Source: Foreign Policy
by Alia Brahimi
“On June 13, Israel launched a massive wave of attacks across Iran, bombing nuclear facilities and assassinating military commanders and scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Iran was close to building a nuclear bomb and that ‘we have no choice but to act — and act now.’ On June 22, the United States joined Netanyahu’s campaign, attacking three Iranian nuclear sites with ‘bunker buster’ bombs and Tomahawk missiles. The echoes with the Iraq case are unsettling, including disputed intelligence about WMD, the claim to be bombing on behalf of the civilized world, the manipulation of events to justify a long policy obsession, and the prospect of U.S.-backed regime change in the Middle East. But in the present context of the erosion of the rules-based system … the strikes on Iran could establish a dangerous precedent for an expansive understanding of preemptive warfare.” (06/23/25)