Just hours before the Israeli attack on Iran, journalist Barak Ravid, who always works with very reliable sources, wrote that the United States had informed Israel that it would not participate in the military operation against the Islamic Republic. As a precautionary measure, The Americans limited themselves to evacuating some of their citizens from several countries in the region, but they made no other visible decisions.
The current moment is very different from 2017, when Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the Obama-era deal on Iran's nuclear program. At that time, there was talk of a possible major Israeli attack against then-military minister Potser. to do what he did this Friday. Since 2017, the Biden and Trump administrations have fulfilled all of Netanyahu's requested arms deliveries, even during the twenty months of indiscriminate attacks on Gaza.
President Trump has reiterated on more than one occasion that he did not want Israel to attack Iran, but Netanyahu has shown that his interests, and we can say we are talking about personal interests, take precedence over Trump's will. The attack confirms that Netanyahu has the final say. Finally, Trump said this Friday, after the attack, that he will defend Israel from any retaliation.
Netanyahu has shown who's boss in the Middle East... and in the White House, too. When the interests of Israel and the United States conflict, it's Netanyahu who has the final say. This can be seen on more than one front, and not just with Iran. Along the same lines, the Trump administration has repeatedly, to no avail, called on Netanyahu to end the terrible war against the Gaza Strip.
An attack on Iran of this magnitude confirms things like the fact that Israel has a military power far superior to that of any other country in the region. Tehran's reactions will likely be a striking point in terms of its statements, but they will be limited in material terms, given that the Islamic Republic does not have a military capability comparable to Israel's and will therefore necessarily be the loser.
In this context, the attack surely indicates that Israel has finally emancipated itself from Washington's surveillance thanks to the military equipment provided by Washington itself. This will have short-, medium-, and long-term consequences throughout the region, primarily because it will strengthen Israel's dominant position vis-à-vis all Middle Eastern countries.
It also confirms Israel as the sole leader of the region, a circumstance that will allow Netanyahu to determine the dominant Middle East policy at any given time, based on Tel Aviv's interests. We see that the promise he has been making for months to the effect that he will completely change the region is taking shape before the eyes of all Israelis.
In his speeches, time and again, he promises that the first consequence of October 7, 2023, will be a complete change in the region. This is happening in Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. In Netanyahu's speech after the attack, it's clear that the prime minister is also thinking about Iran, although it seems unlikely he'll achieve that change overnight.
