No more proxy war, no more hidden assassination and certainly no more lobbing a few missiles or air strikes at each other to save face. After decades of cat and mouse game, Israel and Iran are now officially engaged in a direct war. As expected, Saudi Arabia, Iran’s long time rival before reconciling in 2023, has expressed a half-hearted condemnation on Israel’s attack on Tehran.
Hilariously, almost all Arab states that have signed peace or normalization agreements with Israel – or maintain behind-the-scenes ties with the Jewish state – issued statements of condemnation, nearly identical in wording, against Israel’s attack. Yet, the Arab states have been helping to shoot down incoming Iranian missiles before they hit Israel, whilst urging de-escalation.
The fact that the Israeli Air Force operated over the airspace of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria when more than 200 fighter jets flew to attack Iran on the first day of Operation Rising Lion last Friday (June 13) speaks volumes about the Arab’s involvement in assisting Israel to cripple Tehran. The contradiction between declarations and actions can be easily explained.
On one hand, Arab leaders cannot afford to publicly align themselves with Israel, especially in light of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza. On the other hand, Saudi and its allies cannot allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. Saudi, predominantly Sunni, sees itself as a leader of the Sunni world, while Iran, a Shia-majority nation, is leading the Shia branch of Islam.
After six days of striking each other, the writing is on the wall who is fast losing the war. Sure, Israeli military’s cutting edge air defences have been breached. No system is perfect, but so far Iron Dome appears to deliver a success rate of 90%, meaning out of 100 ballistic missiles launched by Tehran, about 10 will penetrate. So far, the death toll in Israel has climbed to 24 – compared to 585 in Iran.
But both have different targets – Israel’s jets hit nuclear and military facilities while Iran’s drones and missiles strike residential buildings. It’s also worth mentioning that while the Jewish state has bomb shelters to protect its people, Iranians are left to fend for themselves. More importantly, within 48 hours of starting the conflict, Israel had gained control of the skies above Tehran.
Air supremacy gives Israel not only the freedom to escalate its bombing campaign, but also to lure President Donald Trump to join the war and claim victory. Essentially, Iranian Air Force has been decapitated, as its ancient F-14 “Persian Tomcat” fighters were being destroyed by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) air-to-ground missiles. Sitting duck Iranian AH-1 attack helicopters were also obliterated.
Strategically, Israel began the war using its most advanced F-35 stealth aircraft, enhanced with intelligence-gathering modifications to fly deep into Iranian territory and strike Iran’s air defense radar installations and surface-to-air missile batteries. With Iran’s air defences largely disabled, older Israeli aircraft like the F-15 and F-16 have joined the fight – deploying short-range JDAM and Spice-guided bombs – cheap, widely available, and deadly.
Israel’s control over Iranian airspace is not just about planes – it’s about precision, coordination, and speed. It’s what Russia hoped to achieve in Ukraine but could not. Crucially, covert Israeli operations destroyed Iranian air-defence nodes with short-range drones. While the IDF can freely target Iranian’s military assets on the ground, Iran can’t shoot down Israeli fighter jets in its own airspace.
Iran’s only available weapon is missiles. Its radar is blind and air defence system has been crippled and all top commanders have been killed in the first round of Israeli air strike. From the beginning, Tehran should be worried – even terrified – when Tel Aviv openly announced that its operation would take 14 days, suggesting that Israel has been planning it for months, if not years.
In fact, the Israelis had developed a credible plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, when the plan was presented, Commander-in-Chief Trump vetoed it. The White House might be concerned that killing the Mullah would enflame the conflict and potentially destabilize the region. But it’s also possible that Trump wanted to claim credit for personally giving the green light to kill Khamenei.
However, that did not stop Israel from warning Iran’s Ali Khamenei “of a fate similar to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is more than happy to let his buddy Donald Trump takes all the credit. What Israel desperately wants is for the president to authorize the use of one weapon – 30,000 pounds Massive Ordnance Penetrator or “MOP”.
Better known as the bunker-buster bomb, the GPS-directed GBU-57 bomb, assembled by Boeing Co., is the only weapon possessed by the U.S. which can penetrate Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility – central to its uranium enrichment efforts – buried around 300 feet underground, unreachable to non-penetrating bombs. And only U.S.-made B-2 Spirit stealth bombers are equipped to carry the bombs.
As early as April this year, the U.S. raised eyebrows when it repositioned several B-2 bombers to Diego Garcia, a U.S. base on an island in the Indian Ocean, around 2,300 miles from Iran. On Monday (June 16), the Pentagon suspiciously moved at least 31 refuelling tankers across the Atlantic, as well as dozens of F-16, F-22, and F-35 aircrafts – suggesting that the U.S. could join the Israel-Iran war.
