US envoy hopes Iran 'comes to its senses' to avoid war - Ynet
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he hopes there will be no war with Iran and urged Tehran to reconsider its nuclear ambitions, Israeli media outlet Ynet reported early Friday.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he hopes there will be no war with Iran and urged Tehran to reconsider its nuclear ambitions, Israeli media outlet Ynet reported early Friday.
“I hope there won’t be a war,” Huckabee said in an interview with Israeli media outlet Ynet. “I hope that Iran will come to its senses.”
He said recent US and Israeli actions were meant to send a clear message to Tehran and urged Iranian leaders to draw conclusions from past confrontations.
“There is no education in the second kick of a mule,” Huckabee said.
Huckabee’s comments come as Israeli and Western officials warn that any move by Iran to restore high-level uranium enrichment could prompt a response.
European diplomats told Al-Monitor earlier this month that Israel may strike Iran within the next year if it concludes Tehran is moving to resume enrichment. One Western diplomat said any new campaign would likely be short and intense, with Iran expected to retaliate with missile fire.
Analysts say enrichment remains the main trigger for escalation. Raz Zimmt of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies said a return to enrichment, weapons-related work or efforts to recover uranium believed lost in June attacks would almost certainly draw an Israeli response.
“The more time passes without the United States and Iran reaching a nuclear agreement, the more likely a new round of conflict becomes,” Zimmt said.
Signs of activity at Natanz
Satellite images show new activity at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site damaged during the June conflict, a US-based think tank said on Thursday, while the UN nuclear watchdog remains unable to access several of Iran’s most sensitive facilities.
The Institute for Science and International Security said satellite images taken last weekend show Iran placing panels over a destroyed enrichment facility at Natanz, possibly to shield work aimed at accessing rubble that may contain highly enriched uranium.
“This indicates Iran wants to explore the rubble out of sight of prying eyes,” the group said, adding that the site likely held several kilograms of highly enriched uranium.
The UN nuclear watchdog has said it still lacks access to some of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear facilities, including Natanz and Fordow, limiting its ability to assess the status of nuclear material.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, while Western governments and Israel say its enrichment activities could bring it closer to the ability to produce nuclear weapons.
Speaking on Thursday during a visit to South Khorasan province, Pezeshkian said that although Iran had launched missiles during the fighting, Israel’s arsenal proved superior in both quantity and capability.
“It is true that we had missiles, but their missiles were more numerous, more powerful, more precise and easier to deploy,” Pezeshkian said.
He added that it was the people who ultimately frustrated Israel, without elaborating.
Pezeshkian rejected calls for Iran to curb its missile program, framing it as essential to national defense.
“They tell us not to have missiles, while they arm Israel to the teeth so it can come here whenever it wants, raze everything and leave,” he said. “I will not accept that.”
US officials have said any talks with Tehran would hinge on sweeping conditions that include Iran ending uranium enrichment and dismantling key parts of its nuclear program, curbing or accepting limits on its missile program, and rolling back support for regional proxy forces.
The missile issue is politically charged in Tehran after the June conflict, in which Israel relied heavily on layered air and missile defenses – alongside US support – to blunt waves of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, while still suffering some strikes that penetrated defenses.
