One of the former heads of Israel’s secret service says that the Iranian nuclear accord “is the best option” when it comes to curbing Tehran’s nuclear weapons capabilities.
Ami Ayalon, who served as head of the Shin Bet security service in the 90s, notes that the deal pushes Iran’s breakout time back to 12 months, as opposed to the two months it had to break out to the bomb prior to signing the agreement, in an interview with the Daily Beast.
Ami Ayalon in 2008 (photo credit: Olivier Fitoussi /Flash90)
“When it comes to Iran’s nuclear capability, this [deal] is the best option,” Ayalon says.
“When negotiations began, Iran was two months away from acquiring enough material for a [nuclear] bomb. Now it will be 12 months … Israelis are failing to distinguish between reducing Iran’s nuclear capability and Iran being the biggest devil in the Middle East,” he says.
In the interview, Ayalon faults US President Barack Obama not for signing the deal — but for appearing too gentle in his rhetoric against potential enemies.
Obama “doesn’t have the right combination of the language of peace and the language of war. He has to make it very clear that while he believes in diplomacy, he also knows how to use force,” Ayalon says.
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