Israel Strikes Iran: ‘This All Goes Back to the Weak Leadership of Biden-Harris’
The Israeli air force launched a long-anticipated strike against Iran early Saturday morning, in retaliation for Iran’s missile barrage against Israel on October 1. The operation demonstrated Israel’s air superiority, while also showing “restraint,” according to the National Review editors, giving Iran room to climb down from a further confrontation.
Israeli aircraft prowled Iranian airspace for hours, targeting Iran’s anti-aircraft installations first, followed by ballistic missile and drone production sites. Over 100 Israeli aircraft participated in the operation, which carried them more than 1,000 miles away from Israeli territory. They struck military sites in two southwestern provinces, as well as the province of Tehran. “There are over 140 sorties I know [of] by Israeli aircraft,” said Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) on Monday’s “Washington Watch,” “and devastation must have been pretty substantial.”
Iran’s National Air Defense confirmed “limited damage” and added that some of the strikes were successfully intercepted. The Iranian army said at least two soldiers were killed in the attack.
Notably, the Israeli aircraft successfully hit multiple S-300 air defense batteries, an advanced Russian system. In August, news reports indicated that Russia had delivered more S-300 systems to Iran, after Israel successfully hit an Iranian S-300 system in April. “It does look like they’ve degraded Tehran’s ability to respond to Israel,” remarked Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. “And some are saying this could be setting up potentially another move by Israel if they deem it necessary.”
Israel’s decision to strike Iran’s air defense systems in a prolonged attack was likely intended to communicate that the air force could have done significantly more damage. “The very fact that the Israelis were able to have freedom of the air tells us that Israel can very well protect itself, and the Iranians have a long way to go,” Babin suggested. “It does look like, on first glance, that Israel’s attack has been relatively calibrated. It gives Iran room to climb down,” said Middle East commentator Sanam Vakil.
Israel delayed its counterattack plan after U.S. intelligence documents detailing its military preparations were leaked to an Iranian Telegram account last weekend.
Israel had initially made plans to strike either Iran’s nuclear weapons program or oil production facilities. However, due to the leak, it refocused its attack. Saturday’s attack “steered clear of striking the nuclear and oil facilities that Iran had warned for weeks would bring a tough response,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
This restrained attack was in deference to intense pressure from the Biden-Harris administration, which demanded the Israeli response not escalate the already-escalated conflict. “They want to stop the confrontation, which Israel is trying to eliminate the threat,” Perkins said.
“This all goes back to weak leadership on the part of the Biden-Harris administration,” lamented Babin. “We would not have seen the October 7th attack by Hamas in Israel, [and] we would not have seen the attack on Ukraine by Russia had we not shown … the absolute weakness of the Afghan withdrawal … which tells our allies they can’t really trust us and our adversaries that they really don’t need to fear us.”
Despite recent tensions and suspicions of leaks in Washington, Israeli officials did notify their U.S. counterparts shortly before the strike. U.S. forces were not involved in the attack, but a National Security Council spokesman said the operation was “an exercise of self-defense.”
In addition to sending a warning to Iran, Israel’s strike also attempted to conciliate the Biden-Harris administration. By pursuing a more limited strike, and informing U.S. officials about it beforehand, Israel is clearly trying not to antagonize or provoke the administration any further, giving it no reason to punish Israel after the election.
Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.