Israel's raid on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leaders on Friday was backed by years of careful preparation by the Israeli military and intelligence agency Mossad.
According to information from Israeli security sources, Mossad special forces had previously penetrated Iran multiple times to deploy weapons, including explosive drones for attacking ground-to-ground missile bases near Tehran. At the time of the assault, Mossad commandos also targeted Iran's ground-to-air missile systems with precision-guided weapons to mitigate the threat to Israeli fighter jets penetrating Iranian airspace.
Moreover, Israel deliberately released messages before the attack, suggesting that Israel hoped for nuclear negotiations pushed by the United States, leading the Iranian side to mistakenly believe that the attack was not imminent.
Bloomberg analysis stated that at 75 years old, Netanyahu pointed out when he first took office as Prime Minister in 1996 that among the various existential threats facing Israel, Iran's nuclear development program ranks at the top.
During Netanyahu's second term as Prime Minister, he nearly took action to destroy Iran's nuclear program in 2010 and 2012, but both times he backed down at the last moment because his heads of security and senior ministers, as well as then U.S. President Obama, expressed opposition. In 2025, this time, Netanyahu has the support of Trump and the hawks in the Israeli leadership, giving him enough confidence to strike hard at Iran.
This airstrike by Israel has severely damaged Iran's nuclear capabilities and military leadership, making it difficult for Tehran to retaliate. Some in the Middle East believe that Iran now faces limited options, including the high-risk choice of launching a full-scale war, which it lacks the capability to undertake and has almost no chance of winning.
Ali, a scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, said: 'If they (Iranian leadership) show weakness, they cannot maintain their positions of power. They must strike hard at Israel, but their options are limited. I think their next choice is to withdraw (from the Non-Proliferation Treaty).'
Experts say that withdrawing from the treaty means Iran will accelerate its plan to enrich weapons-grade uranium, significantly increasing the risk of escalation.