Israeli strikes back Iran’s leadership into a corner
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Iran vows revenge for Israeli strikes, saying it will write ‘end of this story’
Iran vows to avenge attack on its nuclear sites and the assassination of its senior military leadership. Israel says Iran had launched 100 drones towards Israel and that its air defences were intercepting them outside Israeli territory. Iraq said more than 100 Iranian drones had crossed its airspace and, soon after, neighbouring Jordan said its air force and defence systems intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace. Iran, in serious military disarray, denied it had launched any drones and claimed its counterstrike had not been launched. Iran also faces a decision on whether to accept Trump’s offer to continue with the bilateral talks on a diplomatic solution to its nuclear programme. The sixth round of Oman-brokered talks involving the US special envoy Steve Witkoff were due to be held in Muscat on Sunday. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, told the council that the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran’s main nuclear facility in Natanz had been destroyed. He said the level of radioactivity outside the plant remained unchanged.
In the first signs of a counterstrike, Israel said Iran had launched 100 drones towards Israel and that its air defences were intercepting them outside Israeli territory.
Iraq said more than 100 Iranian drones had crossed its airspace and, soon after, neighbouring Jordan said its air force and defence systems intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace, for fear they would fall in its territory.
Iran, in serious military disarray, denied it had launched any drones and claimed its counterstrike had not been launched.
Responding to what amounted to the most serious and largest ever attack by Israel, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened “severe punishment” and claimed residential areas had been targeted.
0:30 Iran president says Tehran will ‘make Israel regret its foolish actions’ – video
The Iranian leadership vowed a military and diplomatic response, saying women and children had been killed in the strikes across Iran. The Fars news agency claimed 78 people had been killed and more than 300 injured in Tehran province alone. A vast swathe of Iran’s military and air force leadership has been wiped out, and as many as six scientists working on Iran’s nuclear programme.
It remains to be seen if Iran will decide to attack US military sites in the Middle East, but its leaders will have heard Donald Trump praising Israel’s actions and claiming the US had known about the attacks in advance, even if it did not take part.
Iran also faces a decision on whether to accept Trump’s offer to continue with the bilateral talks on a diplomatic solution to its nuclear programme. The sixth round of Oman-brokered talks involving the US special envoy Steve Witkoff were due to be held in Muscat on Sunday.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, did not announce that the talks had been ended by the Israeli strike. Instead he said Israel had crossed every red line, accused Israel of a declaration of war, and called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council in New York. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, told the council that the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran’s main nuclear facility in Natanz had been been destroyed, although he said the level of radioactivity outside the plant remained unchanged.
0:43 Footage captures moment Iran’s Natanz nuclear site is hit by Israel – video
Iranian officials dismissed Trump’s suggestion that Tehran should have expected an attack since a 60-day deadline the US president claimed he had set for the talks had expired.
In a furious statement, the Iranian government accused Israel of terrorism and insisted the attack demonstrated it “does not adhere to any international rules or laws and, like a drunkard, openly and brazenly engages in terror and ignites the flames of war before the eyes of the world, including westerners who claim to uphold human rights and international law”.
“Starting a war with Iran is playing with the lion’s tail,” the statement added.
In a telling warning that the Iranian regime, if it survives, may now indeed feel the need to try to assemble a nuclear bomb in the face of Israel’s attacks, the statement further said: “The world now better understands Iran’s insistence on the right to enrichment, nuclear technology and missile power, and the enemy has made it possible to prove our injustice and righteousness, who is the aggressor and which regime is threatening the security of the region.”
Hardline MPs called on the supreme leader to lift the fatwa that is supposed to prevent Iran pursuing a nuclear programme. With its axis of resistance weakened over the past year by Israel’s actions, there has been a growing lobby arguing that Iran needs a nuclear bomb to defend itself.
Among those killed by Israeli strikes were Gen Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards; Gen Gholamali Rashid, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander; the nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi; and Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
Replacements for two of the top roles were announced within hours of the attack. Maj Gen Abdolrahim Mousavi was appointed as chief of staff of the armed forces, replacing Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, who was killed in the Israeli attack. Khamenei chose Mohammad Pakpour to lead the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards, replacing Salami, state television reported.
Residential buildings across Tehran were hit. Pictures showed that specific floors on high-rise apartments were struck, but the damage had spread to many different floors.
Army barracks across the country appear to have been hit, with reports of deaths and damage. But Isfahan regional governors said there had been no leakage of uranium from the Natanz nuclear facility.
