Message from the Editor: Israel's attack on Iran a dangerous escalation

Irish Times

9 hours ago

This weekend, we are once again forced to confront the grim spectre of widening war in the Middle East.
Israel's
massive and highly co-ordinated airstrike on Iran
this week, targeting uranium enrichment facilities, missile factories, nuclear scientists and key military figures, marks a dangerous escalation in a region already teetering on the edge. It may prove to be one of the most consequential military actions in recent years, altough it is too early to know what those consequences will be.
What makes this attack all the more significant is not just its scale, but the geopolitical context.
Israel
acted unilaterally. Despite direct appeals from US president
Donald Trump
not to proceed, prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
authorised the operation.
The US, clearly forewarned, evacuated its personnel from vulnerable sites but refused to participate. Secretary of state Marco Rubio's statement that the US was not involved and is now focused on protecting American forces reads as not just a disclaimer but a warning: America's willingness to be drawn into another regional war is limited.
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Iran's
response remains unknown, though its
military capacity has been diminished over recent years
. Despite its tactical limitations, it remains capable of various forms of retaliation.
What should trouble the international community most is Netanyahu's decision to escalate at a moment when the region remains deeply unstable. The slaughter in Gaza continues, while Syria, Iraq and Lebanon are fragile. The Gulf states are watching developments with deep unease. This move risks dragging all of them into a far broader conflict.
It's important, too, to remember the road that brought us here. In 2018, Netanyahu played a pivotal role in persuading Trump to abandon the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that had placed real limits on Iran's ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. Its collapse reignited the nuclear crisis that now threatens to spiral out of control.
This week's Israeli airstrikes almost certainly kill off any remaining hope of the new agreement with Iran that Trump's team had been quietly pursuing. That may, in fact, have been Netanyahu's goal.
If so, it is a dangerous gamble. And if it leads to a new war, the cost will be measured not in strategic gains, but in lives lost, and in a region further engulfed in misery.
Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
Editor
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