"First comes strength, then comes peace." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up with this phrase the direction the war in the Middle East has taken shortly after the United States bombed Iran in a coordinated operation with Israel. This is the story of an attack foretold. In the Jewish state, it was assumed that Washington would join the offensive against Iran launched on June 13. The only question that remained was when.
The Iranian regime responded by launching two waves of missiles toward Israeli territory early Sunday. This attack caused more than 80 injuries of varying severity after hitting different areas of Haifa and Tel Aviv. Tehran also accuses the US of violating international law, denies irreparable damage to the main site attacked, Fordow (one of the three nuclear facilities attacked and a key component of Iran's nuclear program, located in Qom province), and now lists US citizens and interests among its targets.
Beyond the attacks, Iran has been quick to respond verbally. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian believes Trump has come to Netanyahu's rescue in the face of Israeli"impotence." Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, for his part, believes the US"has committed a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) by attacking Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities." Araghchi promises, as he posted on social media,"long-lasting consequences."
Washington claims it has caused serious damage to the nuclear program, while the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear agency, has not yet detected any increase in radiation.
The Israeli army has already asked the population, which has been living in a state of alert for ten days with the country at half speed, to limit its activity to essentials. Authorities have closed the airspace for several hours before resuming repatriation flights for citizens stranded by the conflict outside Israel. They understand that the Islamic Republic may intensify its rocket fire in the coming hours or days. US bombs have begun falling on Iranian territory 24 hours after the regime's latest wave of missiles on Israel.
Sunday in the Jewish State, the first day of the week, began with alarms and two rounds of missiles fired from Iran just after 7:30 a.m. In Tel Aviv, several large explosions and the sirens of emergency vehicles were heard. Shortly afterward, it was confirmed that there had been impacts, in some cases with severe material damage, and more than 80 people injured. The total number of internally displaced people due to the attacks amounts to approximately 9,000.
Prime Minister Netanyahu sent a recorded video message congratulating US leader Donald Trump for"his bold decision to attack Iran's nuclear facilities." It is something, he added, that"will change history." Maintaining his bellicose rhetoric based on Iran as enemy number one, he added that"history will record that President Trump acted to deny the most dangerous regime in the world, the most dangerous weapon in the world."
In a further sign that everything that is—and was—happening in the current escalation was being coordinated between the two partners, Netanyahu and Trump spoke moments before the US launched its attacks. “President Trump and I often say, ‘Peace comes with strength.’ First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight, President Trump and the United States acted with great strength,” the Israeli president added, thanking Trump and congratulating the United States and its alliance with Israel. “Trump has written his name in gold letters in the history books,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar went so far as to say.
The Iranian regime has already announced through its official media that American citizens and their interests in the region will now also be targeted by the regime's response. This was something they had already hinted at in recent days amid President Donald Trump's ambiguity about whether his country would attack. It remains to be seen whether Tehran will move from words to actions, and with what force, since confronting only Israel is not the same as also confronting the world's leading power.
"Contrary to the claims of the lying US president, the Fordow nuclear facilities have not suffered serious damage, and most of the damage is only on the ground, which can be repaired," an official in the province where Fordow is located told Tasnim."There is no danger to the population of Qom or its surroundings," authorities in that province assured, according to a statement from IRNA, reported by Al Jazeera.
Tehran's first allies to react to the attack were the Houthis from Yemen and Hamas from Gaza. Meanwhile, the Israeli army has not ruled out some type of attack by the Shiite militia party Hezbollah from Lebanon in solidarity with Tehran.
"Washington must bear the consequences," the Yemeni guerrillas said in a statement, according to the Qatari network Al Jazeera. The Houthis control a significant portion of Yemeni territory and systematically threaten, assault, and attack ships crossing the Suez Canal.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (as Hamas is known), for its part, described Washington's latest move in a statement as a"blatant US aggression against Iranian territory and sovereignty," for which it also blamed Israel, while trusting in the ayatollahs' regime's ability to defend itself.
Although Israeli pride prevented it from publicly demanding help from its main ally, and the Jewish state had insisted it was self-sufficient, it was ripe fruit ready to fall, and so it has. Twenty-four hours had passed since the latest wave of missiles launched by the ayatollahs' regime against various Israeli regions when US aircraft began dropping their weapons on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities. The Jewish state has warned that it is facing the most complex campaign in its history, as the head of the Armed Forces, Eyal Zamir, acknowledged this weekend.
In any case, Israeli press analysts assume that Washington's involvement in the offensive will serve to accelerate progress toward achieving the two fundamental pillars of the offensive, as Netanyahu has pointed out: ending the nuclear program and the production of missiles that pose a direct threat to Israel.
