Iran wanted to do real damage, and Israel’s response may not be as restrained as last time

[Pelican Press 0]

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Iran wanted to do real damage, and *******’s response may not be as restrained as last time

When Iran attacked ******* in April, it seemed like it was making a point – but Iran effectively gave notice of the ******* in terms of how it carried it out, and everything was pretty much shot out of the air by ******** and ********* defences.

This time around it’s different. The Iranians looked like they wanted to do some serious damage and were making a much more aggressive point.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps put out an announcement saying that they were retaliating to the killings of senior leaders in ****** and Hezbollah, and warned that if ******* retaliated, in turn they would strike back.

Last time around, Joe Biden said to ******** PM Benjamin Netanyahu – “Take the win”, don’t carry out a big response – and they didn’t. This time around in ******* the mood is very different.

Look at the tweet from former prime minister Naftali Bennet last night, using very strong language, saying: “This is the greatest opportunity in 50 years to change the face of the Middle East.” He was arguing that ******* should go after Iran’s nuclear facilities, in order to “fatally cripple this ********** regime”.

Now he’s not prime minister (although he is widely tipped to be a future one, so he was making a point to show he is tough) but it does reflect a certain mood in the country.

I would not rule out attacks by ******* on anything at the moment – nuclear sites, petrochemical facilities, anything that could cause damage to the Iranian economy.

The scenario always was that Iran had a forward defence in the shape of Hezbollah in Lebanon, with a massive arsenal of sophisticated weapons, to be used, in theory, if Iran and its nuclear facilities were attacked.

But in the last couple of weeks, ******* has decapitated the Hezbollah organisation, destroyed half of its weapons, according to ********* and ******** authorities; and invaded Lebanon.

The deterrent Iran had, you could argue, is not just gone – it’s smashed into a thousand pieces. So I think the Israelis are feeling more free to act. And Joe Biden is moving another carrier battle group to the Mediterranean, signalling to the Iranians that if you hit *******, you hit the US too.

This is why people were talking about the ***** of the war spreading: the instability, the turbulence that comes from everything that’s been happening – now we are seeing it play out and it leaves very little room for diplomacy at this moment.

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