Late last night the IDF began what it said would be several days of airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear program and associated assets.
Good for Israel, acting as it has before (the 1967 war, the takedown of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program in 1981 and strikes on Syria in 2007) to preempt a clear existential threat to its continued existence.
No serious player on the world stage can honestly deny that Tehran has been on its final run gaining nuclear weapons, and while some will quibble about whether the regime intended to use nukes to destroy “the Little Satan” (as it has now called Israel for five decades), Jerusalem could hardly afford to take the chance.
Iran state media report the deaths of multiple top nuclear scientists, as well as of Gen. Hossein Salami, the chief of the Revolutionary Guards — the central force behind all Tehran’s expansionist ambitions.
Tehran will hit back hard, and the IDF can’t be remotely confident it will intercept every drone and missile as it has the last two times. Israel must expect to hurt, hoping that the pain is survivable and simply the necessary price for fending off extinction.
The rest of the Middle East, indeed the world, gets to free-ride on Israel’s bold self-defense: The IDF is moving to take out what would’ve been a menace to everyone else, including those foolish enough to think Iran is an ally.
President Trump did his best to avoid this, striving to negotiate the verifiable end of Iran’s nuclear quest. Tehran declined, betting it could beat the clock. Fact is, Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terror assault on Israel and refusal to surrender as the Gaza war steadily destroyed the entire terror group, plus the attacks on Israel from Iran’s proxies across the region, should be seen largely as Tehran’s efforts to create a window for its final nuclear run.
Iran’s strategy failed; we can only pray that Israel’s strikes do everything they need to.
