IRAN could be spurred on to rush the creation of a nuclear weapon if Israel unleashes an attack, an ex-military intelligence agent warns.

Israel’s top brass are understood to be poised to blitz the rogue nation within days without the backing of the US.

It comes as Donald Trump’s 60-day deadline to thrash out a deal with Tehran over its nuclear programme last night expired.

Senior military and political sources in Tel Aviv told The Sun back in April how Israel was plotting to strike Iran’s nuke sites within weeks.

A senior diplomatic insider, speaking in Jerusalem, said Tehran’s nuclear programme should have been dealt with “a long time ago”.

Israel intended to work with the US on an attack, but last week Benjamin Netanyahu’s former advisor shared with The Sun that the prime minister was strategizing a plan to target Iran independently of Trump.

And now US officials have been warned Israel is ready to unleash strikes on the rogue nation, sources have revealed.

In a telling sign, the US has scaled down its presence in the Middle East and removed non-essential staff from its embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Trump hinted at a possible confrontation last night by stating: “They are being moved out because it could be a dangerous place and we’ll see what happens.”

“They can’t have a nuclear weapon, very simple, they can’t have a nuclear weapon, we’re not going to allow that.”

Netanyahu has been discreetly planning to rapidly target Iran’s main nuclear enrichment sites, considering the nation as “enemy number one”.

Trump, however, had firmly insisted Israel take no action that could jeopardise his administration’s efforts to thrash out a deal with Iran.

But Netanyahu appears on the brink of giving the green light to strike as a sixth round of talks tentatively set for Sunday in Oman looms.

Iran’s furious Revolutionary Guard commander vowed Tehran would respond in a “more forceful and destructive way” to Israel than in past offensives.

It comes as the UN nuclear watchdog found Iran is not complying with its nuke obligations amid alarming reports that the Islamist state has stepped up secret plans to build nuclear weapons 

Raz Zimmt, who spent more than two decades in the IDF’s military intelligence, said Iran is likely to immediately retaliate with a huge missile blitz if Israel launches missiles as its turf.

But the veteran Iran-watcher warned it could spur Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to continue his warped nuke scheme with no oversight – or even break out a nuclear weapon.

He told The Sun: “We have to make a distinction between two concerning scenarios in the day after an attack whether it’s an Israeli or an American attack.

“The immediate retaliation would probably be the launching of long-range missiles from Iran against Israel if that’s an Israeli attack.

“I assume that if it’s just an Israeli attack Iran will not take the risk of engaging the United States into a military confrontation with Iran by targeting US forces or US bases in the region.

Iran’s breaching nuclear rules

IRAN has been declared as in breach of its nuclear rules for the first time in two decades.

The UN’s atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, passed a resolution on Wednesday condemning Tehran’s “lack of co-operation”.

It is the culmination of several stand-offs between the Vienna-based IAEA and Iran since Trump pulled the US out of a nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers in 2018 during his first term, after which that accord unravelled.

Tehran said it “has no choice but to respond to this political resolution”, and said it would launch a new enrichment site “in a secure location”.

The state said: “Other measures are also being planned and will be announced subsequently.”

An IAEA official said Iran had given no further details such as the location of the site.

It comes as US and Iranian officials are due to hold a sixth round of talks on Tehran’s accelerating uranium enrichment programme in Oman on Sunday.

The Trump administration has been trying to secure a deal with Tehran aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear programme.

Donald Trump is said to be in advanced talks with Iran over a preliminary agreement that could include provisions on uranium enrichment – terms Israel finds unacceptable.

“In that case, we’ll probably see more or less what we saw in early October.

“Perhaps more than that Iran is still equipped with thousands of ballistic missiles it can use against Israel.

“Those can certainly inflict significant damage to Israel but this is only the immediate kind of retaliation. Israel of course can try to defend itself.

“Israel can carry out strikes which could in a way limit the missiles capabilities in Iran.”

An Iron Dome operator previously told The Sun how the IDF was ready for any possible air assault from Iran.

Tsgt Y said: “Fearful [of an attack from Iran]? No. We’re prepared for anything that might come.”

Dr Zimmt warned Israel blitzing Iran could spark weeks of military confrontation between the two nations.

But he argued it could prompt a far more sinister outcome.

Insiders say Iran right now has the capacity to create three to five nuclear bombs – but does not have the ability to make them explode.

“[It is possible] after an Israeli strike Iran will try to take the remnants of what is being left of its nuclear capabilities, the fissile material, the centrifuges, what will be left out of the two main enrichment facilities and try to reconstitute its nuclear programme this time without any IEA inspections,” Dr Zimmt said.

“And so Iran can certainly use this opportunity to make a decision to break out a weapon which will require continuous efforts by both the United States and Israel to avoid that scenario.

“So the immediate retaliation would probably be some kind of missile attack against Israel if it’s only Israel.

“The second kind of retaliation would be concerning Iran’s efforts to rehabilitate its nuclear program and perhaps also breaking out weapons.”

A French government insider close to Israel said it will be imperative other countries form a deterrence coalition if Israel strikes to fend off retaliation from Iran.

The source, speaking to The Sun in Paris, warned Iran “know how to fight” and are “used to long wars”.

“You must have a kind of coalition against the reaction of Iran,” they said.

“And you have seen this small coalition immediately before, US, UK and France, and some Arab countries.

“But somebody like Trump would not support that, I mean an attack from Iran.

“So it must be a kind of deterrence, saying to Iran, OK, you have this strike from Israel, but you can’t reply, because we are there now. So if you reply, this is an attack against us.

“That’s deterrence.

“If Iran tries to strike back, you will see immediately a kind of coalition against Iran.

“And you will have a huge, huge political issue, because the best ally of Israel, the United States, the best ally of Iran is Russia.

“So if you have a strike between Israel and Iran, the problem is between the United States and Russia.”

IDF sources, speaking to The Sun at a base in Israel in April, revealed the military had been working for months to clear the path for a major strike on Iran.

Three air campaigns eliminated strategic aerial defences which were “the main obstacle” protecting Iran’s nuke facilities, the insider confirmed.

Vitally, this would allow Israeli aircraft to get to Iran’s borders with diminished fear of being blasted.

Iran’s secret nuke site ‘Rainbow’

Exclusive by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)

CHILLING satellite pictures reveal Iran’s sprawling secret nuclear site codenamed “Rainbow”.

Sources in the country have uncovered how the base is being used to develop nuclear-capable missiles with a 2,000-mile range – able to strike US bases in the Middle East.

Tehran’s tyrannical regime is using oil and chemical facilities as a cover for nuclear bases, bombshell docs shared with The Sun by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reveal.

Haunting aerial images expose a network of clandestine sites – including “Rainbow” – used by iron-fist leaders to create terrifying nuclear weapons.

A powerful nuclear blast from Iran could have disastrous consequences for the Middle East – and beyond – thanks to the capability of the warheads.

Now sources inside Iran have revealed the regime’s nuclear weaponisation entity, Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research’s (SPND) secret project to accelerate nuclear ability.

Hidden under the guise of a chemical production facility, the crowning jewel of the operation is a base known internally as the “Rangin Kaman (Rainbow) Site”.

It is some distance from Iran’s already known nuke bases, and is masked as a chemical production company known as Diba Energy Siba.

READ MORE HERE