IDF dramatically improving its ability to strike Iran, says defense official

A senior defense official tells the Walla news site that the IDF’s capabilities vis-à-vis Iran have grown since 2012.

The statement follows leaks of interviews with former defense minister Ehud Barak in which he says that top Israeli defense officials did not believe in 2012 that the IDF was able to carry out a decisive military strike against Iran’s nuclear program.

The leaks have raised questions about Israel’s ability to carry out the so-called “military option” that political leaders regularly say is “still on the table.”

“Anyone who says that the IDF in 2012 was at the apex of its ability to carry out a strike in Iran is lying,” the defense official says. “Every year the IDF improves. No one is sleeping on the job.”

The official cites the purchase of another German-made Dolphin submarine and US-made F-35 fighter jets as evidence of dramatic gains in the IDF’s capabilities.

Israel’s defensive capabilities against Iran — including its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah — have improved dramatically as well, particularly with the deployment of missile defense systems such as Iron Dome.