Last Friday, Israel began a massive bombing campaign against Iran, targeting the country’s nuclear facilities and leaders of its military forces, with daily exchanges of airstrikes and missile attacks continuing since then. Israel has long been vocally opposed to Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which it claims is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, and has reportedly wanted to use military force to disrupt or curtail it for years.
But a number of circumstances combined to add urgency to Israel’s calculus. Among them was news that Iran had lied repeatedly to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA—the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog—about the locations and extent of its nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for civilian purposes only. Iran is now estimated to have uranium processing capabilities that put it a hair’s breadth away from being able to build a nuclear weapon, though Tehran denies it has the intention of doing so.
Israel announced over the weekend that its campaign will last several weeks, and with Iran promising to retaliate in kind, hopes for a ceasefire remain distant.