My Take 5 (Edition 47): The week that was in international affairs
Welcome back to another edition of My Take 5, your roundup of top international news. It has been a week of heavy geopolitical developments centred on the 12-day Iran-Israel war. So let's get to it:
Iran-Israel war: After an intense 12-day conflict between Iran and Isreal that saw the US bomb Tehran's nuclear sites, a tentative ceasefire appears to be holding. But the big question everyone is asking is: What was it all about? Israel claims Iran was weeks away from making a nuclear bomb. Hence it had to act quickly and destroy Iran's capabilities. Thus, it launched Operation Rising Lion by hitting Iranian military assets and nuclear sites. Note, however, that Netanyahu has been making statements about how close Iran is to a bomb for years. Nonetheless, the US joined him this time to hit Iran's nuclear programme. Now there's a big debate whether the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites actually served their purpose, especially the targeting of the facility in Fordow buried deep below a mountain. Some initial assessments say the damage was something that can be repaired by the Iranians within months. Add to this reports that Iranians may have moved critical equipment and uranium stockpiles much in advance of the strikes, and the whole 'degrading Iran's nuclear programme' narrative begins to look iffy.
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