Israel carried out air strikes on Tehran, capital of Iran. These strikes targeted the country’s nuclear program and raised the potential for a larger war between the two bitter adversaries. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals called this military Operation, “Rising Lion”. Iran’s Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week Friday that the Zionist state would face “severe punishment,” as state-run IRNA news agency confirmed the deaths of top military officials and scientists who had been living in the area when the attacks happened. An Israeli military official said that the Israeli Air Force targeted the Iranian nuclear and military sites. The names of these sites were not identified. The official also remained anonymous warning that Operation Rising Lion was still underway.
The attack comes as tensions have reached new heights over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The Board of Governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency for the first time in 20 years on Thursday censured Iran over it not working with its inspectors. Iran immediately announced it would establish a third enrichment site in the country and swap out some centrifuges for more advanced ones. Israel for years has warned it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, something Tehran insists it doesn’t want — though officials there have repeatedly warned it could. Here’s the latest: Iranian chief of staff killed in Israeli strike. An Israeli airstrike killed Gen Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Iranian state television reported Friday. Bagheri is a former top commander within Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
US President Donald Trump might be compelled to go to war with Iran, if the Iranians retaliate in any way towards Israel. Tensions have long simmered between Washington and Tehran urged on by Tel Aviv. The Islamic Republic insists its nuclear energy program is for peaceful means and that they have no interest in developing a weapons arsenal such as nuclear war heads. Tel Aviv has long since distrusted Tehran’s regime since it supported proxy militant groups seeking to undermine the Zionist regime’s position in the region. This is true of Hamas (Gaza/Palestine), Hezbollah (Lebanon), and the Houthis (Yemen). The most recent attack on a Tehran suburb housing Iranian military personal and scientists was an act of provocation. The Iranians for their part may at some point actually consider to manufacture weapons with nuclear capabilities. Trump may be temped to have an excuse to invade where his predecessors left off.
The Israeli Air Force struck several sites, including the Natanz enrichment complex and other nuclear facilities, missile factories, and residences of senior Iranian officials and scientists. Major casualties in the strike included the Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, and top nuclear scientists. Israeli officials described the operation as a “preemptive, precise, combined offensive” intended to roll back Iran’s nuclear program and deter further development of weapons. Six Iranian nuclear scientists were also killed in Israeli strikes, Iranian state media reported. According to the Israeli government, allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons would destabilise the Middle East and threaten global security, given Iran’s support for proxy groups hostile to Israel.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump stated, “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see.” Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin shared his remarks in a post on X, also quoting him as saying, “There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.”
The main purpose of “Rising Lion” was to not only to destabilize the Islamic Republic’s leadership but also to weaken its security forces and defence capabilities. Washington claims they want Tehran to peacefully end its nuclear energy program. However, the truth is far more complicated. The US and Israel wants to undermine Iran because it has never sought to warm towards Israel as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain or other regional powers in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia are in the process of doing so. The Iranians for their part are a larger state than Israel that has learned how to utilize its natural defences to its advantage. If the US were to become dragged into a protracted war with the Iranians it could prove to be deeply devastating for them (the Americans).
A war between Iran, the United States and Israel could easily draw in Russia and China depending on how it plays out. Israel already believes it can move against Tehran since the fall of Syria’s long time-President Bashir Al-Assad, the Islamic Republic’s closest ally among the Arabs. The Israeli authorities certainly have their interest in dragging the US into the war. We have to wait and see what transpires.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
