Trump set on disabling Fordow by force or diplomacy - CBS

The two sources still viewed joint action alongside the United States as the most likely scenario, within 48-72 hours at most.

An attack could be underway as early Friday night, the sources added, but Israel is also weighing going it alone to avoid losing the military advantage it has gained this week.

“In order for us to force Iran into concessions it would otherwise not make, and to bring it back to the negotiating table, this is the only way; we need the US to take action," an Israeli intelligence source told Iran International on condition of anonymity.

"We need Trump to do this within the next two to three days," one source added. "Trump is extremely unpredictable right now though, so anything could happen.”

Buried deep underground, the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility has remained untouched so far in the ongoing Israeli military campaign which appeared to take Iran by surprise in the early hours of last Friday morning.

Window closing

The window of opportunity to knock out the site was closing, the second Israeli security source said, and Israel had been planning for an attack for months.

“Until now the IDF (Israeli military) has opened up the flight path to Iran and the skies are open but that will be for a limited time, it can’t go on indefinitely,” he told Iran International on condition of anonymity.

“Therefore, if America decides to get involved, it has to be a decision made as fast as possible otherwise the opportunity will be missed.”

As the war begins to impact the global economy, including the soaring price of oil, the source said world powers could quickly lose patience with the conflict.

“There are economic issues at stake, so for example if oil prices spike, then these countries could be involved due to their own economic interests. So in general, America has to take this opportunity within 48-72 hours.”

The reach and strength of Israel's bombers are more limited compared to their American peers, making an attack on Fordow by Israeli forces alone more complex.

“Israel doesn’t have the heavy B-52 capabilities to drop a 14-ton bomb to penetrate the heart of the Iranian atomic sites that have to be destroyed,” the security source said.

Israel’s F-15s travel nearly 2,000 kilometers with far smaller payloads of around 400 kilograms, the source added. "Do the math. America could do that mission within a few days, but for us, it would be a much longer, more complex operation."

Destroying the Fordow enrichment facility requires a US military asset never been used in war, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the GBU-57 is designed to tear through 200 feet of mountain rock before exploding. The United States has around 20, the newspaper reported, delivered via B-2 stealth bombers.

In the White House on Wednesday, Trump maintained studied ambiguity. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he told reporters.

Iain Overton, the Executive Director of Action on Armed Violence, told Iran International that despite the heavy blows taken, Tehran could opt to fight on.

“Iran may lack parity in conventional military terms, but it possesses a distributed deterrent capability: armed proxies across the region, cyber warfare expertise, and a long-honed ideological machinery that frames death not as loss but as victory," he said.

"If the Ayatollah’s regime interprets US involvement as existential, it will not capitulate. It will escalate.”

An Israeli drone attack strike on a Revolutionary Guard base in Bostan Abad in northwestern Iran killed several troops, Iranian state-run YJC reported early Friday without elaborating.

US law enforcement has stepped up its monitoring of potential Iran-backed operatives within the United States, CBS news reported citing sources.

In the days after Israel launched its attacks on Iran, the FBI under its director Kash Patel is boosting surveillance over what sources cited by CBS described as Hezbollah-linked sleeper cells.

“In addition to its nuclear program, Iran pursues one of the most extensive missile programs in the Middle East,” Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), equivalent to the FBI in the US, asserted last week.

“Procurement activities in Germany in the area of Iranian missile technology/missile programs remain high – and are on the rise.”

The report added that Iran continued to violate key commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA), prompting the EU to maintain a partial embargo banning the transfer of sensitive goods, weapons, and delivery systems.

Calls for snapback sanctions

In May, Austria’s intelligence service concluded that Iran’s nuclear weapons development is “well advanced” and that it now has a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.

On June 12, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) censured Tehran for failing to meet its safeguard obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“The E3 (Britain, France and Germany) should invoke the snapback sanctions mechanism,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Iran International.

“Invoking snapback would restore previous UN Security Council resolutions requiring Iran to suspend all uranium enrichment and reinforce the US position of zero enrichment in Iran,” he added, pointing out that snapback would also reinstate the arms embargo and missile restrictions.

Espionage, repression, regional threats

The report also named Iran, along with Russia, China, and Turkey, as among the top four states conducting espionage, cyberattacks, influence operations, and proliferation inside Germany.

Each country, it noted, pursues different priorities.

Proliferation was defined as acquiring products and knowledge for weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems, and other advanced military technologies. Iran was mentioned 84 times in the 412-page report, which outlines threats to German democracy.

It also condemned Tehran’s domestic crackdown and support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Due to the violent actions of Iranian security forces within the country and the support of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU imposed further sanctions against the country in 2023 and 2024,” the report said.

German-Iranian political scientist Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh told Iran International that Berlin is increasingly alarmed by Tehran’s continued defiance. He said snapback under UNSCR 2231 is likely unless Iran yields to US demands.

He also warned that Iran’s missile program poses a threat to Europe, citing its threats to close the Persian Gulf, disrupt global markets, and target countries allied with Israel.

Iran International contacted Israeli officials for comments on the German findings. No response was received at the time of publication.

British foreign secretary David Lammy is expected to deliver Washington's message to Tehran that a path to a diplomatic solution is still possible, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, after the UK top diplomat met his American counterpart at the White House.

Lammy met Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday and is set to fly to Geneva for talks with Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and his French and German counterparts on Friday, June 20.

Britain had come away with the impression that the US would prefer a “diplomatic solution”, the FT reported citing people close to the talks between Lammy and Rubio.

However, there are doubts about Iran’s willingness to strike a deal, and the same sources cautioned that US military action “remains firmly on the table," the report added.

"A window now exists within the next two weeks to achieve a diplomatic solution," Lammy said after announcing he would join the Friday talks with Araghchi.