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11:58 22.05.2025 •
The US has obtained new intelligence suggesting that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, even as the Trump administration has been pursuing a diplomatic deal with Tehran, multiple US officials familiar with the latest intelligence told CNN.
Such a strike would be a brazen break with President Donald Trump, US officials said. It could also risk tipping off a broader regional conflict in the Middle East — something the US has sought to avoid since the war in Gaza inflamed tensions beginning in 2023.
Officials caution it’s not clear that Israeli leaders have made a final decision, and that in fact, there is deep disagreement within the US government about the likelihood that Israel will ultimately act. Whether and how Israel strikes will likely depend on what it thinks of the US negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program.
But “the chance of an Israeli strike on an Iranian nuclear facility has gone up significantly in recent months,” said another person familiar with US intelligence on the issue. “And the prospect of a Trump-negotiated US-Iran deal that doesn’t remove all of Iran’s uranium makes the chance of a strike more likely.”
The heightened worries stem not only from public and private messaging from senior Israeli officials that it is considering such a move, but also from intercepted Israeli communications and observations of Israeli military movements that could suggest an imminent strike, multiple sources familiar with the intelligence said.
Among the military preparations the US has observed are the movement of air munitions and the completion of an air exercise, two of the sources said.
Israel does not have the capacity to destroy Iran’s nuclear program without American assistance, including midair refueling and the bombs required to penetrate the facilities deep underground, a need that is also reflected in previous US intelligence reports, according to a source familiar with the matter.
An Israeli source told CNN that Israel would be prepared to carry out military action on its own if the US were to negotiate what this source described as a “bad deal” with Iran that Israel cannot accept.
“I think it’s more likely they strike to try and get the deal to fall apart if they think Trump is going to settle for a ‘bad deal,’” said the other person familiar with US intelligence. “The Israelis have not been shy about signaling that to us … both publicly and privately.”
A US intelligence assessment from February suggested Israel could use either military aircraft or long-range missiles to capitalize on Iran’s degraded air defense capabilities, CNN previously reported.
For now, the US talks with Iran are stuck on a demand that Tehran not enrich uranium, a process which can enable weaponization, but which is also necessary to produce nuclear power for civilian purposes.
US intelligence agencies in February issued warnings that Israel will likely attempt to strike facilities key to Iran’s nuclear program this year, CNN previously reported.
It has “consistently been the Israeli position that the military option is the only option to stopping Iran’s military nuclear program,” one US official noted.
CNN has asked the National Security Council and the Israeli prime minister’s office for comment. The Israeli Embassy in Washington did not comment.
…For some strange reason, it looks like Israel does not even think they will receive a retaliatory strike from Iran.
It seems that the Israeli leadership has fallen into the same illusion as the leadership of the European Union – they believe that they remain “the most important force in their region.” But this is no longer true. There have appeared other players with their geopolitical interests. Even USA under Trump is not one-sided Israeli partner now.
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