Why Iran may dash for the bomb
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Among the many challenges facing the incoming Trump administration is an Iran on the edge of nuclear arms. The mullahs have used the Biden years well, filling their coffers and advancing their atomic project.
Much has changed in the Middle East since Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel has been more daring in taking on its enemies. But a middling power can do only so much, particularly when constantly badgered by a procession of Democratic Party luminaries.
Among the regional changes is how the mullahs conceive of their war against Israel. The Iranian theocracy now knows that its proxy strategy is flawed, that its conventional ballistic missiles lack accuracy and punch, and that the Jewish state can bomb anything inside Iran, with the possible exception of the clerical regime’s deeply buried uranium-enrichment plants. At least one aspect, however, has remained constant.
In its raid on Iran last month, Israel didn’t attack the greatest threat: Iran’s nuclear-weapons sites. Nor did it strike what would cause the most immediate, regime-shaking pain, the Kharg Island oil facility, through which about 90% of the Islamic Republic’s oil exports are shipped. Israel again showed its discomfort with escalating against Iran.
That is likely owing in part to the Biden administration’s prodding for restraint, but also to Israeli fear that their fighter-bombers could fail against the Fordow uranium-enrichment site, which is buried beneath a mountain. The Israeli government hopes the air force’s strikes inside Iran will induce more nuclear hesitation—that the regime won’t enrich uranium to bomb grade and assemble an atomic trigger. Israelis may be praying that Mr.
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