No electricity or oil installations were struck, but Israel may well return to hit economic targets in the coming days, depending on any Iranian response. It has also not sought to assassinate any of Iran’s political or diplomatic leadership.
Iran, aware that the savage blow to its prestige may lead to some form of uprising, urged its citizens to listen only to official channels, and ignore rumours.
The planned sixth round of talks, the first in which both sides had put forward proposals in writing, were to focus on whether Iran would be allowed to continue domestic uranium enrichment with monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran says it does not have a covert plan to build a nuclear bomb, but all signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty including Iran have a sovereign right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes.
It says the comprehensive report put to the IAEA board this week showed no evidence that Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon. The report did say it could not be certain that the nuclear programme was entirely civilian in purpose. Tehran has consistently argued that its increased stockpiles of highly enriched uranium is a calculated and legitimate response to Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing in 2018 from the nuclear deal agreed with Barack Obama three years earlier and imposing economic sanctions.
The highly experienced Iranian negotiating team were aware that Israel was increasingly worried that Trump, facing an open war for his ear on Iran in Washington, might strike an unsatisfactory deal with Iran. But the consensus among Arab diplomats was that Trump was sincere in saying he did not want Israel to strike.
View image in fullscreen A damaged building that was hit by Israeli airstrikes north of Tehran. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
The belief among Iranian negotiators that they had further time before Trump implicitly or explicitly sanctioned military action looks, in retrospect, to have been a severe error. But the right to enrich has been an Iranian red line for decades, and they will reject the accusation they overplayed a weak hand.
Moreover, Iranian diplomats had been led to believe initially that the US would permit Iran to continue some form of uranium enrichment, but had been struggling to convert that belief into a specific American offer in the talks held in Oman and Rome. Iran will now have to reflect whether it was being played by the US negotiators, or whether Israel has the freedom of action to mount such an assault without a green light from Washington.
To many Iranian eyes, despite the reports that Trump was distancing himself from Israel, the US president has done little in practice since taking office to restrain Israel either in Gaza or across the region.
Iran’s air defences have proved ineffective, partly due to the previous airstrikes launched by Israel in October that took out Russian-made air defence systems, including around its nuclear sites.
One of the few cards Iran has to play is that in recent months it has managed to improve its fractured relations with Arab states in the region, even though its policy of forward defence based on proxy groups in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Iraq was largely dismantled by Israel. But the valued Gulf state sympathy for Iran is not likely to extend to joint military action against Israel.
At the UN, Iran accuses US of being complicit in Israel’s strikes
Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel late on June 13 after Israel attacked Iran earlier in the day. Iran accused Israel of seeking “to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiations, and to drag the region into wider conflict” Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Iran had been “preparing for war’ Washington denied being complicit, telling Tehran it would “be wise” to negotiate over its nuclear programme. US President Donald Trump had given Tehran a 60-day ultimatum, which expired a day earlier, to make a deal.
Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel late on June 13 after Israel attacked Iran earlier in the day.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Iran had been “preparing for war” and Israel’s strikes were “an act of national preservation”.
His Iranian counterpart, Amir Saeid Iravani, accused Israel of seeking “to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiations, and to drag the region into wider conflict,” and he said Washington’s complicity was “beyond doubt”.
“Those who support this regime, with the United States at the forefront, must understand that they are complicit,” Mr Iravani told the Security Council. “By aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences.”
US President Donald Trump on June 13 said that he had given Tehran a 60-day ultimatum, which expired a day earlier, to make a deal over its escalating uranium enrichment programme.
A sixth round of US-Iran talks had been scheduled to take place in Oman on June 15, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead.
Mr Danon said Israel had been patient despite mounting risks.
“We waited for diplomacy to work … We watched negotiations stretch on, as Iran made false concessions or refused the most fundamental conditions,” he told the Security Council.
He said intelligence had confirmed Iran could have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs within days.
Senior US official McCoy Pitt said the United States will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution that ensures Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon or pose a threat to stability in the Middle East.
“Iran’s leadership would be wise to negotiate at this time,” Mr Pitt told the council.
While Washington was informed of Israel’s initial strikes ahead of time, it was not militarily involved, he said.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site had been destroyed, and that Iran has reported that nuclear sites at Fordow and Isfahan were also attacked. REUTERS
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Israel strikes targets across Iran as leaders vow to fight
Israel’s military said it had hit multiple nuclear sites, and killed top Iranian commanders. Local media reported a number of drones launched by Iran in response were successfully intercepted.
Israel’s military said it had hit multiple nuclear sites, and killed top Iranian commanders.
