Israel will achieve its objectives against Iran within a week or two, say IDF officials

The Israeli military estimates it will achieve its objectives against Iran’s nuclear program within a week or two, IDF officials tell reporters.

Israel set out on the operation in Iran with the objective of removing the “existential threat” of the Iranian nuclear program and ballistic missile capabilities.

The IDF has so far bombed two Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities, Natanz and Isfahan, and caused significant damage to both. It has also killed at least nine key nuclear scientists who were working on a bomb, and struck several other facilities supporting Iran’s nuclear program, including offices and command centers.

The military has so far denied striking the underground Fordo nuclear facility, but says it is in its “bank of targets.” Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier that Fordo is “an issue that will certainly be addressed.”

The IDF also says that some 40% of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers, or some 200, have been destroyed or neutralized so far amid the operation. This has also apparently played a role in limiting Iran’s missile fire on Israel in the past two days.

In terms of Iran’s military, the IDF says it has killed dozens of commanders, including the vast majority of the top leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Armed Forces. Military officials say that it has killed three times more Iranian commanders than it had initially anticipated when planning the operation.

The operation in Iran was planned months in advance, with military officials saying that the most challenging part was cracking the issue of Iran’s air defenses. Israel has since obtained air supremacy over western Iran and Tehran.