An American senior official told the ABC network last weekend that Israeli fighter jets launched 3 missiles at the air defense radar site, which forms part of the defense of the Natanz nuclear facility.

The Israeli message to Iran is that Israel will not put up with the production of nuclear weapons, and that it has the ability to damage the Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel signals that it intends to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities, just as it destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and the Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.

A senior security official from Israel told the "Wall Street Journal" last weekend that the attack on the city of Isfahan, where the military and nuclear facilities are located, was intended to convey a message to Tehran that Israel could also strike the most sensitive places in Iran.

"A limited attack can show that nothing is safe for them, and we are rooted deep inside, even near the nuclear facilities," said the official, who clarified that the attack "was not a mistake, it was a direct and clear message."

Iran fears a pre-emptive strike by Israel on its nuclear facilities. The Israeli attack on the radar facility of the Natanz nuclear facility was intended to make it clear to the Iranians that Israel will not allow them to produce nuclear weapons.

The Iranian general's warning about damage to Israel's nuclear facilities is another step in the hand-wringing struggle between Israel and Iran, which is now turning into an open war, after for many years it took place in secret between the two countries.

Iran is trying to thwart the implementation of the "Begin Doctrine" of the State of Israel, which holds that a pre-emptive strike must be made on the nuclear facilities of any country in the Middle East that plans to produce nuclear weapons to destroy the State of Israel.

The Western sanctions on the nuclear issue did not stop Iran. Israel has so far also failed to stop the Iranian nuclear project through covert operations, although it has managed to slow it down by eliminating Iranian nuclear scientists, led by Mohsen Fakhri Zada, the father of the Iranian nuclear bomb, and a series of other covert operations.

The Iranian attack on Israel turned the war between the two countries from a secret war into an open war, and Israel does not hide its intentions regarding the thwarting of Iran's nuclear project.

Israel has intelligence proof of Iran's secret military program in the nuclear field. This worries Israel and the Western countries as well. 

Western intelligence sources estimate that Israel is preparing to deliver a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities at the appropriate time. In their estimation, the open war declared by Iran against Israel accelerates Israel's preparations for landing this counter strike.

According to senior intelligence sources in the US and Israel, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not yet made the strategic decision to break through to the nuclear bomb, but the "Revolutionary Guards" are making logistical preparations to shorten the process to produce a nuclear bomb in case the decision is made soon. In practice, Iran is also secretly building a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, at a depth of about 100 meters, so that Israel's bombs cannot hit it.

The range of Israel's action to stop the production of the Iranian nuclear bomb ranges, according to intelligence sources, between a year and a half to two years. 

Therefore, the political echelon must give priority to this issue, which is an existential danger to Israel and has major strategic implications for the region. This is the reason that Israel needs to quickly decide the war in the Gaza Strip, in order to evacuate and deal with the growing Iranian danger under Israel's intelligence radar. 

There is no certainty that Israeli intelligence knows all the details of the Iranian nuclear program, and it is possible that Iran is far ahead of the schedule of Israeli predictions.

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Yoni Ben Menachem, contributor to NEWSRAEL, is a commentator on Middle East affairs, is an expert in the field who has covered significant events in Israeli history, such as the first and second intifadas, military operations and more. He speaks the Arabic language in several different dialects, and has connections with senior figures in the Arab world, as well as in the political and military leadership in Israel. Ben Menachem served as editor-in-chief and CEO of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.