Israel has at least 3 submaries capable of carrying nuclear weapons
There are the old Dolphins and the new Dolphins, they are very different. It is the new Dolphins which are supposed to have the second-strike nuclear capability and Israel just got the first one in the series. See e.g. here.
Israel has protocols for direct nuclear answers
I am sure it has. But the situation when you tracked a long-range bomber from Iranian airspace and that bomber dropped a nuke is very different from the situation when a nuke just exploded in a city and you have no idea how that happened or who is responsible.
Maybe. There is very little reliable information about Israeli Popeye missile variants which are the cruise missiles that the Dolphins are presumably equipped with. Specifically no one knows whether they are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead over a 600+ miles range (the distance from the Mediterranean to Tehran).
OK, if you want to express doubt about whether Israel has nuclear missiles, fine, whatever. But a minute ago, you were claiming that nuclear missiles distinguished the old from the new Dolphins. According to my NTI link they have the same diameter missile tubes. It doesn’t matter if the Popeye turbo goes farther than the Popeye. They all fit on the old Dolphins.
Not quite. I am not expressing doubts that Israel has nuclear missiles, I am expressing doubts that the submarine-launched missiles carrying a nuclear warhead can reach Tehran.
I also didn’t say that “nuclear missiles distinguished the old from the new Dolphins”—I said that the old and the new Dolphins are quite different, and they are. I agree that the old Dolphins are capable launching Popeyes (I was mistaken to imply that they had no nuclear launch capability).
There are the old Dolphins and the new Dolphins, they are very different. It is the new Dolphins which are supposed to have the second-strike nuclear capability and Israel just got the first one in the series. See e.g. here.
I am sure it has. But the situation when you tracked a long-range bomber from Iranian airspace and that bomber dropped a nuke is very different from the situation when a nuke just exploded in a city and you have no idea how that happened or who is responsible.
Especially if Iran announces that should we be hit in retaliation, we will use all of our (remaining) nuclear weapons.
NTI cites a 1999 Jane’s report saying that the old Dolphins carried nuclear missiles. (And the 1999 ship may well have been specified in 1989.)
Maybe. There is very little reliable information about Israeli Popeye missile variants which are the cruise missiles that the Dolphins are presumably equipped with. Specifically no one knows whether they are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead over a 600+ miles range (the distance from the Mediterranean to Tehran).
OK, if you want to express doubt about whether Israel has nuclear missiles, fine, whatever. But a minute ago, you were claiming that nuclear missiles distinguished the old from the new Dolphins. According to my NTI link they have the same diameter missile tubes. It doesn’t matter if the Popeye turbo goes farther than the Popeye. They all fit on the old Dolphins.
Not quite. I am not expressing doubts that Israel has nuclear missiles, I am expressing doubts that the submarine-launched missiles carrying a nuclear warhead can reach Tehran.
I also didn’t say that “nuclear missiles distinguished the old from the new Dolphins”—I said that the old and the new Dolphins are quite different, and they are. I agree that the old Dolphins are capable launching Popeyes (I was mistaken to imply that they had no nuclear launch capability).