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Newsroom
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Newsroom
The Israel-Iran conflict may not end without a regime change
Analysis: The spiral of conflict in the Middle East took another dangerous turn when Israel, seemingly unprovoked, attacked Iran last Friday on an unprecedented scale, taking the region to the brink of full-scale war as Iran retaliates. The day before Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the still ongoing war, he went to the Western Wall (or Wailing Wall) sacred to Jews and posted a note into a crack in the colossal stone blocks as per the ritual. The note quoted the biblical Book of Numbers: 'Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion.' Hence the name Operation Rising Lion. When I visited Jerusalem in 2023, I made it into the tunnels behind and beneath the Western Wall and saw long forgotten and faded notes scattered on the ground. My guess is that the current trajectory in the Middle East will see Netanyahu's vision for Israeli power and security cast in the dirt also. For most, the main question now is whether there is any justification or tangible reason for Israel's pre-emptive attack against Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme. My response would be that mutual perceptions of existential crisis in Israel and Iran is driving the region deeper into crisis. To understand this, one could adopt a lens of ontological security. This means the very identity and essence of the political systems in Israel and Iran are intrinsically tied to ideologically conditioned language and behaviours without which the regimes would deflate and crash to earth like punctured hot air balloons. According to this understanding, Israel and Iran have been on a collision course since the formerly close allies parted ways 45 years ago after the Iranian revolution. Let me explain. The raison d'être of the Israeli state is to protect its citizens above all – this is perhaps the one universal principle of an otherwise diverse and increasingly politically divided nation. The more that Israelis feel threatened, the more the state's identity becomes anchored to an inflexible security paradigm willing to compromise the lives and human security of others who are perceived as a 'threat', including Palestinians and those who support them. On the Iranian side, the Islamic Republic emerged out of a popular revolution against the repressive western-aligned Pahlavi monarchy. Again, like the State of Israel the Islamic Republic immediately faced attack and isolation, which led to regression into a narrow, paranoid oligarchy with a theocratic veneer. To offset flagging internal legitimacy, the regime exaggerated the Islamic character of the state by taking up the cause of Muslim justice abroad. The Palestinian issue and anti-Israel sentiment – manifested in the Axis of Resistance alliance – came to rest at the core of the Iranian regime's identity. A senior cleric of the ruling oligarchy expressed this reality perfectly in 2013 when he stated: 'The destruction of Israel is the idea of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and is one of the pillars of the Iranian Islamic regime. We cannot claim that we have no intention of going to war with Israel.' The two core paradigms of both states are mutually reinforcing – Iran props up its internal legitimacy by proclaiming a desire to destroy the Zionist state on behalf of Muslims, and Israel commits atrocities against Muslims in its search for security for Jews. Since the 2000s, the spectre of a nuclear-armed Iranian state amplified this cycle immensely. Israel has been planning to strike Iran's nuclear programme since at least 2007. At that time Israel embarrassed the Syrian regime and its Iranian ally by effortlessly evading air defences to destroy a nuclear research facility in Northeast Syria. The Israeli Defence Force then made clear its intention and capacity to do the same in Iran. What prevented Israel were Iran's regional assets, located on Israel's borders. If Israel were to attack Iran directly, they would have faced a barrage of missiles and rockets from resistance axis allies, Hamas and other militia in Gaza, and from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Syria also posed a possible threat from the Golan. This was the Iranian regime's outer defence rim and insurance policy. This changed after the October 7, 2023 attacks. By the end of 2024, Hamas and Hezbollah were no longer able to threaten Israel as before, the Al-Assad regime was gone and the path to Tehran and the Furdow, Netanz and other nuclear facilities were wide open. If US president Donald Trump had not restrained Netanyahu in the first months of 2025, the latter may have pulled the trigger on the attack even earlier. Trump, in consultation with Gulf allies during his May visit to the Middle East, which tellingly did not include Israel, was persuaded to leverage the vulnerable Iranian state into a more favourable nuclear deal. Talks were being facilitated by the neutral Omanis in Muscat. Trump had scotched the 2013-15 deal negotiated by Barak Obama, also hosted by Oman, in 2018. The latest round of talks were due to be held in Muscat on Sunday, June 15. The Iranians relaxed their security personal protocols put in place after the assassinations of top leaders via pinpoint strikes through 2024, believing that they were safe until at least after the talks. Netanyahu sensed the opportunity and his war cabinet ordered Operation Rising Lion. (Apart from a spike in pizza deliveries to the Pentagon on the day before the attacks it remains unclear how much knowedge the US had of the operation.) Where the current conflict will lead is not clear. At this point, it seems neither the Israelis nor the Iranians can change the script. The Israeli regime will act according to an ingrained impulse to destroy anything and anyone they think poses an existential risk to the State of Israel. The Islamic Republic will continue to fire back as much as they can with missiles and inflammatory rhetoric about the final destruction of Israel. It may be that only regime change in Tehran and Jerusalem via the Iranian and Israeli peoples can arrest the cycle.
