Military planning division chief Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel says a nuclear-armed Tehran could constrain Israel from striking Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon and Gaza — Hezbollah and Hamas respectively.
Eshel said Tuesday that if Israel is “forced to do things in Gaza or in Lebanon, under the Iranian nuclear umbrella it might be different.” Israel worries that a nuclear-armed Iran could threaten its survival and has hinted it could strike Iran militarily if international sanctions do not halt Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as energy and the production of medical isotopes.
Meanwhile, Iran has boosted security for all its nuclear workers after one of its scientists was assassinated last week, First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said Tuesday. “Whoever is active in the nuclear field will be put under special care,” Rahimi said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency. The order was given by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rahimi said.
The ISNA news agency quoted the vice president saying that the additional measures come on top of ones ordered 10 months ago for Iran’s nuclear scientists.
“This time around, the government ordered that anyone who is active in the nuclear field, from low levels to higher ups, be under surveillance and put under special care,” Rahimi said.
The new security order was given after Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a 32-year-old deputy director of Iran’s main uranium enrichment plant, was murdered on Jan. 11 along with his driver/bodyguard when assassins on a motorbike fixed a magnetic bomb to their car.
The attack was the fifth such incident targeting Iran’s scientists in the past two years. Four other scientists — three of them involved in Iran’s nuclear program — died in the attacks, while one managed to escape with injuries.
Iranian officials say the attacks are a covert campaign by Israel and the United States.
On Monday, parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said Iran had arrested an unspecified number of suspects over Ahmadi Roshan’s killing, without giving their identities or nationalities.
However, foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday that his ministry had not received “any credible report” of arrests.
Iran had previously announced, in December 2010, that it would step up security for its nuclear scientists following an attack the previous month.
The United States and Israel, along with other Western powers, say Iran’s nuclear program masks the development of atomic weapon capability.
Iran denies the claim, saying it seeks only civilian applications of the technology.
