In-Depth Issues:

The Israel-U.S. Strategy against Iran’s Missile Arsenal – Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet News)
In the previous war with Iran in June 2025, Israel struck a missile production and launch network that was not seriously prepared for a surprise attack. Since then, the Iranians dispersed their missile storage and launch systems, making it far more difficult to strike them.
Most storage and launch sites are located in the Zagros Mountains in northern and western Iran, where numerous caves have been expanded into missile storage facilities. They often have several entrances, some concealed and camouflaged.
Israel Air Force attack drones are primarily operating against these sites. Some drones have been damaged or destroye d. Destroying or sealing the cave facilities requires jet fighters.
The Americans are targeting underground “missile cities” with GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs carried by B-2 bombers which primarily take off from the U.S. They are also operating extensively against storage and launch sites east of Qom.

Israel, U.S. Strike Targets across Iran – Yonah Jeremy Bob (Jerusalem Post)
Israel had dropped 4,000 bombs on Iranian targets by Tuesday night, and the U.S. may have attacked 1 1/2 to 2 times as many targets.

Does the U.S. Have Enough Munitions fo r the Iran Fight? – Editorial (Wall Street Journal)
The press is warning that America and its allies lack air defenses for a long military campaign in Iran.
U.S. forces are intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, and some inside the Administration opposed strikes because the U.S. would burn too many interceptors needed to deter China and other bad actors.
The President said this week that the U.S. has “a good supply” of the “highest end” munitions.
It’s no secret the Free World needs more air defense rounds. That’s a core reason the U.S. needs to eliminate the threat from Iran’s drone and missile programs.
The answer isn’t surrender but to exploit U.S. air dominance over Iran and destroy missile launchers on the ground before they can shoot.
It doesn’t matter how many missiles we have if our enemies conclude America won’t ac cept risk to defend itself.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is right to suggest that the U.S. can’t let Iran build 100 missiles a month while we build six interceptors.
The risk to the U.S. is in retreating from the fight before Iran’s capacity to menace the world is eliminated.

Why Israeli Flags Are Flying at Iranian Expatriate Celebrations – Judy Maltz (Ha’aretz)
In videos on social media, Iranian exiles in cities across the globe can be seen celebrating the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader and his top commanders. These clips often feature Israeli flags, as Jews and Israelis join the festivities.
& nbsp; Rabbi Tarlan Rabizadeh, a prominent Jewish-Iranian-American activist in Los Angeles, said, “If you only knew how many Persian songs now have new lyrics praising Bibi [Netanyahu]. It’s hilarious.”
“Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to live in the Persian empire and practice our religion freely….So, this is a nod to the fact that there is a deep, deep connection between Persians and Jews and that we lived together harmoniously for many, many years.”
“This war is good for the future of Israel, and it’s good for the future of the world.”

Iranian Missile Headed to Turkey Downed by NATO (Reuters)
A ballistic missile fired from Iran and heading into Turkish airspace after passing Syria and Iraq was destroyed by NATO air and missile defense systems in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

Palestinians Selling Missile Fragments that Fall in Their Vicinity – Einav Halabi (Ynet News)
Palestinians are collecting missile fragments and remnants of fallen rockets and selling them locally as scrap metal.
In a video on social media, a Palestinian is seen selling a piece of interceptor debris that landed in his yard for $80. “God willing, next time I’ll get a bigger piece,” he says.
In Meithalun, south of Jenin, residents were filmed sawing apart fragments of fallen rockets. In Beita, near Nablus, a Palestinian was seen dragging a large rocket fragment with his tract or.

A Weakened Iran Is Already a Victory – David Suissa (Los Angeles Jewish Journal)
In the war against Iran, something major has already happened. An evil and powerful regime that has destabilized the world for nearly half a century has been significantly weakened.
Aware that its fearsome reputation has crumbled and it is now in survival mode, Iran is hoping that the hundreds of missiles and drones it is launching against Israel, American bases and Gulf countries will regain some of its honor and help it survive.
But no matter what happens, something earth-shattering has already happened in the Middle East. The world’s biggest sponsor of terr or has lost its power to terrorize the world.
A nation that for decades has proudly trumpeted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” is now worried about its own death.
A nation that threatened to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons is now worried about its own destruction.
Since 1979, the arrogant mullahs of Iran have been spreading their toxic poison and getting away with it.
This week, as we commemorate the failure of another Persian named Haman to destroy the Jews 2,500 years ago, these arrogant mullahs are getting a taste of their own medicine.

