Consulting a number of Israeli policy-makers and experts, the BBC explained in a report on Monday why Israel fears a nuclear Iran.

A retired officer from Israel’s secret service, Mossad, told us that issues related to Iran take up most of the time and energy of Israel’s intelligence services.

That calculation would include not just Iran’s nuclear programme but its support for Israel’s enemies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Gaza.

So Israel sees Iran as a determined, energetic and dangerous enemy – but not an unstoppable one.

Former Israeli intelligence minister Dan Meridor told the BBC that the current sanctions have impacted Iran’s behavior and, if left in place, could continue to do so. Meridor said that by not capitulating to pressure to revoke the sanctions, “we can slow processes and hopefully move things in a better direction.”

The BBC adds that the Israeli fear of an Iranian nuclear bomb isn’t just the possibility that it would threaten Israel, but that it would embolden Iran to step up its “assertive interventionist policies” in the Middle East.

Still, the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon is such that no Israeli leader would allow Iran to acquire such a weapon. Ronen Bergman, a reporter who is well acquainted with Israel’s security establishment, told the BBC, “any Israeli prime minister would order the bombers to take off against the Iranian nuclear project if he receives reliable intelligence that Iran is getting too close to a bomb.”

[Photo: Nuclear Threat Initiative / YouTube ]