Already, the U.S. Navy is sending a second carrier strike group to the Middle East. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, along with its nine air squadrons, and an escort force, including five destroyers, is leaving the South China Sea to join the USS Carl Vinson strike group in the Arabian Sea. The build-up of U.S. military firepower could be a preparation to strike Iran, or merely a pre-emptive measure to pressure Tehran.
Tehran might think Washington was bluffing, and Trump would chicken out like he did in his trade war with China. However, the fact that the U.S. president has warned Tehran resident to evacuate immediately, while Beijing has ordered its citizens to get out of both Iran and Israel, has sparked speculation of the eventual intervention of the U.S. in the Middle East conflict.
When the IDF bombed Iranian state television two days ago, leaving a TV reporter to stop a live broadcast and scrambled to save herself, it was not only to interrupt the Iranian regime’s propaganda and incitement broadcasting, but also to send a message that Israel has the capability to strike anywhere and everywhere in Tehran, including dictator Ali Khamenei.
But Israel has not even unleashed its biggest surprise till the upcoming Thursday (June 19). The warning and hint came after Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter says – “There’s still a lot of things we can do. We’ve pulled off a number of surprises – when the dust settles – you’re going to see some surprises on Thursday night and Friday, that will make the beeper operation almost seem simple.”
Of course, he was referring to how Israel detonated thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies in September 2024, injuring thousands of militants in a complex intelligence effort that went back years. After Leiter’s warning, Iran’s cyber command ordered top officials and their security teams to avoid IT equipment connected to telecom networks in fear of digital disruption from Israel.
Tehran is so terrified of Israel’s next move – cyber attack and psychology warfare – that the country was “in the midst of a near-total national internet blackout.” In fact, Khamenei did not appear himself when he warned the United States that joining the Israeli strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them”, but was read out by a state television anchor.
Yes, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should prepare to flee to Russia after family members of Mullahs had already left the country via private jets on the first day of Israel’s attack. He can run, but he cannot hide. After Trump told Khamenei dictatorship to surrender unconditionally, to which the Iranian leader refused to, the U.S. president also said he knows where he is hiding.
Clearly, both Israel and the U.S. knew the location of Khamenei’s hideout. The burning question is how Donald Trump wants to skin the cat. If a decision is made to neutralize the 86-year-old Iranian cleric, the White House wants to know who will be the next successor and what will happen next in Iran. As far as Israel is concerned, it doesn’t matter as it has proven to be able to kill the successor of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and the successors of that successor.
Cutting short his G7 summit to focus on Israel-Iran conflict, Trump’s decision to rush back home, ordering the National Security Council be prepared in the Situation Room when he returned from the summit, was the clearest sign that the Commander-in-Chief badly wants a winning. He also said his patience has “already run out” with Iran, who has very few cards to play.
Iran’s undisputed leader since 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has weathered decades of international sanctions, near-constant regional tensions and protest movements he ruthlessly suppressed to maintain his iron grip on the Islamic Republic. But he is now fighting for his survival after he made a strategic blunder – attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Tehran Fast Losing The War – How Israel Controls The Skies Of Iran Within 48 Hours
- Israel’s “Operation Rising Lion” – Iran’s Costly Miscalculation Led To Losses Of Top Commanders & Scientists
- Paying The Price For Hamas Attacks – How Trump Misled Iran Before Israel Sends 200 Jets To Attack
- Watch Out The Oil Prices – Israel Preparing To Attack Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Whilst Trump Grabbing Gaza Strip
- Rebuilding Gaza – Clueless Anwar Should Build Housing, Schools, Power, Water & Infrastructure For Malaysia First
- Ran Out Of Luck And Place To Hide – Here’s How Israel Trainee Squad Accidentally Killed Hamas Mastermind Sinwar
- Psychological Warfare – How Mossad Cracked Hezbollah Secret Network With Low-Tech Pager & Walkie-Talkie “Walking Bombs”
- 3 Big Kills In 24 Hours – Why Haniyeh Could Have Been Betrayed By Own Brothers
- An Eye For An Eye!!! – No One Can Stop Israel From Reducing Gaza To Rubble And Erase Hamas Terrorists
- Israel At War – How Biden Funded Terrorist Hamas With $6 Billion, And Why Hamas’ Invasion Was A Dumb Move
- Malaysia Declares War On “Impenetrable” Israel … To Be Slaughtered Like A Pig?
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June 18th, 2025 by financetwitter
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Talk about dial-up drama. “Iran on Fire” is pressing Khamenei to make a run for Russia before the U.S.-Israel hammer drops. When headlines scream ‘Khamenei should flee to Russia,’ you know things have officially hit a boiling point.”