Local media reported a number of drones launched by Iran in response were successfully intercepted.
In a recorded statement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability, which he said posed a “clear and present danger” to his country’s survival.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran’s response to Israeli attacks would be “legitimate and powerful”.
Read live updates on this story.
Netanyahu’s long ambitions to strike Iran’s nuclear sites could come at a cost
Israel has launched massive strikes against Iran, in a major military escalation. Netanyahu has made no secret of his ambition to target Iran, and to escalate any attacks hitting the nation’s nuclear program. But until recently, it had appeared he had been forced to pump the brakes. US President Donald Trump had wanted to pursue negotiations with Iran on curbing its nuclear enrichment program rather than giving the go ahead to military strikes. Israel has already threatened that Iran “has already threatened itself for a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see” The scale of the Israeli attack is still becoming clear, but details of the toll on Iran and some of its top brass have trickled out. Iran had been weakened after a last attack by Israel in October 2024 — smaller scale series of strikes, targeting missile manufacturing and air defences. Iran has also been hit hard — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the West Bank — and the former Assad regime in Syria. Iran’s nuclear facility has been hit, while the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the senior adviser to the Supreme Leader are among the dead.
At the Western Wall, the foundations of what the Jewish faith believes was the site of the Second Temple, the prime minister placed a note between the massive and ancient blocks of limestone.
“A people rises like a lioness, and lifts itself up like a lion,” the note read, quoting a passage from the Bible.
And so, the scene was set for what the Israeli authorities are labelling Operation Rising Lion.
Rescuers work at the scene of a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tehran. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
One of the most frequently uttered phrases by Netanyahu and senior officials in his government and military ranks is that Israel is at war on “seven fronts”.
The prime minister sees threats in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the West Bank — and believes much of it is fuelled from front number seven, Iran.
It’s that mentality which goes part of the way to explaining why Israel has launched massive strikes against Iran, in a major military escalation — an offensive which is still playing out.
Major escalation
The two nations are staunch enemies. The anti-Israel rhetoric spouted by Iranian leaders has been clear ever since the declaration of the Islamic Republic in 1979, and Israeli threats of action against Tehran have been readily made.
But these strikes are also part of Netanyahu’s own brand.
In an address to the nation, and to the world given he spoke in English rather than Hebrew, Netanyahu laid out the rationale.
“When enemies vow to destroy you, believe them,” he said.
“When enemies build weapons of mass death, stop them.
“As the Bible teaches us, when someone comes to kill you, rise and act first.”
It’s a major escalation many had feared, in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks against Israel on October 7 2023.
But it hadn’t appeared. Until now.
People gather in the street in the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Tehran. (Reuters: Majid Asgaripour/WANA)
No longer pumping the brakes
Netanyahu has made no secret of his ambition to target Iran, and to escalate any attacks hitting the nation’s nuclear program.
In his remarks to the world, he said Iran was closer than ever to having a nuclear weapon.
But until recently, it had appeared he had been forced to pump the brakes.
The one person who seemed able to influence Netanyahu, the US President Donald Trump, had wanted to pursue negotiations with Iran on curbing its nuclear enrichment program rather than giving the go ahead to military strikes.
Israel’s leader was frustrated at that approach, thinking Iran was just buying itself time.
And someone who had described himself as the “best president in the history of Israel” was holding him back.
The talks had shown promise, according to the White House. A few rounds of indirect negotiations in Oman and Italy had brought the parties closer than they had been for some years.
But then, something changed. The US president himself started to publicly doubt whether a deal was within reach.
On Monday, there was a reportedly tense phone call between Trump and Netanyahu.
If the US president left the door even slightly ajar for Netanyahu to make a call to strike Iran, the prime minister kicked it open.
Although even after the strikes, Trump wanted talks with Tehran to continue.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table,” he told Fox News.
“We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back.”
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How will Iran respond?
The scale of the Israeli attack is still becoming clear, but details of the toll on Iran and some of its top brass have trickled out.
The head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian army and a senior adviser to the Supreme Leader are among the dead, while the Natanz nuclear facility has been hit.
Iran had been weakened after the last attack by Israel in October 2024 — a smaller scale series of strikes, targeting missile manufacturing facilities and air defences.
Its proxies across the region have also been hit hard — Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the former Assad regime in Syria.
That will affect what the response to Israel’s attacks are — although Ayatollah Ali Khamanei has already threatened that Israel “has prepared for itself a bitter, painful fate, which it will definitely see”.
