A view of a damaged building after a fire broke out at Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Facility, in Isfahan, Iran, July 2, 2020. Photo: Atomic Energy Organization of Iran / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters.

The BESA Center has published a new paper that presents a new perspective on the reasons for the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah in 2006.

Incidents of warming on Israel’s border with Lebanon vis-à-vis Hezbollah occasionally raise the question of whether Iran is also in the picture. This is a highly relevant question, as Tehran appears to have done its utmost behind the scenes to operate Hezbollah against Israel with the aim of diverting the attention of Western states away from the containment of Iran’s military nuclear program.

While Iran claims that its nuclear program is for “peaceful use” only, it has avoided declaring the initiation of nuclear projects to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). In so doing, it violated its commitment to the IAEA and acted contrary to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran’s crisis with the IAEA and Western countries reached a peak in 2005, when it began to fear the possibility of US military action against it.

The thesis of this study, which states that Iran’s behind-the-scenes activities in the Second Lebanon War were intended to deter an attack on its nuclear program, relies heavily on statements made openly in the media by senior members of the Iranian leadership and Hezbollah.

As for what is happening today regarding the Iranian nuclear program and Hezbollah’s activities, there is a strong similarity between the current situation and the situation of the hostile quadrangle in 2006: Iran and Hezbollah against the US and Israel.

To read the full report at the BESA Center, please click here.

Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Raphael Ofek, a BESA Center Research Associate, is an expert in the field of nuclear physics and technology who served as a senior analyst in the Israeli intelligence community.

Col. (res.) Pesach Malovany served in various positions within the IDF Intelligence Directorate, where he specialized in intelligence gathering and analysis. He is now an independent researcher focusing on Arab militaries.