Time ‘running out’ in fight against Iran, Gallant warns US

Time ‘running out’ in fight against Iran, Gallant warns US counterpart at Pentagon

SHIRA SILKOFF

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday that “time is running out” in the fight to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and stressed that Israel and the US must work together to prevent the threat from being actualized.

“The greatest threat to the future of the world and the future of our region is Iran,” Gallant told his counterpart during a meeting at the Pentagon. “Now is the time to realize the commitment of the American administrations over the years to promise to prevent Iran from possessing nuclear weapons.”

The meeting between the two defense chiefs came amid increased tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group has been launching near-daily attacks on northern Israel since October 8, claiming that it is doing so in support of fellow Iranian proxy Hamas as it wages war with Israel in Gaza.

Israel is “at a crossroads that will impact the entire Middle East,” Gallant told Austin. “In Gaza, we must work together to ensure the return of 120 hostages, without exception. We must end Hamas’s terrorist regime.”

A proposal drawn up by Israel and presented by US President Joe Biden last month would see the hostages returned to Israel during a prolonged ceasefire that would also aim to restore a semblance of normalcy to the citizens of the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Acknowledging Israel’s readiness to bring a deal with Hamas to fruition, Austin echoed the US’s previously stated position that the onus is now on Hamas to accept the agreement.

“The failure of Hamas to accept this important proposal is prolonging the agony of Palestinian civilians and Israeli civilians alike,” he said.

On the Lebanon border, Gallant said that Israel was “determined to establish security, change the reality on the ground and bring our communities safely back home.

“We are working closely together to achieve an agreement, but we must also discuss readiness for every possible scenario,” he said, acknowledging the US’s desire to avoid all-out war given the dire impact such a war would have on both Israeli and Lebanese civilians.

“Hezbollah’s provocations threaten to drag the Israeli and Lebanese people into a war that they do not want, and such a war would be a catastrophe for Lebanon and it would be devastating for innocent Israeli and Lebanese civilians,” Austin told Gallant. “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah could easily become a regional war with terrible consequences for the Middle East, and so diplomacy is by far the best way to prevent more escalation,” he added, seemingly alluding to concerns that Iran and all its regional proxies would join the fighting.