Muhammad Nasir Ramzan
It’s not about stopping Iran’s nuclear program anymore-it’s about collapsing the regime from within.
On 13 June 2025, Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran’s nuclear program and conventional military capabilities. The initial waves of strikes appeared to prioritize sensitive targets such as nuclear scientists and senior military commanders, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps(IRGC) commander Hossein Salami and IRGC aerospace force commander Ali Hajizadeh. Iran retaliated with a wide spectrum of responses. A theory of reciprocity began to emerge between them as a full-blown war threatened to engulf Middle East.
Initially, the US claimed that they were not aware of this escalation between Iran and Israel. However, the pizza shop near the Pentagon, which received an increasing number of pizza orders just before the attacks occurred, suggests that Pentagon officials may have had prior knowledge of the attack. It happened when the US had been in its first direct engagement with Iran since 2018.
It could worsen the situation rather than leading to negotiations or surrender. It has led to zero credibility on America as a negotiator and could lead to Iran’s walkout from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Moreover, the resistance in the Strait of Hormuz, if closed, will cause a skyrocketing oil price globally and for Americans.
Israel’s major objective is both the prevention of Iran gaining nuclear enrichment; and a regime change in Iran. Israel is threatened by the religious mentality in Iran. PM Benjamin Netanyahu argued multiple times in 1996, Sept 2002, and before the attack that Iran was close to nuclear weapons. Similarly, despite the supreme leader of Iran’s declaration of the fatwa against nuclear weapons, on 25 March 2025, the director general of intelligence addressed Congress stating that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons and was following the rational approach of Iran’s govt. by stepping toward negotiations with trump administration. In this way, Israel is just concerned about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and supreme leader’s institution. PM Netanyahu said the killing of the supreme leader of Iran would end this conflict.
On the other hand, President Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, is struggling for Iran’s development in diplomacy. A regime change game threatens the sovereignty of Iran. The US demands Iran’s surrender in the war conflict. This approach was previously followed by the US in Iraq with the Saddam Hussain regime shift. But this conflict will deeply affect the region and Western credibility. Iran has experience in past conflicts. This will support Iran in prolonging the war. In this way, Iran’s commander of the armed forces said that they have the ability to fight for 4 years. The fragile economy of Iran will not be affected than Israel’s. The conflict also affects Trump’s MEGA and “no more wars” agenda.
Israel’s desire for a puppet government in Iran is imperative for them. In this context, the US launched three strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities (Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan) and dismantled Iran’s Fordow (a critical, uranium enrichment site). So, they are struggling to weaken Iran’s missile capabilities while broadening the conflict to invite the US. Their ambitions are similar to those held for Syria before Bashar al-Assad’s regime — an industry of Iran’s proxies.
However, this time Iran is responding with hypersonic missiles which were not anticipated by Israel.
Hence, global powers must stop Israel from aggression against Iran and in cold-blooded slaughter of Gaza people. Major powers like China and Western nations must encourage the talks and deals between Iran and Israel before it escalates much further. Otherwise, the conflict will impact both adversaries and global geo-economics.
