Israel’s decision to launch a wide-scale military operation against Iran may have come as a shock to many, but it’s something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been itching to do for more than a decade. The question now is whether President Trump will end up sustaining an Israeli bombing campaign that could last for days, if not weeks.
The fact that Israel conducted the operation several days before Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, was scheduled to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for a sixth round of nuclear talks in Oman wasn’t lost on most observers.
Netanyahu hasn’t been particularly supportive of the Trump administration’s diplomatic outreach to the Iranians and reportedly pressed the White House to green-light joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Tehran’s nuclear facilities last month. Trump demurred, choosing diplomacy instead, but Netanyahu seems never to have believed the talks would result in anything substantial.
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