Important Takeaways:

• Tensions between Iran and Israel remain heightened as Tehran’s military heads on Thursday once again pledged a crushing response to Jerusalem’s strikes last month, and the U.N.’s atomic watchdog is scrambling to prevent a nuclear escalation.
• Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi traveled to Iran this week to hold high level meetings with Iranian officials in a move to hold Tehran accountable for prior nuclear safeguarding pledges and to get clarity on where Iran’s nuclear program stands.
• However, even as Tehran continues to develop its nuclear program despite international attempts to stall it, Grossi also issued a warning message to Israel, stating clearly that Iran’s “nuclear installations should not be attacked.”
• Grossi’s comments came during a news conference Thursday and just three days after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday said that Iran was “more exposed than ever [for] strikes on its nuclear facilities.”
• “We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal – to thwart and eliminate the existential threat to the State of Israel,” he added.
• The White House has repeatedly warned Israel to not go after Iran’s nuclear sites, though as the Biden administration prepares to leave come January, when President-elect Donald Trump retakes the Oval Office, the U.S. official stance on Israeli strike options could change.

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