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Earlier today, while hosting Hugh Hewitt’s show, I asked former Senator Jim Talent whether we could expect Israel to finally attack Iranian nuclear sites, after the mullahs refused to stop enriching uranium. Talent hedged his bets, wisely, but noted that negotiations appeared to be going nowhere. We both agreed that action seemed inevitable.
And as it turned out, highly imminent:
The Israeli Air Force conducted a strike in Iran on Thursday, according to two sources with knowledge of the operation. It’s not yet clear what Israel is targeting.
That’s perhaps a safe position for reporting at the moment, but there’s not much doubt as to what Israel would target. Trying to decapitate the regime in a single mission, even with multiple aircraft, is too dicey. The real threat to Israel now is an Iranian nuclear weapon, so if they are taking this risk, that’s the only target worth it.
Either way, this war will expand unless the Iranian regime falls. And the Iranians are already threatening to retaliate against US assets, which is why the Trump administration began recalling non-essential personnel from the region:
The big picture: Iran has vowed to strike U.S. targets in the region in the event of any attack on its nuclear program.
The U.S. is in the process of withdrawing diplomats and military families in Iraq, Bahrain and Kuwait who could be in harm’s way.
The U.S. has also boosted air defenses around several of its sources in the Gulf.
Even if Israel does not directly strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, the U.S. could be caught up in Iran’s retaliation.
Israel is calling it a “pre-emptive strike”, which again suggests that the nuclear sites will be the targets:
“Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future,” Katz says.
