A nuclear Iran might make it more difficult for Israel to attack its immediate neighbors, according to a senior Israeli military official on Tuesday.

 

Military planning division chief Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel said if Tehran attains nuclear weapons, that could constrain Israel from striking Iranian-backed groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. “If we are forced to do things in Gaza or in Lebanon, under the Iranian nuclear umbrella it might be different,” Eshel said at a briefing in Jerusalem.

Concern in the U.S. and Israel over Iran’s nuclear program has increased in recent months, bringing harsh economic sanctions and calls from both Americans and Israelis for a unilateral military strike against Iran. The latest event in the controversy came last week when another Iranian nuclear scientist was assassinated in a plot widely suspected as the work of Israel, the U.S., or both.