What do we know about Israel’s strikes on Iran and what might happen next? Photo shows A car covered in dust and debris, with people standing nearby Israel has launched strikes on dozens of targets in Iran, killing members of the country’s elite paramilitary unit and nuclear scientists. Here’s what we know so far.
The IDF revealed Iran had fired more than 100 drones at Israel soon after.
The United States argued Israel launched these strikes “unilaterally”, according to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region,” Rubio posted on social media platform X.
Support for Israel politically and diplomatically did not extend to military assistance in this morning’s strikes, it seemed.
Although it’s unlikely the Iranian regime will see it that way — particularly with the US moving to pull non-essential staff from the region.
The US will also be forced to defend Israel when Iran strikes back — and if US assets in the region are targeted, that response will only grow.
“Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel,” Rubio said.
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Netanyahu’s strongman brand
Netanyahu’s own mindset is important here.
The self-styled “Mr Security” took a battering after Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 caught the establishment not only on the back foot, but fast asleep.
His belligerence and stubbornness since has frustrated many around the world — believing his military has gone far beyond self-defence on a number of those “seven fronts”.
Protecting Israel is Netanyahu’s brand, and being a strong man is something he wants to project to his constituents.
While he may have lost support amongst the population for his continuation of the war in Gaza, and his inability so far to bring all of the remaining hostages held by Hamas home, that’s one conflict.
This, with Iran, is an entirely different equation.
Israeli strikes back Iran’s leadership into a corner
Israeli strikes degrade Iran’s military and nuclear leadership. Daring operation marks a decisive escalation. Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday in retaliation. But the Israeli military said the missiles numbered fewer than 100 and most were intercepted. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was defiant on Friday, saying Israel had initiated a war and would suffer “a bitter fate” Iran’s leadership has not confirmed whether it would attend a sixth round of deadlocked talks with the United States over its nuclear programme scheduled for Sunday in Oman. Iran is currently enriching uranium up to close to 60% purity, roughly the close to the purity of a nuclear weapon. The U.S. and other Western powers have threatened military action to ensure Iran doesn’t obtain an atomic weapon, but Iran has refused to give up its hopes of obtaining such a weapon. Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq – as well as the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Item 1 of 2 Rescuers work at the site of a damaged building, in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2025. Iranian Red Crescent Society/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Summary Israeli strikes degrade Iran’s military and nuclear leadership Daring operation marks a decisive escalation
Tehran’s ability to retaliate militarily is limited
Gulf neighbours fear conflict spilling over
DUBAI, June 13 (Reuters) – Israel has gutted Iran’s nuclear and military leadership with airstrikes that leave a weakened Tehran with few options to retaliate, including an all-out war that it is neither equipped for nor likely to win, four regional officials said.
The overnight strikes by Israel – repeated for second night on Friday – have ratcheted up the confrontation between the arch foes to an unprecedented level after years of war in the shadows, which burst into the open when Iran’s ally Hamas attacked Israel in 2023.
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Regional security sources said it was unlikely that Tehran could respond with similarly effective strikes because its missile capabilities and military network in the region have been severely degraded by Israel since the Hamas attacks that triggered the Gaza war.
State news agency IRNA said that Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel on Friday in retaliation. But the Israeli military said the missiles numbered fewer than 100 and most were intercepted or fell short. No casualties were immediately reported.
The regional security sources said Iran’s leaders, humiliated and increasingly preoccupied with their own survival, cannot afford to appear weak in the face of Israeli military pressure, raising the prospect of further escalation – including covert attacks on Israel or even the perilous option of seeking to build a nuclear bomb rapidly.
“They can’t survive if they surrender,” said Mohanad Hage Ali at the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank in Beirut. “They need to strike hard against Israel but their options are limited. I think their next option is withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
Withdrawing from the NPT would be a serious escalation as it would signal Iran is accelerating its enrichment programme to produce weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb, experts said.
Iran’s leadership has not confirmed whether it would attend a sixth round of deadlocked talks with the United States over its nuclear programme scheduled for Sunday in Oman.
Tehran’s regional sway has been weakened by Israel’s attacks on its proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq – as well as by the ousting of Iran’s close ally, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Western sanctions have also hit Iran’s crucial oil exports and the economy is reeling from a string of crises including a collapsing currency and rampant inflation, as well as energy and water shortages.
“They can’t retaliate through anyone. The Israelis are dismantling the Iranian empire piece by piece, bit by bit … and now they’ve started sowing internal doubt about (the invincibility of) the regime,” said Sarkis Naoum, a regional expert. “This is massive hit.”
