The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday wrapped up their largest-ever joint exercise in Israel and the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Times of Israel reported..The drill, dubbed Juniper Oak 2023, involved some 6,400 US troops alongside more than 1,500 Israeli troops, and more than 140 aircraft, 12 naval vessels, and artillery systems, making it the largest-ever joint drill between the nations, the report said..The exercise was widely seen as a strong message to Iranian leaders. However, US officials said the live-fire drills did not include mockups of Iranian targets or of any other adversary..Israel’s Channel 12 News reported, without citing a source, part of the drill included American bombers targeting a simulated Iranian nuclear facility..In fact, US officials speaking to American media said the exercise was not oriented around a particular nation, but regional adversaries like Iran would take notice — a lie of monstrous proportions..“The scale of the exercise is relevant to a whole range of scenarios, and Iran may draw certain inferences from that,” an unnamed Pentagon official told NBC News..IDF chief Herzi Halevi offered the usual spiel..“Israel and the US share the same values, and the IDF and CENTCOM share the same outlook on the threats facing this region,” he said, adding the drill “raised our level of planning and implementation of combined operations.”.“Israel is capable of defending itself, but it’s always good to have our greatest partner beside us to learn from one another. This operational partnership strengthens our ability to deal with a wide range of security challenges in the region.”.Why is this so important?.Well, just a couple days before the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said he plans to go to Iran next month for “much needed” talks on getting it to resume cooperation over its nuclear activities and warned that Tehran has enough material for “several” weapons, the Times of Israel reported..“I might be back in Tehran… in February, perhaps, for a much-needed political dialogue, or reestablishment thereof, with Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium..Such a trip would come at a bleak time for EU-mediated negotiations aimed at bringing back a 2015 agreement that was struck to curb Iran’s atomic activities in return for a lifting of international sanctions..That accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is dead in the water after then US president Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and Tehran progressively rolled back its compliance..Grossi noted the “big, big impasse” on the JCPOA and said Iran’s own pullback from it — including disconnecting 27 IAEA cameras monitoring its declared nuclear sites — means the IAEA was no longer effectively monitoring Tehran’s nuclear program..Raising fears, Zohar Palti, the former head of the Defense Ministry’s political-military bureau and former intelligence director in the Mossad, said recently Iran is just days or weeks away from enriching uranium to the 90% military-grade level, a frightening prospect not only for Israel, but for the world..Iran, he told the Times of Israel, “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment.”.“They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90%, which is military-grade.”.Paltri added, Israel has the military capabilities to attack Iran’s nuclear plants: “I am not implying that Israel is capable, I am saying it is.”.Juniper Oak simulated “complex operational scenarios,” including aircraft and ships striking targets simulating naval threats, US B-52 bombers dropping live ammunition in southern Israel, and joint command and control, in order to “enhance their shared ability to counter regional threats,” the IDF said in press releases..The drills also included refueling Israeli fighter jets from an American Boeing KC-46 — which Israel is expected to receive in 2025 — and Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 5-class corvettes refueling from an American replenishment tanker “to expand the IDF’s ranges and areas of operation in routine and emergency situations.”.The commander of all US forces in the Middle East, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, described the event as “a combined joint all-domain exercise which improves our interoperability on land, in the air, at sea, in space and in cyberspace with our partners, enhances our ability to respond to contingencies and underscores our commitment to the Middle East.”.But a senior US defense official speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity suggested it goes way beyond that.. B-52 .“This will be the most significant exercise between the US and Israel to date,” the official said, adding, “We couldn’t really find anything that comes close.”.Dan Shapiro, who served as US ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, told Al-Monitor the expanded military coordination “signals to Iran, the Gulf States and Israel that President Biden is dead serious when he says he will not permit Iran to get a nuclear weapon.”.“It also provides important leverage that could facilitate an eventual return to diplomacy,” he said, adding that the depth of cooperation required by the massive exercise can "perhaps make it less likely that one acts independently without close coordination with the other.”.A return to diplomacy, right … good luck with that..Unfortunately, only 30-35,000 US troops remain in the Middle East, down from more than 200,000 during the height of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan..“No country in the world can bring this level of combat power, with such agility into a region” that's not its primary focus, Bradley Bowman, a former Army aviator and military expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Air & Space Forces Magazine..“At the same time, it’s important for our adversaries and our allies, frankly, to know that and our partners and everyone in the region to know that.”