US pressure on Israel has paid off... at least for now

Israel was always going to hit back after Iran launched close to 200 ballistic missiles in an attack at the start of the month, knowing that every tit-for-tat response risks taking the region into all-out war.

- CHRIS STEVENSON

The fact that the waves of Israeli strikes – codenamed Days of Repentance and carried out by dozens of fighter jets – were limited to military targets will cause Washington to breathe a sigh of relief.

There had been talk that Israel could strike Iran’s oil infrastructure or even nuclear facilities, both of which Tehran would see as deeply provocative. The Israeli air force instead struck about 20 military bases across Iran, including missile and drone manufacturing sites and air defence systems.

US officials had been working to try to limit the strikes from Israel, wary of Iran’s response. While Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s public statements in the last few months have given the impression that listening to his staunchest ally is one of the last things he wants to do – particularly over conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon – he appears to have relented on this.