A former Israeli defence minister with an international warrant out for his arrest has co-written a column with prominent British-American historian Niall Ferguson for The Times of London newspaper urging the US to enter Israel’s conflict against Iran.
Ferguson and Yoav Gallant, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Gaza, write in the column – which was published on Friday morning – that only the US air force “has the power to finish off Fordow”, the site that holds the core of Iran’s remaining nuclear enrichment capability.
“Israel has done most of the job – now Trump can finish it,” reads the piece’s headline.
The Times is one of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious newspapers.
Since Friday, when Israel launched its assault on Iran, Israel has repeatedly targeted the country’s military and nuclear facilities, as well as assassinated high-profile security, intelligence and military commanders, along with prominent scientists.
The attacks, which have also targeted residential areas, have killed more 500 people and wounded at least 1,300, many of them civilians.
In response, Iran has fired barrages of missiles towards Haifa, Tel Aviv and other major Israeli cities, killing dozens.
“We both salute the extraordinary skill with which the Israel Defence Forces and Mossad have executed Israel’s war plan,” Ferguson and Gallant write.
“Much of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme now lies in ruins, and many of the scientists who ran it are dead. But one key site remains, at Fordow.”