30 Female Israel Air Force Crew Members Joined in Iran Strikes – Gal Ganot (Ynet News)
More than 30 female aircrew members including pilots, combat navigators, and technicians have taken part in strikes on Iran since Saturday, the IDF confirmed Monday.
A female aircrew member told the Daily Mail there are more than 70 female combat pilots and navigators in the Israel Air Force.

• “The Two Most Powerful Air Forces in the World, the U.S. and Israel, Are Dominating the Skies” over Iran
  Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday: “By order of the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, our military in the Middle East is undertaking an unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten Americans as they’ve been doing for nearly half a century….More than 50,000 troops, 200 [jet] fighters, two aircraft carriers, and bombers from the United States are participating in this operation , and more capability is on the way.”
  “We’ve already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions. We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers, and drones. And in simple terms, we’re focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us. Our B2 bombers and B1 bombers have executed uncontested surgical strikes against multiple missile facilities deep inside Iran.”
  “Thus far, we’ve destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side. For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today, there’s not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop….We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering launch capability.”
  “The Iranian regime has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones. To be clear, Iran is indiscriminately targeting civilians as they launch these missiles and drones. You’ve seen it on TV. The evidence is crystal clear and overwhelming. Having said this, we are seeing Iran’s ability to hit us and our partners is declining while our combat power, on the other hand, is building.”
  “Our naval forces have deployed multiple waves of cruise missiles, obliterating Iranian command and control and air defense capabilities…. U.S. air forces are doing what they do best, executing a high volume of air strikes right into Iran. Operationally, the two most powerful air forces in the world, the U.S. and Israel, are dominating the skies over the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.”  (Fox News)
• Rubio Walks Back Suggestion that Israel Forced U.S. Hand in Iran Strikes – Robert Jimison
  On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to walk back his earlier assertion that the decision to take military action against Iran was precipitated by Israel’s plans to strike Iran. Rubio said Monday that Israel had been prepared to act with or without the U.S.
  Rubio told members of the Senate and House in classified briefings on Tuesday: “The bottom line is this: The president determined we were not going to get hit first. It’s that simple, guys. We are not going put American troops in harm’s way. If you tell the president of the United States that if we don’t go first, we’re going to have more people killed and more people injured, the president’s going to go first. That’s what he did.”
  Rubio argued that what ultimately influenced Mr. Trump to decide to take military action was the threat of Iran’s increa sing military capability and growing arsenal of weapons. “The president of the United States made a decision: This is intolerable. Iran cannot have these missiles, cannot have these drones, cannot threaten the world. The president said this is the weakest they’ve ever been. If we don’t hit them now, a year from now, a year and a half from now, no one will be able to touch them and they’ll be able to do whatever they want – and he made a decision to go.”
  President Trump also rejected the notion that Israel had forced the Americans’ hand. He said during a meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany in the Oval Office, “No, I might have forced their hand. We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that…they were going to attack if we didn’t do it. They were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.”  (New York Times)
• U.S. and Israel Striking Iran Security Agencies that Helped Crush Protests – Erika Solomon
  The U.S. and Israel have been striking Iran’s police stations, detention centers and intelligence offices in addition to typical military targets, in an effort to weaken the country’s security agencies. “A lot of people have a lot of bad memories of being held, beaten up, and persecuted in those buildings. Seeing them go up in smoke is part of the process of dismantling this oppressive police state,” said Farzin Nadimi, a defense analyst at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
  “We’re targeting the Iranian security establishment, which also includes elements relevant to suppressing the Iranian people,” said IDF Spokesman Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani. Among those targets, he said, was the Basij, a plainclothes militia affiliate d with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. (New York Times)
  See also Israel Is Blowing Up Iran’s Police State to Clear the Way for a Revolt – Benoit Faucon (Wall Street Journal)

