There is a consensus growing among many analysts cited in media accounts that an Iranian strike against Israel is imminent. On the surface, it will be a retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Iranian generals who were killed in Syrian and Lebanese locations. It is possible that the Iranians may also strike at American interests, but that would raise the stakes considerably of a much wider war.
The first three links (1, 2, 3) discuss some of the arguments indicating how imminent an Iranian military strike is and how widespread it may be. Iran is in a bind. It wants to retaliate hard enough to hurt the Israelis, but if it attacks too hard, a much wider war could erupt that could hurt Iran badly. The recent Israeli strike which killed several Iranian generals in Syria almost looks like Israel may want to provoke an Iranian attack so Israel has a good reason to strike back hard at Iran. Any Iranian strike at Israeli territory could result in an Israeli retaliation which destroys Iran’s oil production and loading facilities as well as its nuclear weapons and ICBM production capabilities. One possible scenario is that Iran will unleash Hezbollah to attack Israel with salvos of the many missiles and rockets Iran has sent to Hezbollah. If that happens, damage will be done to Israeli targets, but I think that will be all the provocation Israel needs to launch a devastating attack on Iranian military, commercial and nuclear sites.
There is another consideration that may affect this crisis. President Biden is trailing in most polls in his re-election race with former President Donald Trump, and Biden may actually want a chance to look “tough” on the world stage. However, that strategy would be very risky for Biden. If Biden launches strikes against Iran, Iran may unleash very destructive and costly damage on US soil via Iranian sleeper cells already infiltrated into American territory. It has already been reported in American media sources that at least hundreds of Iranians of military age have infiltrated themselves into the USA across the unguarded US southern border. If those Iranians allowed into the US by the Biden administration start killing Americans and damaging American infrastructures, the American people will be enraged against Biden and his administration. Who knows where that internal crisis could go?
If a wider war erupts, Israel likely has new weaponry it would like to test on real Iranian targets. The fourth link details a new Israeli defensive system. This new system is mounted on Israeli naval ships and it can shoot down Iranian missiles, drones and rockets. The fact that it is mounted on Israeli warships means that it is mobile and that it will not be a stationary target.
There is a very serious possibility raised in the fifth link. As readers know, the Palestinians/Hamas took hundreds of hostages when they invaded Israel and destroyed several Israeli towns. The Palestinians perpetrated atrocious acts of brutality in that invasion, particularly against Israeli women. Last November, a pause occurred where roughly half of the hostages were freed in exchange for the Israelis releasing convicted Palestinians from Israeli jails. The remaining Israeli hostages have been languishing in Palestinian captivity, and it is known some of them have died during their captivity. Did Hamas kill them to silence them so they could not tell what horrors had been done to them in captivity if they were ever released? The fifth link reports that it may be that so many Israelis have been killed during their captivity that Hamas may have trouble finding 40 live Israeli hostages to swap in any new hostage for prisoner exchange. If this proves to be to be true, the harshness of the Israeli response to such news may be quite terrible. The Israelis know full well that Iran has armed and supplied Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, etc. If it becomes apparent that Hamas has tortured/raped Israelis to death during their captivity, Israel may “strike at the head of the snake” and mercilessly attack Iran no matter whether Iran strikes first or not. The Israeli government includes several religious parties in its coalition. The Israelis are aware of the Torah’s instruction in Exodus 21:24 that justice should be meted out “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Israel may decide to annihilate one Iranian city for each Israeli town destroyed on October 7, 2023. Do not think this is impossible. Genesis 49:8-12 is a prophecy about Judah (the Jews) in the latter days. It foretells that in the latter days, the Jews will have their hand “in the neck of their enemies.” President Biden may have much to lose in this crisis. Biden has been all but AWOL concerning the American citizens held hostage by Hamas/the Palestinians. If it becomes apparent that American citizens were killed/ tortured by Hamas during Biden’s long unconcern about them (Biden barely mentions them at all) , it will likely cost Biden the election.
Have you noticed that not one Arab or Muslim nation has offered to take in Hamas fighters/Palestinians from Gaza in a “humanitarian ” effort? People forget that the Muslim Brotherhood–an ideological ally of Hamas–once took over power in Egypt and the Egyptian military had to intervene and kick the Muslim Brotherhood out of power to save the nation of Egypt. Also, Iran is Shiite Muslim and Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis are now allies of Iran, and therefore have aligned themselves with the Shiite camp. Most Muslim nations are in the Sunni camp, of which Saudi Arabia is the spiritual leader. However, the most populous Muslim Sunni nation is Indonesia. What is Indonesia doing about the current Israeli-Palestinian war? The sixth link reports that the Indonesians are currently making peace with Israel and normalizing relations between the two nations. This fact indicates that the Palestinians/Hamas enjoy little or no support among the Sunni Muslim nations. It may only be a matter of time until Saudi Arabia and Israel normalize relations as well.
Iran needs to think long and hard about launching a military strike against Israel. Iran could end up gaining little and losing much. It may have to launch a strike now “to save face” given that Iran has promised to launch one. However, in the Mideast, rational decisions are not always to be expected.
- https://www.newsmax.com/world/
globaltalk/iran-israel-attack/ 2024/04/12/id/1160736/?ns_ mail_uid=e16ffdcd-5e20-4197- a65a-b2f4dcbfa55a&ns_mail_job= DM609299_04122024&s=acs&dkt_ nbr=010102zhz0og - https://virtualjerusalem.com/
us-sends-top-general-iran- strike-matter-of-when-not-if/ - https://virtualjerusalem.com/
us-iran-aims-attack-to-be- larger-than-usual-but-not- enough-to-involve-america/ - https://www.ynetnews.com/
article/hytfpozlr - https://thejewishvoice.com/
2024/04/suspicions-grow-that- hamas-may-not-have-40-live- hostages-to-swap-for- prisoners/ - https://thejewishvoice.com/
2024/04/indonesia-worlds-most- populous-muslim-country-to- normalize-ties-with-israel/
