The UK will be shown Israeli intelligence on how successful strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities have been, but it will take time before any conclusion is reached, a Westminster committee has been told.
Addressing the Foreign Affairs Select Committee via videolink on Tuesday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid admitted:”The assessment will have to penetrate through all the future lying and deceiving of the Iranians.
“We are going to share information and intelligence with our allies and friends, the United Kingdom included.
“It’s going to take time to assess. But they (Iran) were hurt and taken back significantly.
“We just don’t know exactly right now how much – the Americans were using the huge bomb … this is a bomb that penetrates the surface and explodes 20 or 30 metres inside the facility.
“You don’t get to access what happened from satellites. You have to figure out other ways and then access from there. It will take some time before we know better.”
Emily Thornberry MP
Lapid also told the committee, chaired by Labour MP Emily Thornberry, how ahead of Israel’s initial strikes on Tehran, there was a real fear over evidence the Islamic regime had assembled an elite “weapons group” that had been “out of the game” since the early 2000s.
“This was done on the direct order of the Supreme Leader Khamenei,” said Lapid.
He revealed part of the intelligence that led Israel to conclude that Iran was close to developing a nuclear bomb was due to the reformation of a weapons group.
“Part of the intelligence we were seeing, and sharing with the Americans, and some of it with your intelligence as well, was the face that Iran had revived its weapon group.”
He also told the committee that he supported Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran’s nuclear program because of intelligence that he had been shown.
Lapid was briefed on the pending attack on the evening of June 12, hours before the first Israeli airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program.
“I supported the goals of the operation. We stood together – as a country, as a leadership, as a people,” Lapid said.
He added:”I welcome today’s ceasefire. Now it must be translated into an effective agreement that creates a long-term solution.”
Lapid also stressed:”Iran must not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. Iran must not be allowed to build an arsenal of ballistic missiles. Iran must not be allowed to fund and arm terrorist proxies. Iran must not be allowed to threaten Israel, the region, or the world ever again.”
