From Khamenei to Oil Facilities: Potential Israeli Targets According to an American General

General Frank McKenzie, former commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), discussed the "numerous" options available to Israel in response to last week's missile attack by the Iranian government during an interview with CBS News on Sunday. At the beginning of the interview, he described the missile attack by the Islamic Republic on Israel last Tuesday as unsuccessful and stated that, regarding Hezbollah in Lebanon, as a result of Israel's deadly attacks on the group in recent weeks, "its head has been severed from the body of tension." General McKenzie then outlined some of the options available to Israel in response to the Iranian missile attack, including an attack against Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, strikes on nuclear facilities, attacks on oil infrastructure, or strikes against intelligence targets and positions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The former CENTCOM commander noted the "large and complex" nature of the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities and mentioned that there are "numerous" alternatives that could be targeted before any attack on nuclear facilities. He predicted that Israel's response to the Iranian missile attack this time would be "larger" than its "very restrained" and "very calibrated" response on April 19 to the first Iranian attack on April 14. General McKenzie further stated that Iran's nuclear facilities are a "very difficult" target that the United States has special capabilities to reach, but the Israelis do not possess all of these capabilities. He clarified that while Israel can inflict damage on these facilities, it would be challenging to completely destroy them given their "size, complexity, and the extent and manner of their expansion over the past 10 years." The former CENTCOM commander deemed an attack on Iran's oil infrastructure as "definitely" one of the possibilities, adding that refineries, oil storage facilities, or loading sites for oil shipments by ships could be targeted. General McKenzie continued by stating that Israel "definitely" has the capability to strike IRGC bases and buildings belonging to Iranian intelligence organizations in Tehran and other areas of Iran, and can target them with "heavy" attacks at "a time and place of its choosing." This senior American military official also mentioned that the main goal of the Islamic Republic's officials is the "survival of the regime," and since, in their view, Donald Trump's election is a "direct threat" to this goal, the Islamic Republic is "undoubtedly" pursuing the assassination of Trump and other officials of his administration.