In an Oct. 1 article, London’s The Economist reported that the Oct. 1 Iranian missile attack on Israel combined with the Israeli land invasion of Lebanon means that “the full-blown regional war that many have feared ever since the attacks of October 7th 2023 now looks closer than ever. One possibility is that Israel now responds with air strikes on Iran, possibly targeting the facilities used for its nuclear program, a highest-stakes mission that Israel has been planning for two decades.”
The article continues: “Many within Israel’s political and security establishment believe there is a moment to transform the strategic picture in the region, given the weakness of Iran’s proxies. It is even possible that the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, along with a senior Iranian general, in Beirut on September 27th, was designed to provoke Iran, luring it into a strategic trap. Either way the Iranian strike under way, they argue, gives Israel the justification to deal with Iran’s nuclear threat.”
The timing is also right to get the U.S. involved in a shooting war, the article argues—not bothering to consider the consequences of the fact that Israel is itself a nuclear power, nor the fact that Iran and Russia have a strategic alliance which may have military implications. “Israeli hawks also believe that Mr. Biden, near the end of his term, will give his backing and perhaps even join in a campaign which could severely degrade Iran’s nuclear program and damage the standing of the theocrats and military hardmen who lead the Islamic Republic’s unpopular regime.”
