Israel derailed Iran’s EMP weapons program during the recently concluded 12-day war, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Besides an elaborate nuclear weapons program, the Iranian regime had been developing nuclear-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices capable of striking the telecommunications, internet, and banking infrastructure of a country or a region. These EMP bombs can also disrupt power, water, and other public utilities.
“Israeli and American sources said the bombing campaign, in addition to destroying many of the Iranian centrifuges that enrich uranium, shattered most elements of Iran’s aggressive program to prepare to weaponize that uranium,” David Ignatius wrote in his article for the WP. “For example, Israeli sources believe the Iranians were studying an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon that could cripple Israel electronically, a more-complex nuclear fusion bomb, as well as a standard fission warhead.”
The 12-day operation “turned back the clock on Iran’s nuclear program,” the article added. “Israeli and American assessments agree Tehran’s infrastructure to finish a bomb is shattered.”
The WP columnist Ignatius further reported:
Israeli and American sources said the bombing campaign, in addition to destroying many of the Iranian centrifuges that enrich uranium, shattered most elements of Iran’s aggressive program to prepare to weaponize that uranium.The most devastating, and least reported, aspect of Israel’s campaign may have been its targeting of Iran’s leading nuclear scientists. Sources said strikes in the first hours of the war killed all of Iran’s first and second tier of physicists and other nuclear scientists, as well as most of the third tier. (…)The United States struck the final blow, with Air Force B-2 bombers carrying bunker-busting bombs and Navy ships launching Tomahawk missiles. That strike capped Israel’s devastation of Iran’s program and gave President Donald Trump a share of the success — and also provided an important demonstration of U.S. military might. (…)Beyond targeting the nuclear facilities and the scientists who worked there, Israeli attacks destroyed logistical foundations of the program, including its headquarters, archives, laboratories and testing equipment, the Israeli source said. This devastation may increase Iran’s desire to possess a nuclear deterrent, but it will be hard to reconstruct all these pieces.
The revelation comes after the mainstream media repeatedly questioned President Donald Trump’s assessment of the success of the U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear weapons sites that took place nearly five weeks ago. President Trump described the strikes as “a spectacular military success,” adding that “Iran’s key enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
After Hamas rejected the hostage deal proposed by the U.S., the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) seems to be stepping up pressure on the Gaza-based terrorist group.
The Israeli “troops are operating in northern Gaza to dismantle weapons and terror infrastructure, both above and below ground, and to eliminate terrorists,” the IDF said in a statement Saturday.
Israeli fighter jets struck a range of terrorist targets all across Gaza. “Over the past day, the IAF struck over 100 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip. Among the targets struck were terrorist cells, combat tunnels, military infrastructure, anti-tank missile posts, and weapons storage facilities,” the military added. “The IDF will continue to act to remove any threat posed to the citizens of the State of Israel and IDF soldiers.”
These reports come after President Trump, on Friday, blasted the terrorist group for rejecting the U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, adding that Hamas leaders in Gaza “are going to be hunted down.”
The IDF, on Saturday morning, eliminated a Hezbollah commander rebuilding the terrorist organization along the Israeli border in Southern Lebanon.
The IDF said in a statement that it “struck and eliminated the terrorist Ali Abd al-Qader Ismail, a commander in the headquarters of the Bint Jbeil sector of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”
“Ismail was involved in efforts to rehabilitate the terrorist organization in the area of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon,” the military added. “The IDF will continue to operate to remove any threat posed to the State of Israel.”
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