Israel strikes targeting key facilities in Tehran and other cities continued into the night on Friday.
The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was defiant on Friday, saying Israel had initiated a war and would suffer “a bitter fate”.
THE NUCLEAR OPTION
Abdelaziz al-Sager, director of the Gulf Research Center think-tank, said Iran has been backed into a corner with limited options.
One possibility would be to offer assurances – in private – that it will abandon uranium enrichment and dismantle its nuclear capabilities, since any public declaration of such a capitulation would likely provoke a fierce domestic backlash.
He said another option could involve a return to clandestine warfare, reminiscent of the 1980s bombings targeting U.S. and Israeli embassies and military installations.
A third, and far more perilous option, would be to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and accelerate its uranium enrichment programme.
Such a move, al-Sager warned, would be tantamount to a declaration of war and would almost certainly provoke a strong international response – not only from Israel, but also from the United States and other Western powers.
Trump has threatened military action to ensure Iran doesn’t obtain an atomic weapon. He reiterated his position on Thursday, saying: “Iran must completely give up hopes of obtaining a nuclear weapon.”
Iran is currently enriching uranium up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% it would need for nuclear weapons. It has enough material at that level, if processed further, for nine nuclear bombs, according to a U.N. nuclear watchdog yardstick.
Israel’s strikes overnight on Thursday targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, military commanders and nuclear scientists. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
At least 20 senior commanders were killed, two regional sources said. The armed forces chief of staff, Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards Chief Hossein Salami, and the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were among them.
“It’s a big attack: big names, big leaders, big damage to the Iranian military leadership and its ballistic missiles. It’s unprecedented,” said Carnegie’s Hage Ali.
Sima Shine, a former chief Mossad analyst and now a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said Israel would probably not be able to take out Iran’s nuclear project completely without U.S. help.
“Therefore, if the U.S. will not be part of the war, I assume that some parts of (Iran’s) nuclear project will remain,” she told reporters on Friday.
SHAKEN TO THE CORE
Friday’s strikes have not only inflicted strategic damage but have also shaken Iran’s leadership to the core, according to a senior regional official close to the Iranian establishment.
Defiance has transformed into concern and uncertainty within the ruling elite and, behind closed doors, anxiety is mounting, not just over the external threats but also their eroding grip on power at home, the official said.
“Panic has surged among the leadership,” the senior regional official said. “Beyond the threat of further attacks, a deeper fear looms large: domestic unrest.”
A moderate former Iranian official said the assassination in 2020 of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, on the orders of President Donald Trump, started the rot.
Since then, the Islamic Republic has struggled to reassert its influence across the region and has never fully recovered. “This attack might be the beginning of the end,” he said.
If protests erupt, and the leadership responds with repression, it will only backfire, the former official said, noting that public anger has been simmering for years, fuelled by sanctions, inflation and an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.
In his video address shortly after the attacks started, Netanyahu suggested he would like to see regime change in Iran and sent a message to Iranians.
“Our fight is not with you, our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed you for 46 years. I believe the day of your liberation is near,” he said.
The hope for regime change could explain why Israel went after so many senior military figures, throwing the Iranian security establishment into a state of confusion and chaos.
“These people were very vital, very knowledgeable, many years in their jobs, and they were a very important component of the stability of the regime, specifically the security stability of the regime,” said Shine.
Iranian state media reported that at least two nuclear scientists, Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, were killed in Israeli strikes in Tehran.
EMPIRE IN DECLINE
Iran’s most powerful proxy in the region, Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, is also in a weak position to respond.
In the days leading up to the strikes on Iran, security sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters the group would not join any retaliatory action by Iran out of fear such a response could unleash a new Israeli blitz on Lebanon.
Israel’s war last year against Hezbollah left the group badly weakened, with its leadership decimated, thousands of its fighters killed and swathes of its strongholds in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s suburbs destroyed.
A direct war between Israel and Iran could swiftly expand to Gulf states whose airspace lies between the two enemies, and which host several U.S. military bases.
Gulf monarchies allied with Washington issued internal directives to avoid any provocative statements following the attacks that might anger Iran, one official Gulf source told Reuters.
Analysts said Trump could leverage the fallout from the Israeli strikes to bring Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table – but this time more isolated, and more likely to offer deeper concessions.
“One thing is clear: the Iranian empire is in decline,” said regional expert Naoum. “Can they still set the terms of their decline? Not through military terms. There’s only one way to do that: through negotiations.”
Reporting and writing by Samia Nakhoul in Dubai; Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Maha el Dahan in Dubai, and Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by David Clarke
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