Israel considering military action against Iran in days without US support - reports
The US has ordered the evacuation of its embassy in Iraq as tensions rise in the region - with the Trump administration trying to reach a deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear programme.
Thursday 12 June 2025 09:30, UK
Israel is considering taking military action against Iran in the coming days - without American support, sources have told US media.
The reports come as US President Donald Trump is said to be in advanced discussions with Iran about a diplomatic deal to curtail the Middle Eastern country's nuclear programme.
Israel is said to have become more serious about a unilateral strike on Iran as the negotiations between Washington and Tehran appear closer to a preliminary or framework agreement that includes provisions about uranium enrichment.
Israel views those provisions as unacceptable.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is therefore considering a strike on Iran, a Capitol Hill aide and other sources familiar with the matter have told Sky News' US partner network NBC News.
It comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, formally found that Iran isn't complying with its nuclear obligations for the first time in 20 years. Iran insists it has always adhered to its IAEA safeguarding obligations.
An Israeli strike on Iran would be a dramatic break with the Trump administration which has argued against such a move.
Iran will not abandon what it views as its right to uranium enrichment because of mounting frictions in the region, despite US demands that it scrap its enrichment program, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday.
Israel has made no secret of its assessment that Iran is politically and militarily weak, and there has rarely been a better moment to strike its nuclear facilities.
So far, pressure from the US has stopped them acting.
But nuclear talks between Iran and the US are faltering, President Trump is no longer confident a deal can be reached, and Israel has said it is ready to strike if the talks collapse. That moment could be nearing.
A further round of negotiations is set to take place in Oman this weekend. If Iran remains insistent that it must retain enriched uranium, then US patience might run out.
Although the threat of Israeli strikes should be taken seriously, the decision to partially evacuate the US embassy in Baghdad and permit the voluntary departure of other US government dependents in the region, could be a negotiating tactic. A way of upping the stakes.
Sources I've spoken to around the region are calm, for now.
But for Israel, the window to act could be closing. Its strikes on the Iran in October 2024 reportedly eliminated much of the country's air defences. The more time that passes the more opportunity Iran has to rebuild, and that will be in the mind of Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli commanders as their weigh their options.
The prospect of a new front in the conflict in the Middle East has prompted the Trump administration to order all embassies within striking distance of Iranian missiles, aircraft and other assets, to send cables with assessments about the potential threat to Americans and US infrastructure, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The White House has not yet briefed senior politicians on the situation, according to a US official.
The reports have emerged after the US State Department said it had ordered the evacuation of all non-essential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, due to the potential for regional unrest.
It did not mention any possible attack by Israel on Iran when it announced the move.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: "The State Department regularly reviews American personnel abroad, and this decision was made as a result of a recent review."
It comes as the US is also authorising the departure of non-essential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait - giving the staff a choice as to whether to leave those countries.
An Iraqi government source told the country's state news agency that Baghdad has not recorded any security indication that calls for the evacuation.
There was already limited staffing in the US embassy in Baghdad and the order will not affect a large number of personnel.
Meanwhile, the military dependents in Bahrain and Kuwait will have the option of leaving those countries at government expense and with government assistance.
Asked why the US personnel are being moved out of the Middle East, Mr Trump said on Wednesday evening: "They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place and we'll see what happens."
When asked if there is anything that can be done to reduce tensions in the region, the US president said: "They can't have a nuclear weapon, very simple, they can't have a nuclear weapon, we're not going to allow that."
US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the Oman capital Muscat on Sunday to discuss the Iranian response to a recent US proposal, according to American news site Axios, which cited a US official.
The US and Iran have been engaged in talks aimed at limiting Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions America has imposed on the country.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful.
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Tehran and Washington tensions
Mr Trump, who has previously said Israel or America could carry out airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed, has given a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran.
He told the New York Post's "Pod Force One" podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about" a deal.
"They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame. I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago. Something happened to them," he said in the interview released on Wednesday.
Iran's mission to the UN posted on the X social media platform that "threats of 'overwhelming force' won't change facts".
"Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability," the Iranian mission wrote on Wednesday.