Israel reportedly pushes for Iran strike before pro-Israel US CENTCOM chief Kurilla retires
Outgoing U.S. CENTCOM chief Gen. Michael Kurilla, who is a strong supporter of Israel, is a leading advocate for a joint U.S. and Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
Since Kurilla’s term ends in a few months, Israeli officials reportedly seek a joint U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran soon.
Kurilla has visited Israel dozens of times since his early days as a young officer in his 20s. An Israeli official revealed last year that he possesses deep knowledge of Israel and its complex security challenges.
“He knows the type of every munition launched at Israel that night, and where each interceptor was positioned,” the unnamed Israeli official said. “Wake him in the middle of the night, and he’d ace a pop quiz better than some of our own officers,” the official added.
Kurilla stressed the close ties with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during a visit to Israel in April 2023.
“As with every visit to the IDF, I was thoroughly impressed by the readiness for combat that I saw here. Our military relationship with Israel is solid,” Kurillastated.
During his tenure as the head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Kurilla led the construction of a “regional umbrella” of defense ties between the U.S., Israel and moderate Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan.
Following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Kurilla has played a central role in strengthening military coordination between the U.S. and Israeli militaries in the Middle East. This close coordination was manifested during the Iranian missile and drone attacks against Israel in April and October 2024, when a coalition led by Israel and the United States successfully neutralized the vast majority of the Iranian missiles and drones.
Kurilla is reportedly leading a faction in Washington that seeks to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to greenlight a joint military strike against the Iranian regime. However, other voices within the Trump administration have rejected the military option and favor a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear problem.
While Trump has not ruled out a potential military strike, the president has so far decided to first exhaust all diplomatic efforts to defuse the Iranian nuclear threat.
Trump recently reportedly stopped advanced Israeli plans to carry out a strike on Iran’s nuclear sites “as soon as next month,” according to a New York Times report.
Trump told media representatives that he is currently prioritizing a diplomatic solution over a military strike.
“I’m not in a rush to do it,” Trump said. “Iran has a chance to have a great country, and to live happily without death, and I’d like to see that. That’s my first option,” the president argued while stressing that he will not permit Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
However, the president has also made it clear that he will approve military action against Iran if the diplomatic efforts fail to prevent Tehran’s quest for nuclear bombs.
“If it requires military, we’re going to have military. Israel will obviously be very much involved in that – it’ll be the leader of that,” Trump recently stated.
Israeli defense officials have assessed that there is currently a window of opportunity in striking Iran’s nuclear program due to the ayatollah regime’s weakness amid growing socio-economic turmoil and anti-regime sentiments in Iranian society.
Furthermore, Tehran’s terrorist proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are severely degraded, and Israel reportedly dismantled much of Iran’s aerial defense systems and missile capabilities during a large strike in October 2024. Additionally, Iran’s ally, the Syrian Assad regime, collapsed in December 2024, leaving the ayatollah regime increasingly isolated. However, Israeli officials have warned that the window of opportunity to strike Iran is closing rapidly as Tehran seeks to rebuild its aerial defenses and military capabilities while the regime is reportedly racing towards the nuclear bomb.
Israel is concerned that Kurilla’s successor will be far less supportive of military action against Tehran. For that reason, Israel and its allies in Washington seek a military strike against Iran in the near future.