• IDF Strikes Secret Underground Nuclear Complex in Tehran – Elisha Ben Kimon
  The IDF said Tuesday it struck the Minzadehei compound, a secret underground nuclear complex in Tehran where Iran was de veloping a central component for a nuclear weapon.
  IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin said, “Despite the severe damage to the nuclear weapons group [in June 2025], the Iranian regime did not stop its military nuclear activity. It continued to develop the capabilities required for a nuclear weapon while relocating infrastructure to an underground, airstrike-resistant site.” The strike “removes a core component of the Iranian capability to develop a nuclear weapon.”  (Ynet News)
  See also Israeli F-35 Downs Iranian Jet Fighter – Lior Ben Ari
  An Israel Air Force F-35I jet fighter shot down an Iranian YAK-130 combat aircraft over Tehran, the Israeli military said Wednesday. The IDF said it had launched its tenth wave of airstrikes in Tehran. (Ynet News)
  See also Israel Air Force Operating at Record Pace – Elisha Ben Kimon
  The Israel Air Force is carrying out repeated waves of strikes deep inside Iran every few hours. Maj. B., an F-16 combat navigator, said aircrews are working extended hours with limited sleep to sustain the pace of operations. (Ynet News)
• U.S.-Israel Cooperation Resembles Allied Cooperation in World War II – Shir Perets
  The U.S. chose to strike Iran to advance its own interests, not because it was “dragged” into war by Israel, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog said Tuesday. “Israel began the 12-Day War with Iran in 2025 without knowing if the U.S. would join. We acted because it was in Israel’s best interest. U.S. President Trump ultimately joined because the operation was successful and risks were reduced.”
  Herzog explained that preparations for the current war began when Israel saw Iran attempting to rebuild its missile program. “On Israel’s side, the primary lesson from Oct. 7 was that we can no longer allow strategic threats to emerge in our neighborhood in the hope of containing them. That approach failed with Hamas and Hizbullah.”
  “From my understanding of U.S. policy, there’s no belief that airpower alone can bring regime change. The approach is regime degradation – weakening the regime’s pillars in hopes of accelerating its collapse. The minimum objective is changing regime behavior. The maximum is regime change, ideally driven by the Iranian people themselves.”
  Herzog stated that the U.S. and Israel have operated against Iran with a level of coordination that is “unparalleled in our history. It resembles Allied cooperation in World War II – combined planning and execution. We’re operating over 1,000 miles from our borders, conducting hundreds of missions involving thousands of munitions. That requires extraordinary coordination.”  (Jerusalem Post)

• • Trump’s Iran Strike Fulfills “America First” Promise – Clifford D. May
    On Saturday, President Trump explained the objective of the combined U.S.-Israeli operation against Iran as “to defe nd the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime….For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted, ‘Death to America!’ and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops and the innocent people in many, many countries.” If that’s not “America First,” then what would be?
    Mr. Trump is also making America great again by orchestrating U.S. military power in close coordination with what the Pentagon has called America’s “model ally” and doing so with such unprecedented precision that ordinary Iranians have been dancing in the streets.
    The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  (Washington Times)
  • The U.S. Gamble in Iran – Walter Russell Mead
    Thanks to deep coordination with Israeli intelligence, the initial attack decapitated the Islamic Republic’s leadership, with roughly 50 of its leading cadres, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, returned to their maker.
    Iran’s air defenses had still not recovered from last June’s 12-day war, and allied control over Iranian skies is near total. Iran’s retaliatory strikes in the first 48 hours were militarily weak and politically misguided, doing limited damage and creating a regional coalition against Tehran.
    But serious problems remain. The mullahs think, with reason, that Mr. Trump lacks the political support for a long and grinding war. If they can absorb the air attacks long enough, the regime will survive. Sooner or later, they hope, Washington will tire of its engagement in Iran, and the mullahs can re-establish their rul e.
    The writer, a fellow at the Hudson Institute, is Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida.  (Wall Street Journal)
  • The Bibi-Made-Trump-Do-It Canard – Editorial
    The U.S. is at war with Iran because for 47 years Iran’s regime has been at war with us. Some contend that Israel must have dragged President Trump into a war he didn’t want. In our experience Mr. Trump does exactly what he wants.
    Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked: “Are you saying the U.S. was forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action?” “No,” Mr. Rubio replied. That had only to do with timing, not intent. “No matter what, ultimately this operation needed t o happen.” The U.S. and Israel planned the campaign together, with Mr. Trump deliberately moving assets into place.
    We’ve now seen what Iran can do with its current stockpile of some 2,500 missiles. What if it had double that and Chinese antiship missiles to sink U.S. carriers?
    Far from manipulating Mr. Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made Israel the most effective force multiplier America has. It’s to Mr. Trump’s credit that he seizes the opportunities an ally creates to defeat shared adversaries. (Wall Street Journal)
  • We Are Finally Free from Khamenei’s Suffocating Gaze – Azadeh Moaveni
    The face of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has loomed over everyone’s life in Iran. The requisite photo of him was hung in every public space, where peop le learned, worked, lunched, transacted, watched theater, saw art and visited the doctor. He was always there, watching.
    The permanence of his image signified the control of the regime. Now he is dead. Will another face replace his and carry on a version of the same story? When I first saw the words “Ali Khamenei has been killed” flash on a television screen, there was no relief, just a flood of grief for all the suffering and the bleak inheritance he had left us.
    Released from the grip of life under Ayatollah Khamenei, tens of millions of Iranians – inside the country and out – will grasp at whole new ways to contemplate the future. For the first time in 47 years, there will be possibilities: about how to articulate a new Iranian identity, and about how to relate to one another outside the logic of repression.
    Even if the war carries on for weeks, even if Iran returns to talks after inflicting what damage it can, Iran’s fundamental crises remain: the economy on the brink of collapse and the state at open war with its citizenry. There is a dignity in the chance to envision the path to a different kind of rule, for moving beyond the failed Islamic model.
    The writer is an associate professor of journalism at New York University.  (New York Times)
  • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Legacy Is One of an Iran in Ruins – Ali Alfoneh
    Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaves behind a weakened regime and a country in ruins – the stark and somber legacy of his 37 years in power. When he assumed leadership in 1989, Khamenei regarded the revolution as an unfinished project. Suspicious of reform at home and rec onciliation abroad, he repeatedly obstructed initiatives that might have brought the regime into a more peaceful accommodation with both its own people and the wider world.
    When then-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani sought to merge the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the regular military, Khamenei vetoed the effort, preserving the IRGC as a parallel force ultimately loyal to him. Towards the end of his life, Khamenei came to be widely perceived as personally responsible for the regime’s failures.
    In the end, Khamenei fell victim to his own resistance to political, economic and social reforms that might have bridged the widening gap between state and society. He was also undone by the very project intended to guarantee the regime’s survival: the nuclear program, whose advance brought Iran to the threshold of nuclear weapons capability but also invited devastating Israeli and American attacks.
    The writer is a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.  (The National-UAE)