.The exercise takes place amid continued tensions in the region. Iranian-backed militias launched drone and missile attacks against US forces and allies — a drone attack took place Jan. 20 against the Al Tanf Garrison in southeast Syria..Two of the drones were shot down by the coalition, but the third hit the compound, wounding two allied Syrian opposition fighters who received treatment, a CENTCOM statement added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday wrapped up their largest-ever joint exercise in Israel and the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Times of Israel reported..The drill, dubbed Juniper Oak 2023, involved some 6,400 US troops alongside more than 1,500 Israeli troops, and more than 140 aircraft, 12 naval vessels, and artillery systems, making it the largest-ever joint drill between the nations, the report said..The exercise was widely seen as a strong message to Iranian leaders. However, US officials said the live-fire drills did not include mockups of Iranian targets or of any other adversary..Israel’s Channel 12 News reported, without citing a source, part of the drill included American bombers targeting a simulated Iranian nuclear facility..In fact, US officials speaking to American media said the exercise was not oriented around a particular nation, but regional adversaries like Iran would take notice — a lie of monstrous proportions..“The scale of the exercise is relevant to a whole range of scenarios, and Iran may draw certain inferences from that,” an unnamed Pentagon official told NBC News..IDF chief Herzi Halevi offered the usual spiel..“Israel and the US share the same values, and the IDF and CENTCOM share the same outlook on the threats facing this region,” he said, adding the drill “raised our level of planning and implementation of combined operations.”.“Israel is capable of defending itself, but it’s always good to have our greatest partner beside us to learn from one another. This operational partnership strengthens our ability to deal with a wide range of security challenges in the region.”.Why is this so important?.Well, just a couple days before the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said he plans to go to Iran next month for “much needed” talks on getting it to resume cooperation over its nuclear activities and warned that Tehran has enough material for “several” weapons, the Times of Israel reported..“I might be back in Tehran… in February, perhaps, for a much-needed political dialogue, or reestablishment thereof, with Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told lawmakers in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium..Such a trip would come at a bleak time for EU-mediated negotiations aimed at bringing back a 2015 agreement that was struck to curb Iran’s atomic activities in return for a lifting of international sanctions..That accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, is dead in the water after then US president Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and Tehran progressively rolled back its compliance..Grossi noted the “big, big impasse” on the JCPOA and said Iran’s own pullback from it — including disconnecting 27 IAEA cameras monitoring its declared nuclear sites — means the IAEA was no longer effectively monitoring Tehran’s nuclear program..Raising fears, Zohar Palti, the former head of the Defense Ministry’s political-military bureau and former intelligence director in the Mossad, said recently Iran is just days or weeks away from enriching uranium to the 90% military-grade level, a frightening prospect not only for Israel, but for the world..Iran, he told the Times of Israel, “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment.”.“They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90%, which is military-grade.”.Paltri added, Israel has the military capabilities to attack Iran’s nuclear plants: “I am not implying that Israel is capable, I am saying it is.”.Juniper Oak simulated “complex operational scenarios,” including aircraft and ships striking targets simulating naval threats, US B-52 bombers dropping live ammunition in southern Israel, and joint command and control, in order to “enhance their shared ability to counter regional threats,” the IDF said in press releases..The drills also included refueling Israeli fighter jets from an American Boeing KC-46 — which Israel is expected to receive in 2025 — and Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 5-class corvettes refueling from an American replenishment tanker “to expand the IDF’s ranges and areas of operation in routine and emergency situations.”.The commander of all US forces in the Middle East, Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, described the event as “a combined joint all-domain exercise which improves our interoperability on land, in the air, at sea, in space and in cyberspace with our partners, enhances our ability to respond to contingencies and underscores our commitment to the Middle East.”.But a senior US defense official speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity suggested it goes way beyond that.. B-52 .“This will be the most significant exercise between the US and Israel to date,” the official said, adding, “We couldn’t really find anything that comes close.”.Dan Shapiro, who served as US ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, told Al-Monitor the expanded military coordination “signals to Iran, the Gulf States and Israel that President Biden is dead serious when he says he will not permit Iran to get a nuclear weapon.”.“It also provides important leverage that could facilitate an eventual return to diplomacy,” he said, adding that the depth of cooperation required by the massive exercise can "perhaps make it less likely that one acts independently without close coordination with the other.”.A return to diplomacy, right … good luck with that..Unfortunately, only 30-35,000 US troops remain in the Middle East, down from more than 200,000 during the height of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan..“No country in the world can bring this level of combat power, with such agility into a region” that's not its primary focus, Bradley Bowman, a former Army aviator and military expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Air & Space Forces Magazine..“At the same time, it’s important for our adversaries and our allies, frankly, to know that and our partners and everyone in the region to know that.”.The exercise takes place amid continued tensions in the region. Iranian-backed militias launched drone and missile attacks against US forces and allies — a drone attack took place Jan. 20 against the Al Tanf Garrison in southeast Syria..Two of the drones were shot down by the coalition, but the third hit the compound, wounding two allied Syrian opposition fighters who received treatment, a CENTCOM statement added.