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
From Netanyahu's bogus vacation to fake diplomatic talks with US: How Israel fooled Iran before the strike
In the early hours of Friday, Israel unleashed a powerful wave of airstrikes across Iran , targeting nuclear facilities and key military sites. The assault killed at least two senior Iranian military officers and marked the most intense attack on Iranian soil since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s—bringing the region dangerously close to a broader war. Iran responded swiftly, launching a swarm of drones toward Israel. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed 'severe punishment,' signaling that the confrontation is far from over. The strikes came at a moment of peak tension over Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program. Just a day earlier, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors formally censured Iran for the first time in 20 years, citing non-cooperation with nuclear inspectors. In defiance, Tehran immediately announced plans to build a third uranium enrichment site and replace its centrifuges with more advanced models. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 3.5, 4.5 BHK Homes starting at ₹4.89 Cr.* Hero Homes Learn More Undo While Israeli officials framed the operation as a necessary move to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb, it remains uncertain how close Tehran truly is to achieving that capability. Yet, it wasn't just military might that gave Israel the upper hand—it was strategic deception. Live Events Just hours before the assault, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall, placing a note quoting a biblical verse: 'Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion.' This line from the Book of Numbers (23:24) later revealed itself as the inspiration for the name of the mission: Operation Rising Lion . The note, made public only after the strikes began, served as a symbolic signal of what was to come. Behind the scenes, Israeli intelligence had carefully orchestrated a misinformation campaign to mislead Tehran, according to a report of The Jerusalem Post. In the days leading up to the operation, the Prime Minister's Office reportedly leaked false military strategies, staged a bogus vacation for Netanyahu, and used diplomatic talks with the United States as a smokescreen to divert attention from the impending strike. By early Friday morning, dozens of Israeli fighter jets roared into Iranian airspace, targeting nuclear enrichment facilities and military infrastructure in a coordinated and sustained wave of attacks. Among the casualties was Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose death was later confirmed by Iranian state media.
Economic Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
When Netanyahu hid a note in Jerusalem's Western Wall revealing Israel's operation before the strike on Iran!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu places a note in between the bricks of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City, June 12, 2025. Synopsis In a calculated move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Western Wall, leaving a cryptic note hinting at the impending Operation Rising Lion. Hours later, the Israeli Air Force launched a surprise assault on Iran, targeting nuclear sites and military installations. The operation, inspired by a biblical verse, was preceded by a deception campaign to mislead Tehran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a symbolic visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall, placing a handwritten note between the stones on June 12, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the note was a cryptic hint at Israel's imminent military campaign: Operation Rising Lion. ADVERTISEMENT The note quoted a verse from the Book of Numbers 23:24 that read, 'Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.' This verse would later be revealed as the inspiration behind the operation's name. Just hours after the note was placed, in the early morning of June 13, the Israeli Air Force launched a surprise assault on Iran. Dozens of Israeli aircraft targeted multiple nuclear sites and military installations across the country. The opening wave of strikes reportedly resulted in the death of Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as confirmed by Iranian state note placed at Judaism's holiest site was publicly revealed the following day, after the strikes began. By then, the full scope of Operation Rising Lion was launched a sweeping series of airstrikes across Iran on Friday, targeting key nuclear facilities and military installations in what is being called the most significant assault on Iranian soil since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The strikes reportedly killed at least two senior Iranian military officers, dramatically escalating fears of a full-scale conflict between the long-standing Middle East rivals. ADVERTISEMENT In swift retaliation, Iran unleashed a swarm of drones toward Israel. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed 'severe punishment,' signaling the possibility of further attack came amid growing alarm over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. On Thursday, for the first time in two decades, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors formally censured Iran for failing to cooperate with inspections. In response, Iran announced plans to establish a third uranium enrichment site and upgrade its centrifuges to more advanced models. ADVERTISEMENT Israeli officials defended the strikes as a preemptive measure to disrupt what they described as an imminent threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons — though how close Tehran is to building a bomb remains uncertain. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) (Catch all the US News, UK News, Canada News, International Breaking News Events, and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily International News Updates. NEXT STORY
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
When Netanyahu hid a note in Jerusalem's Western Wall revealing Israel's operation before the strike on Iran!
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a symbolic visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall, placing a handwritten note between the stones on June 12, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the note was a cryptic hint at Israel's imminent military campaign: Operation Rising Lion . The note quoted a verse from the Book of Numbers 23:24 that read, 'Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.' This verse would later be revealed as the inspiration behind the operation's name. Just hours after the note was placed, in the early morning of June 13, the Israeli Air Force launched a surprise assault on Iran. Dozens of Israeli aircraft targeted multiple nuclear sites and military installations across the country. The opening wave of strikes reportedly resulted in the death of Hossein Salami, commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as confirmed by Iranian state media. The note placed at Judaism's holiest site was publicly revealed the following day, after the strikes began. By then, the full scope of Operation Rising Lion was unfolding. Live Events All you need to know about Operation Rising Lion Israel launched a sweeping series of airstrikes across Iran on Friday, targeting key nuclear facilities and military installations in what is being called the most significant assault on Iranian soil since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The strikes reportedly killed at least two senior Iranian military officers, dramatically escalating fears of a full-scale conflict between the long-standing Middle East rivals. In swift retaliation, Iran unleashed a swarm of drones toward Israel. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed 'severe punishment,' signaling the possibility of further escalation. The attack came amid growing alarm over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. On Thursday, for the first time in two decades, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors formally censured Iran for failing to cooperate with inspections. In response, Iran announced plans to establish a third uranium enrichment site and upgrade its centrifuges to more advanced models. Israeli officials defended the strikes as a preemptive measure to disrupt what they described as an imminent threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons — though how close Tehran is to building a bomb remains uncertain.
Hindustan Times
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Israel takes name of Iran operation from Bible verse
Israel has called its military operation against Iran "Rising Lion", taking the name from a biblical verse that promises a victorious future for a powerful Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was photographed on Thursday putting a handwritten note into a crack of Jerusalem's Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, which in retrospect pointed to the looming strikes on Iran. His office on Friday released a photo of the note, which said "the people shall rise up as a lion". The expression comes from verse 23:24 of the Book of Numbers in the Bible: "Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain." This verse is part of the first oracle of Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner, where he foretells the strength and power of Israel, comparing it to a lion that will not rest until it has satisfied its hunger. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israel's strikes "satanic".
