “There’s two ways to stopping them: with bombs or a written piece of paper. I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them.”

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Saeid Iravani wrote a letter to the UN Security Council to register its protest at that threat.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei said on February 7 that Iran would respond to any threat against the country.

“If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they actuate that threat, we will actuate ours. If they violate our nation’s security, we will violate their security without a doubt,” the Leader said.