by The Free Press
Analysis and reactions from Mike Pompeo, Naftali Bennett, Roya Hakakian, Matti Friedman, Michael Oren, Eli Lake, and others.
At 5:46 p.m. yesterday we published an essay by Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., that asked if an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program was imminent. A little more than two hours later, Israel began that strike.
We went live immediately afterward with Oren and former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett.
You can watch that conversation here.
The conventional wisdom was that Israel could not successfully attack Iran’s highly protected nuclear program on its own, and that it would not do so without American support. But it appears to be trying exactly that.
As of press time, here’s what we know:
- Israel killed three of Iran’s top generals: Hossein Salami, Mohammad Bagheri, and Gholamali Rashid, as well as top nuclear scientists in Tehran and at stealth nuclear facilities.
- There were multiple strikes at Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz.
- Israel hit a nuclear research facility in Tabriz, and two adjacent military bases.
- It hit heavy water reactors in Arak and Khondab, where Iran produced plutonium.
- Israel targeted defense and industrial compounds in Kermanshah and Isfahan, and radar facilities in Piranshahr.
- Israel destroyed an oil refinery in Tabriz.
- Iran launched over 100 drones at Israel, which the IDF were working to shoot down.
As former Pentagon official and Middle East scholar Michael Doran noted on X, the sheer geographic range of the strikes is “stunning.” He added: “Israel’s campaign against Iran is another one for the history books. As in the opening of the Six-Day War—when Israel crippled three Arab air forces in a matter of hours—Israel has struck first, deep, and hard. It hit targets across Iran, a huge country, with precision and total surprise. The scale and reach of the operation are staggering. . . . This was more than a military action. It was a demonstration of intelligence dominance and operational mastery—and total justice.”
Read also: The nightmare scenario arrives by Melanie Phillips
Will Israel finally topple the Iranian regime? by Kyle Orton, UnHerd