Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz revealed on Wednesday that the operation in Iran was planned to be launched later in the year. However, due to the circumstances, it was brought forward significantly.
Katz spoke with IDF intelligence soldiers and commanders, and said: "Since the war was planned for the middle of the year, with the same goal, but because of the developments and circumstances, mainly within Iran, the US President's position, and the possibility of creating a joint operation, the need arose to move everything up to February."
"We ourselves hoped for this, but weren't sure, and you advanced the intelligence aspect significantly. From day to day and hour to hour, another capability and more dimensions, and of course, operational preparedness. You have a giant part in building this ability, which also led to this combination and the result of the fantastic opening blow and onward," the Minister added.
"We are in the midst of a campaign, we are convinced that it will end well, and that the result will be the most significant boost to Israel's security and position, the removal of threats and everything that we have been contending with for a long time," Katz emphasized.
He noted that "our advantage over Iran in this campaign is mostly on two dimensions: intelligence and operational capabilities. If you asked what surprised the Iranians to the point that they weren't ready despite the strategic warning, it's because they didn't know how to estimate the two dimensions: the width and depth of intelligence on every target, and the operational ability to utilize the intelligence to hit, attack, destroy, and ruin their abilities."
The head of Military Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder emphasized: “We are operating from this very place to provide timely warnings in a multi-front campaign. We are constantly monitoring all arenas and ensuring we deliver high-quality intelligence that will give us the alert we need. We also provide intelligence for decision-making, and above all, we are now supplying intelligence for victory over the enemy, for victory over Iran across all dimensions, in every mission, and in all the capabilities we have determined to degrade. We are operating 24/7."