The Israeli nuclear site of Dimona will be targeted if the US–Israeli coalition is unwilling to compromise on toppling the Iranian regime, reports claimed Tehran's semi-official ISNA news agency as saying.
Citing the Islamic Republic's military sources, ISNA claimed that the regime wants to cling to power and will take the fight to Dimona if Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu keep pushing their war machinery forward with the declared objective of “creating the conditions for the Iranian people to replace the regime.”
What is Dimona nuclear facility?
Israel neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons but is widely considered the only Middle Eastern nation with such an arsenal. Dimona, an Israeli city in the Negev desert, is home to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Centre. Often referred to as the Dimona nuclear facility, it is said to be key to Tel Aviv's nuclear weapons programme and is among the most protected locations in the country.
With French assistance, Israel began secretly building the nuclear site in the late 1950s and initially hid the military purpose of the site for years from America—now Israel’s chief ally—even referring to it as a textile factory. It is home to decades-old underground laboratories that reprocess the reactor’s spent rods to obtain weapons-grade plutonium for Israel’s nuclear bomb programme.
For latest news and analyses on Middle East, visit: Yello! Middle East
While Israel officially maintains that only nuclear research takes place in Dimona, some reports claim that full-scale production of nuclear warheads started at the facility by 1966, with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) believed to be in possession of up to 13 operational nuclear warheads by 1967. Israel remains a non-signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Can Iran strike Dimona?
While the IDF has made every effort to fortify the facility, previous breaches of its defences suggest that Iranian threats cannot be easily dismissed. During the conflict with Syria in April 2021, an advanced surface-to-air missile landed near the Dimona nuclear reactor despite interception efforts. The strike happened only months after Israel carried out further construction at the facility, which, according to US media, involved a 'dig about the size of a football pitch and likely several stories deep'.
If Syrian missiles could penetrate IDF defences, it is certain that the facility is not beyond the reach of Iran's battle-proven ballistic missiles. It remains to be seen how the threat will be dealt with by Netanyahu's government. Since the war begun and Tehran lost its Supreme Leader, they have not spared any US military base in the region — proving its fury and determination to hit back.
ALSO READ | Iran's minority crisis: The real reason behind the state's decline
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they had hit a US tanker in the northern part of the Gulf and the vessel was on fire. There was no immediate confirmation of the incident or of a similar attack that Iran claimed earlier this week. The Guards said in their Thursday statement, carried by state media, that in time of war, passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be under the control of the Islamic Republic.
