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Seventy-seven retired generals and admirals have written a letter calling for the United States to support Israeli military action that prevents a nuclear Iran. The letter was issued by the Jewish Institute for the National Security of America on March 4. The full text can be found here.
As senior retired U.S. military commanders, we are aligned with every American president this century in the belief that preventing a nuclear Iran is critical to U.S. national security. The United States is most fortunate to have a steadfast, resolute, and extremely capable partner, Israel, who not only shares this desired outcome—because a nuclear Iran would threaten its very existence—but is prepared to carry the lion’s share of the burden to defeat it. As President Donald Trump prepares to address a joint session of Congress for the first time in this term [by now he’s given that speech, but did not mention Iran’s nuclear program in it], U.S. support for Israeli action to prevent a nuclear Iran should be a top priority.
Since October 7th, when the Iranian axis opened a multi-front war against Israel and the United States, Israel has dismantled one Iranian terrorist group after another, thereby dismembering its “ring of fire” intended to cripple the Jewish state. Now, it is time to let Israel finish the job against the Iranian axis and stop Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, by rolling back its nuclear program before it’s too late.
What Israel seeks from the United States is support to ensure the maximum effectiveness of its actions and manage the risk of Iranian retaliation. We should provide it expeditiously. With Iran capable of producing weapons-grade uranium in just days, working toward a nuclear weapon, and building ever-deeper underground facilities, time is running out to stop its march to the bomb.
Certainly, it would be preferable to prevent a nuclear Iran diplomatically. But the Iranians are masters at dragging out talks while conceding little. Repeated negotiations with Iran over two decades have led to one dangerous result: the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism now stands on the cusp of developing the world’s most dangerous weapons.
Whether or not President Trump enters talks to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, Israel will still retain the existential imperative to act before it’s too late to do so. If it does, it will be in the U.S. interest for Israel to succeed. Thus, we believe the United States should provide Israel with the vital munitions, weapons systems, defenses, and support needed to ensure the effectiveness of its operations against this common threat. We should also be prepared to deter any attempted Iranian retaliation or effort to widen the conflict.
To be sure, the risks of military action have to be considered carefully, but they must be weighed against the heavy price of inaction. Allowing Iran to cross the nuclear threshold, after successive presidents from both parties have for decades vowed to prevent it, would deliver a devastating signal destroying our credibility, weakening our deterrence, and emboldening China, Russia, and North Korea. Other regional states would rush to acquire their own nuclear deterrent. A nuclear Iran would seek to dominate the Persian Gulf, expel the United States and its influence, and threaten Israel and our Arab partners, spiking energy prices for a sustained period. With its global terrorist network, history of plots on American soil, including against President Trump, and missile development, it could even threaten our homeland.
By giving Israel the support it needs to roll back Iran’s nuclear program, and contain the fallout, the United States would be helping Israel defend itself and the rest of the civilized world.
Find the full list of signers here.
What Israel needs most from the US that it doesn’t have already in its arsenal are those 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), a huge precision bunker buster specially designed to penetrate very deeply buried and fortified targets. This bomb would enable the Israeli Air Force to destroy the nuclear facilities deep underground at Natanz and deep inside a mountain at Fordow, as well as other nuclear facilities that may not yet have been publicly identified, but that the IDF is well aware of. Israel would also need the right plane to deliver those bunker-busters to their targets — the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The B-2 is the only aircraft currently certified to operationally employ the 30,000-pound MOP. We may not know if, and when, such bombs and bombers are delivered to Israel until after the IAF has used them.
There is also the possibility that the American military would take part with Israel in attacking Iranian targets, including nuclear facilities, ballistic missiles, and economic targets — oil fields, oil storage tanks, oil refineries, and oil terminals at the port of Bandar Abbas.
The letter should have a salutary effect on the Trump team, and on the war-planners now in the Pentagon. Bunker-buster bombs, B-2 bombers to deliver them, and whatever else Israel would need to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities should be provided posthaste. And in Iran, the ruling mullahs and military men who read this letter will be in a state of terminal alarm and confusion, or as Confucius famously said, they will “no longer know where to put their hands and feet.”
