Israel says Iran conducted nuclear weapons design tests, provoking decision to strike

Recent reports in the Israeli media revealed that Israeli intelligence has uncovered evidence of Iranian nuclear scientists conducting several successful experiments aimed at adapting nuclear materials for use in a nuclear weapon.

In recent months, Iran had been pushing toward assembling its first nuclear weapons, including the development and testing of the various components needed for a nuclear warhead, according to intelligence from security sources cited in a report published by Israel Hayom on Saturday.

Reports from Israeli security agencies concluded that Iran has already conducted a test related to the assembly of a nuclear weapon and has likely explored how to modify its existing ballistic missile arsenal to carry a nuclear warhead. According to intelligence assessments, these developments were a key factor in Israel's decision to launch "Operation Rising Lion."

The report noted that Iran had organized several groups of scientists into covert working units tasked with perfecting the process of converting nuclear material into a functional explosive device. The intelligence suggests that somewhere between the end of 2023 or early 2024 – shortly after Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre in southern Israel – the Iranian government decided to begin the covert weaponization program. 

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom, former commander of the Israeli Navy, spoke with Radio 103FM on Sunday morning about Iran’s decision to pursue a covert nuclear weapons program. He said that, according to Israeli intelligence, Iran had already started to produce solid uranium 235, the amount needed for producing nuclear fuel rods or nuclear weapons. 

Although Marom was not present for the Security Cabinet discussions, he estimated that Iranian leaders decided to sprint towards nuclear weapons sometime before the beginning of this year, after seeing the collapse of Hezbollah and realizing that their proxy strategy was collapsing. 

"The Iranians understood that what is happening here in the Middle East cannot continue for them,” Maj. Gen. Marom said. “The elimination of Hezbollah, I think, is the milestone that determined for the Iranians that they must have nuclear weapons, because they understood that everything they had built around them was crumbling.” 

Marom also said he believes Iran has been significantly set back in its attempt to achieve a nuclear weapon due to the loss of the main scientists working on the research. 

“They have a knowledge problem because a large part of the research elite has been completely wiped out for them,” he said regarding Israel’s targeting of many of the key scientists and military leaders involved in the push to weaponize the nation's uranium. 

However, Marom also confirmed a report in Israel Hayom, which stated that contrary to foreign media reports, Israel did not strike the nuclear sites at Fordow, as they are buried too deep for Israel’s bombs to damage. 

“There is one thing we were unable to damage, and that is the centrifuges,” Marom stated. “We did not touch Fordow at all. Both things are left for the end and need to be dealt with at some point, and you cannot end this war without dealing with this thing. We went on an operation, after all, to roll back this plan.” 

Marom admitted that in order to strike Iran’s underground nuclear sites at Fordow and Isfahan, the assistance of the United States, and its larger bunker buster bombs, would be necessary. 

At the same time, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) stated that the Islamic regime has been running a covert nuclear weapons program known as the Kavir Plan, conducted at secret sites located in the desert regions west of Tehran.

The group released a report detailing how, since December, Iran has accelerated its research and development efforts into nuclear weapon detonators and the design of nuclear warheads compatible with its existing ballistic missile systems.

The NCRI report coincided with similar warnings from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which raised concerns over Iran’s enrichment of uranium to levels typically associated with nuclear weapons programs.

Several analysts agreed with this assessment. Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, told Fox News that "there were a few things that stood out” in Israel’s reconnaissance of Iran’s nuclear program, such as the reactivation of “an explosives manufacturing line,” along with “efforts to put the fissile material into a shape which could be used for a nuclear weapon.” 

Roman stated that these developments closely resemble the activities Iran pursued prior to suspending its military nuclear program in 2003.

This intelligence information was provided to members of the Security Cabinet before the decision was made to launch Operation Rising Lion early Friday morning. Israeli leaders agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assessment that that strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities could no longer be postponed, fearing that Iran might develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching Israel before nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran conclude.