Israel-Iran War: Targeting & Taming The Octopus

News18

17-07-2025

Last Updated:
India enjoys good relations with both Iran and Israel and is not in a position to pick sides
Israel and Iran war has moved into the second week with large exchange of aerial and ballistic missiles and with very little respite.
In a much-anticipated preemptive air strike with 200 jet aircraft, Israel struck more than 100 targets in Iran last week targeting nuclear assets and the command structure of Iran. The Mossad had infiltrated and neutralised anti-aircraft assets of Iran by firing huge numbers of drones from within Iran.
It may be recalled that Iran has a minority population of 10,000 Jews down from 1,00,000 before the Iranian revolution.
Four Generals of top military command and ten scientists working on the nuclear installations were eliminated in the first offensive. Ten cities have been targeted and nuclear assets have been degraded up to some extent.
In the second week, the United States of America (USA) has joined Israel in targeting and degrading the underground nuclear assets of Iran where the Israelis did not have the penetrating power. Operation Midnight Hammer was a lightning campaign in which B-2 Stealth Bombers attacked Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan and caused appreciable destruction to the underground assets.
The stated strategic aim of Israel to carry out the preemptive strike was to neutralise the nuclear and ballistic assets and affect a regime change in Iran after a popular uprising among the people against the Mullahs. They also targeted and successfully eliminated the higher civil and military leadership with the aim of creating a psychological paralysis in the nerve centre of the besieged nation.
The US, Israel and Iran may be in for a long haul, taking a cue from the Russian-Ukrainian war and the war in Gaza. In effect, Israel has helped the Iranian regime in rallying masses to show their commitment to their nation and for the timebeing all opposition to the Islamic regime has been put on the back burner.
President Donald Trump has yet again proved to be a transactional leader. He lulled the Iranians into having fifth round of talks on Iranian nuclear programme and was fully in picture when the Israelis attacked just before the talks. While declaring that he will take up to two weeks to decide whether to attack Iran or not, he had already passed orders for deploying the forces.
After the midnight attacks on Iran's underground nuclear assets which US claims to be a great success, he is again talking about peace and exhorting Iran to come to negotiation table!
The peace seeking or the Nobel Prize-seeking President has come out in the open and attacked Iran which no other POTUS dared to do. Is North Korea listening and taking note? This brazen attack on the sovereignty and security of a distant nation by Israel and USA may also act as a carte blanche for China to move into Taiwan or Arunachal Pradesh.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini vowed punishment to the aggressor and launched hundreds of ballistic missiles onto the Israeli cities targeting Israel's cybersecurity centers and nuclear facilities mainly in the southern part of the country. For once, the volume of Iranian attack overwhelmed the Iron Dome and rendered it ineffective to a certain extent. Iran also claims to have eliminated the head of Mossad. While the casualties in Iran at the time of writing have been around 26 dead, the Israelis have lost around six persons.
Israel and Iran have been locked in a proxy war for decades. When we went to Israel for an official visit from the National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi in 2009, we were briefed by their foreign and Defence Ministry senior officials and all were in unison to list their threat perception, their enemy No 1, 2 and 3 as Iran, followed by Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in West Bank, the Syrian regime, militias in Iraq and Houthis from Yemen, in that order.
When I later went there as Head of the Mission and Force Commander of United Nations Peacekeeping Force at Golan Heights between Israel and Syria from 2012 to 2015, the threat perception had not changed.
I was the sponsor officer of the UAE naval officer doing the NDC and his dissertation was on Nuclear Programme of Iran. This officer along with the Saudi and the Egyptian officers always asked questions to the guest speakers on nuclear assets of Iran. Therefore, as early as the first decade of this millennium, it was not only the Israelis but also all GCC and Arab countries were equally wary of the Iranian nuclear assets and keenly watched their progress as they viewed it as a Shia Bomb. The Sunni world already had a nuclear bomb closer home in Pakistan and Jews had their own; but they have all been always apprehensive of Iran getting the expertise because of the theocratic power structure of Iran.
The Iron Dome was built jointly by US and Israel in 2011 and I was shown its effectiveness during the previous Gaza war of 2014 that lasted 52 days. India rightly acquired the know-how from Israel and coupled it with the S-400 Triumf, surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, in creating Akashteer, a comprehensive air Defence system; its own version of Iron Dome that protected us from the enemy air assets during Operation Sindoor.
Both China and Russia have jointly criticised the brazen Israeli offensive as an attack on Iran's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity. The E3 to include UK, France and Germany invited the Iranian Foreign Minister to Geneva for talks on the nuclear deal but the Iranians have kept the condition of bringing an end to Israeli attacks on their soil and further destruction of the country and causing large-scale death and destruction of their population as a prerequisite for the talks to recommence.
Since October 7, 202 attack by Hamas cadres on Israeli military cadres and civilians, Israel has been systematically eliminating all sub-conventional and conventional threats in the region. For decades, Iran has been fighting a proxy war with Israel through Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Fatah in West Bank, erstwhile Syrian regime of Assad, Shia militias in Iraq and the Houthis from Yemen.
Israel has termed Iran an Octopus and has very diligently crushed its arms of Hamas, Hezbollah, Bashar Al Assad, Shia militia of Iraq and Houthis from Yemen. In doing so, Israel has completely dismantled the so-called Shia Crescent and has now decided to go for the head of the octopus. It has got overwhelming success in the initial attacks but is now finding it hard to reach the head of the octopus. Before reaching the head of the octopus, Israel has to deal with the mantle, siphon and the beak!
The Iran-Israel-USA war is not coming to an early end. Israel will ensure that Iran is weakened substantially and its nuclear-weapon ambition is pushed by five to ten years. However, Iran may walk out of Non-Proliferation Treaty and give impetus to its nuclear dream. A nuclear Iran will also be more secure as nuclear capability brings in a strategic deterrence. The non-contact wars have a limitation and there is very little possibility of Israel and US to commit troops on the ground.
India enjoys good relations with both Iran and Israel and is not in a position to pick sides. India has historical, cultural and traditional relations with Iran spanning centuries, is managing the operations of the Chabahar Port project and has a stake in the International North-South Transport Corridor connecting ship, rail and road trade routes between Azerbaijan, Central Asia, Europe, India, Iran and Russia. It is also ensuring its energy security with help of Iran. With our dependence on Israel for our defence procurement especially in command and control and air defence sectors including the domain of information technology and cybersecurity, we have developed strategic partnership with Israel in the last three decades.
India has to ensure a tightrope walk and in fact may be able to work towards bringing ceasefire and peace between the two varying sides, as it enjoys excellent relations with both the nations.
The author was Head of the Mission and Force Commander of UN Peacekeeping Mission (UNDOF) between Israel and Syria at Golan Heights from 2012 to 2014. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
June 23, 2025, 13:57 IST
News opinion Opinion | Israel-Iran War: Targeting & Taming The Octopus
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