Late final week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s battle in opposition to Iran turned official. Israel launched a collection of airstrikes focusing on Iran’s nuclear amenities, authorities buildings and navy headquarters, in addition to navy leaders and scientists. I write that the battle “turned official,” as a result of for the previous 20 months, Israel was already engaged in a proxy battle in opposition to militant teams supported by Iran, whether or not Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen. Israel and Iran had additionally exchanged missile, drone and air strikes twice final 12 months, of their first direct confrontation ever. And previous to that, they’d been engaged in what many observers referred to as a shadow battle relationship again a decade.
Now, because the head-on Israel-Iran Conflict enters its second week, there are questions on how lengthy the battle will final and whether or not it is going to or gained’t attract different powers, specifically the USA. However one other key query pertains to understanding how the battle began.
Israel initially claimed it launched the assaults to maintain Iran from producing nuclear weapons, which it mentioned Tehran was on the verge of doing. Iran has lengthy maintained that its nuclear program is for strictly civilian functions and denied it has any intention of weaponizing it. The consensus amongst Western intelligence businesses is that Tehran did pursue a nuclear weapon within the early 2000s, however subsequently deserted these goals.
