After decades of warning against a nuclear armed Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched the bravest military campaign of his career | Photocredit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the mission of his life.
For years, the veteran leader has made the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program his top priority, so that the issue in speech after speech in Apocalyptic terms is evoked. Now the moment of the truth of Netanyahu has arrived.
After fighting the allies of Iran in the region after Hamas’ 7 October 2023, attack, Netanyahu has drawn his attention to what he describes as the “head of the Octopus”, with an unprecedented and open military offensive against Iran and his nuclear program.
It is an aggressive gamble that is made possible by a confluence of factors, including the weakening of militant groups by Iranian support in Gaza and Lebanon, and the re -election and support of US President Donald Trump.
But success is not guaranteed, and the outcome of the escalating conflict could determine the fate of the government of Netanyahu and form his legacy.
Here is a further look:
Netanyahu’s history of warnings about Iran Netanyahu began to warn of the threat of a nuclear armed Iran in the nineties before his first term as prime minister at the end of the decade. He returned to his office in 2009 and has since almost continuously served as prime minister, and rarely missed the opportunity to portray the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran as a threat to Israel’s existence and threat to the world.
In 2012 he showed a rough cartoon famous who illustrated what he said that Iran’s march was to the bomb during a speech for the UN meeting.
Three years later he gave a controversial speech for the American congress that argued against the then President Barack Obama’s emerging nuclear deal with Iran. The speech made the White House furious and could not block the deal. But the delighted Republicans and laid the foundation for Trump to take off the agreement three years later.
Netanyahu has often compared Iran’s theocratic leadership with the Nazis, sometimes with the anger of Holocaust -scholars and surviving groups. He turned to that well -known playbook this week when he announced the last attacks on Iran.
“Eighty years ago, the Jewish people were the victims of a Holocaust committed by the Nazi regime,” he said. “Today, the Jewish state refuses to be the victim of a nuclear Holocaust committed by the Iranian regime.” Iran says that his nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But the enrichment of uranium to near-Weapons Grade levels and not working with international inspectors have evoked doubts about those claims.
The head of the UN Nuclear Agency has warned that Iran has sufficiently enriched uranium to make different bombs. The agency that Iran was censored this week because he does not fail to do not do not use proliferation obligations a day before the Israeli strikes started.
Why now attack Iran?
Netanyahu has threatened for years to hit Iran and repeatedly to say that all options were “on the table”.
But never before he has pulled the trigger because of opposition by domestic rivals and security heads, questions about the feasibility of such a risky operation and the opposition of a series of US presidents.
But things have changed over the past two years and Netanyahu now believes that he has the chance to shape the region in his own image.
Since Hamas’ 7 October 2023, the attack has caused the continuous war in Gaza, Israel has systematically demolished a network of Iranian allies in the region.
The war in Gaza has decimated the Palestinian militant group of Hamas, but at a devastating prize for the civilian population of the territory. Last year, Israel also caused serious damage to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, seriously weakened the group and contributed to the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, another important Iranian ally. And during a short round of fighting with Iran last year, Israel spent many of the air defense systems of his enemies.
With Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” in Tatters and Iran, unable to defend themselves against Israel’s Air Forest, there was little to prevent Israel from taking action this week.
Trump took care of the last part of the puzzle. After he had surprised Israel earlier this year with his resumption of nuclear conversations with Iran, Trump became frustrated by the lack of progress in those conversations.
Known about the Israeli plans, the US president seems to have resulted in little resistance, so that a rare window for Israel can be created.
Will Netanyahu succeed?
It’s too early to say.
The Israeli operation seems to have done a smooth start – with Israel who stood out dozens of goals and kill Senior Iranian military figures. But it remains unclear how much damage Israel has caused Iran’s nuclear program.
For now, the division and controversial Netanyahu seems to be driving a wave of support at home. Even the political opposition, who tried to overthrow Netanyahu in a parliamentary mood earlier in the week, emerged in support of the Iran operation.
But things can change quickly. After a first wave of support for the war of Israel against Hamas, the country is now deeply distributed. With the fighting now more than 20 months old, many believe that Netanyahu has unnecessarily towed the conflict in a self -assisted campaign to remain in office.
Similarly, public support for the Iranian operation could run quickly if Iran’s rocket attacks on Israel cause heavy victims or continue to disturb life in Israel for a longer period. A debacle on the battlefield – such as the conquest of an Israeli hunting pilot from Iran – can also reverse the fortunes of Netanyahu.
Published on June 15, 2025
#Netanyahu #meets #Iran #high #efforts #put #nuclear #threat