Israel claims that Iran is within reach atomic bomb production and that for that reason he had to in self-defense attack a country whose state doctrine is the destruction of the Jewish state.
On the other hand, Iran has not been as weak for decades as it is today. In last year's bombardment, the Israeli IDF severely damaged Iran's air defenses, the country is exhausted by international sanctions, inflation has reached 43 percent, the mullahs' regime is facing stronger and more frequent resistance from Iranians. On top of that, Israel destroyed Hamas in the Gaza Strip and inflicted heavy damage on the Shiite militia Hezbollah in Lebanon - both militant organizations are closely linked to Tehran. With the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Iran was left without its only Arab ally in the region.
From October 7, 2023, when Hamas invaded Israel on "Black Shabbat"., the Jewish state is on a war campaign. Because of the brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip, during which more than 55.000 Palestinians were killed, Israel has largely lost international support.
Despite this, the hawks in Benjamin Netanyahu's ultraconservative government have been pressing for a long time that the time has come for Israel to strike a deadly blow at all its regional enemies that threaten it - above all, Iran.
US position
It is unclear whether Israel launched the unprecedented airstrikes against Iran on Friday, June 13, 2025, with the tacit blessing or opposition of US President Donald Trump.
Officially, Trump warned Tel Aviv not to attack Iran while the US is conducting renewed negotiations with it on limiting Iran's nuclear program. He highlighted the new nuclear agreement with Iran as one of his priority foreign policy goals in an effort to present himself as a global peacemaker.
It was Trump, however, during his first presidential term in 2015, who annulled the nuclear agreement that his predecessor Barack Obama had achieved with Tehran and introduced harsh sanctions on Iran. Joe Biden not only did not abolish them, he expanded them.
Trump's condition for the new nuclear agreement is that Iran completely stop enriching uranium, which is necessary for the production of atomic weapons. "Zero percent", is the slogan from Washington.
"We will not tolerate even one percent of the uranium enrichment capacity because it enables the production of weapons," Trump said in May. Only the production of nuclear energy for civilian purposes will be tolerated.
Alert in Vienna
A few days ago, however, a report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) caused a general uproar. It states that Iran has significantly increased its production of weapons-grade uranium in recent weeks.
According to that report, Iran now has almost 409 kilograms of uranium with a purity of 60 percent. In almost two weeks, he could enrich uranium to a purity of 90 percent, which is sufficient for the production of atomic weapons. It would then take only a few months, a year at most, to produce the bomb.
An Israeli military representative said Friday morning that the Iranian regime has enough enriched nuclear material to produce 15 bombs in just "a few days." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited "nine bombs."
In addition, Iran has reportedly significantly increased its production of ballistic missiles. According to the IDF, there are hundreds or even thousands of them.
Israel has been considering a military strike against Iran for a long time to destroy, or at least substantially reverse, Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu was disappointed that Trump did not show understanding for Israel's military plans. Instead, to everyone's surprise, he renewed negotiations with Tehran.
Israel carried out this unprecedented attack on its own, although at least Washington and Berlin were informed about it.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized that Israel attacked Iran unilaterally and claims that it did so in self-defense.
"We are not involved in airstrikes against Iran. Our priority is to protect American forces in the region," Rubio said in a statement issued by the White House.
The assumption is that Iran has about 2000 ballistic missiles and at least 4000 combat drones. For the Israelis, it is very important that US military forces in the region intercept those deadly aircraft so that they do not slip through the "Iron Dome", Israel's highly effective anti-missile shield.
The conflict in the Middle East has entered a new phase. The scenario that many feared came into force: an open military conflict between the two largest regional military powers, two archenemies striving for mutual destruction.
Source: CNN/BBC/Spiegel
