Israel did, in fact, hit Iran’s nuclear sites in Saturday’s attack — but will not admit it, nor will the United States, or Iran, or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), because those sites were previously said to be “undeclared.”
That’s the theory of journalist Caroline Glick, an expert on the Middle East who was also previously a negotiator for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in dealing with the Arab world.
In the latest episode of her podcast for the Jewish News Syndicate, Glick sought to explain why Israel only seemed to hit military sites — Iran’s air defenses and missile production facilities — when it could have done much more, given the fact that Iran had attacked it first and Israel had a rare opportunity to strike.
While Israelis had been pleased with the success of their air force, which accomplished a once seemingly impossible mission without any losses, many also felt underwhelmed, as if the government had missed a golden opportunity.
Glick noted, however, that there may have been more to the attack than anyone is willing to admit.
She noted that Israel hit Parchin, a secret Iranian military base that has long been a suspected site for Iran’s nuclear program.
Media reports suggest that the target at Parchin was “a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program, and … facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles.” But the program is likely not “defunct,” and Parchin was also allegedly an “undeclared” nuclear site, meaning that the IAEA was not monitoring it closely.
It is possible, Glick said, that Israel’s other targets on Saturday in Iran were similarly “undeclared” nuclear sites.
Just as it defied the U.S. in targeting Hezbollah’s leadership in Lebanon, and in killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza, Glick suggests, Israel may have gone beyond the restrictions imposed by the Biden-Harris administration and used its retaliatory strike against Iran to accomplish broader strategic goals.
The Biden-Harris administration could not object publicly, Glick argued because then it would have to admit the existence of “undeclared” nuclear sites in Iran that it had been prepared to overlook. Likewise with the IAEA, which would have had to admit its own failure.
Glick noted that under President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran could hide its nuclear sites from inspectors by declaring them to be “military sites,” as it did with Parchin.
Israel, she said, had put the Biden-Harris administration in a bind: “They already said that they oppose Israel attacking nuclear sites … but if it’s undeclared then they have a problem attacking Israel” for attacking them.
While the Biden-Harris administration was eager to preserve Iran as a counterweight to Israel and the Sunni Arab states, it could not publicly oppose Israeli moves that were also in America’s own strategic interests, she noted.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
