a day ago
Netanyahu realises his lifelong dream
People look over damage to buildings in Nobonyad Square following Israeli airstrikes on June 13, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. Photo byIn the early hours of Friday morning, Israel launched a full-scale campaign against Iran, as waves of air strikes targeted the Islamic regime's nuclear programme and military bases. The attack – known as Operation Rising Lion — was staggering in its scale and ambition.
It's hard to overstate just how devastating Israel's strikes have been for Iran's already brittle leadership. Iranian state media has reported that the strikes killed Gen Hossein Salami, who, as head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was Iran's most prominent military official, along with other top generals Mohammad Bagheri, the army chief of staff, and Gholamali Rashid, commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya joint forces headquarters. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that the strikes killed most of the IRGC air force leadership, who were meeting together at the time of the attack. Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who also oversees the nuclear programme, was wounded according to Iran's state media.
Less clear is how significant the hit was to Iran's nuclear programme. The Israeli military says it hit Iran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, striking 'infrastructure vital for the site's continued operation and the advancement of Iran's military nuclear project'. Half a dozen Iranian nuclear scientists, including the former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, were also targeted and killed.
Israel launched its attack less than 24 hours after the the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors declared that Iran was in breach of its non-proliferation obligations, and just 48 hours before Iranian officials were due to meet with US special envoy Steve Witkoff for another round of nuclear talks in Oman. In a pre-recorded video statement released online, Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that 'for decades, the tyrants of Tehran have brazenly, openly called for Israel's destruction. They backed up their genocidal rhetoric with a programme to develop nuclear weapons.' He also said: 'The Jewish state refuses to be a victim of a nuclear Holocaust.'
It is a dramatic escalation in an ever widening conflict that has already brutalised Gaza, and expanded into Lebanon and been felt in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. Even as Israel continued to strike, Iran retaliated, launching more than 100 drones at Israel. An IDF spokesman said in televised remarks on Friday morning that Israel's air defenses were already 'working to intercept the threats'. While further retaliation is certain — Khamenei has said that Israel 'should anticipate a harsh punishment' — it's unclear what form it will take. Iran launched major ballistic missile and drone attacks on Israel two times last year, prompting the US, UK and other European allies to swarm to Israel's defence (the vast majority of those missiles and drones were intercepted before they reached the country). Yet now, following Israel's strikes, it's unclear whether Iran is even able to launch a similar attack; Israel claims it has destroyed dozens of Iranian radars and missile launchers.
Iran could also respond with attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf, which would severely disrupt the movement of global oil supplies, or strikes on oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the UAE. (Oil prices have already spiked for this reason.) It's clear that the US is already concerned about possible retaliation on US military bases in the region; earlier this week, the US made moves to partially evacuate its embassy in Iraq and authorised the voluntary departure of American military family members from the region.
After Friday's strikes began, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, released a statement saying that Israel had taken 'unilateral action', that the US was 'not involved' and that Iran 'should not target US interests or personnel'. Donald Trump was slightly more colourful in his own statement, posting online that he 'gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal' regarding its nuclear programme, but 'they just couldn't get it done'. He also said 'the next already planned attacks' could be 'even more brutal,' and warned that Tehran 'must make a deal, before there is nothing left'.
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It's clear that Israel's campaign against Iran isn't over. Netanyahu, who has long wanted regime change in Iran, has said that the operation 'will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat'. What's less clear is whether the US can avoid becoming entangled in another Middle East conflict. Iran, with its neutered proxies and limping economy, has been seriously weakened in recent years. Yet if it does respond to Israel's attack by striking American bases or embassies in the region, Trump might be compelled to respond directly. Trump, who has long railed against America's misbegotten 'forever wars', will not want to be drawn into an increasingly volatile conflict. But, if things continue to escalate, that might not matter.
[See also: Labour MPs are revolting over Gaza]
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