• New Doctrine: Israel Defends North without Evacuations – Herb Keinon
  A Hizbullah terrorist fired an anti-tank missile at IDF troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. No injuries were reported and the Israel Air Force eliminated the terrorist, along with additional terrorists, shortly afterward. When Hizbullah opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023, Israel evacuated 60,000-80,000 people from the Galilee to reduce civilian exposure to anti-tank missiles and cross-border raids.
  Today, as war with Iran intensifies and Hizbullah has joined the fray, Israel is doing the opposite. According to the new doctrine, civilians will remain in place while the military takes the fight deep into Lebanese territory. Last time, Israel sought to move civilians away from enemy fire. This time, it aims to move enemy fire away from civilians.
  Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that to prevent the possibility of direct fire at Israeli communities from Lebanon, the IDF is to “advance and hold additional dominant terrain in Lebanon and defend the border communities from there.” The doctrine now is forward defense. (Jerusalem Post)
• A Weary Lebanon Grapples with Hizbullah’s Entry into Iran War – Nagham Zbeedat
  Hizbullah announced it was formally joining Iran in escalating the war against Israel on Monday. The impact of escalation – especially for those fleeing Lebanon’s south and Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood – was visible. Displaced families arriving in northern areas report landlords refusing to rent to them if they are Shiite or perceived to support Hizbullah. Many Lebanese from the south are, in fact, Hizbullah supporters.
  One Lebanese wrote on X, “You create the disaster and then call on the state and the government to come rescue you after you’re displaced and your homes are destroyed. All year you are aligned with Iran. When war comes, you remember you are Lebanese.”
  Hadi Mourad, a Shiite physician, wrote on social media that Hizbullah had “dragged Lebanon’s Shiites into madness, death and killing for Iran, not for Lebanese dignity.”  (Ha’aretz)< /li>

• The ongoing war against Iran highlights the rise of a full-blown warfighting alliance between Israel and the U.S. By binding closer together a regional military hegemon and a global superpower, that alliance has put America and Israel in a commanding position to remake the Middle East.
• Fear of offending Israel’s Arab enemies, and Israel’s insistence that it be able to defend itself by itself, meant that the two countries mostly kept their distance when it came t o military operations. In 1991, the U.S. pushed to keep Israel out of the war against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
• Over the past decade, however, the threat posed by Iran and its regional proxies have reshaped the U.S.-Israel relationship.
• The current conflict has brought an entirely new level of cooperation. U.S. and Israeli officials methodically planned a combined offensive meant to wipe out Iran’s leadership and cripple its military. Israeli and American agencies have reportedly shared sensitive targeting intelligence. U.S. planes and tankers fly from Israeli bases. Other forms of cooperation are likely hidden from public view.
• This war, then, is a coming-out party for a pact that fuses Israeli tenacity and risk-taking to American global reach. Israel is a force multiplier, not a free rider. It possesses tremendous military, intelligence an d technological strengths of its own.
• Little wonder that Trump’s administration has labeled Israel a “model ally,” an example to which other countries that seek U.S. support should aspire. In an unsettled region, what team would you rather be on?The writer is a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.