Iran nuclear program

Smoke rises from oil tanks beside the Suez Canal hit during the initial Anglo-French assault on Port Said, Nov. 5, 1956. (Fleet Air Arm official photographer/Imperial War Museums)

Israel’s last war alongside an imperial power backfired. This one could, too

For the first time since 1956, Israel is fighting with a Western hegemon for regime change in a war whose political repercussions are far from certain.

By Meron Rapoport March 5, 2026

Israeli security and rescue forces at the scene of an Iranian ballistic missile strike in Tel Aviv, June 17, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Netanyahu’s Iran gambit aimed to realign the world behind Israel. It may backfire

For Iran expert Ori Goldberg, Israel overreached in starting a war with Tehran, and can only avoid getting bogged down by dragging the West into the conflict.

By Amos Brison June 17, 2025

Destroyed homes in the Israeli city of Rishon LeZion, central Israel, after a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit the area, June 14, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

Israel’s greatest threat isn’t Iran or Hamas, but its own hubris

A people whose entire existence depends solely on military might is destined to end up in the darkest corners of destruction, and ultimately, in defeat.

By Orly Noy June 15, 2025

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A woman watches the speech of Secretary-general of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah at her home in Mishmar David, September 19, 2024. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

What Israelis don’t want to hear about Iran and Hezbollah

For years, Israeli expert Ori Goldberg has tried to challenge commonly-held assumptions about the Islamic Republic and its allies. Will anyone listen?

By Edo Konrad September 20, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and Air Force commander Ido Nehoshtanas inspect an F-15, August 11, 2009. (Edo Israel/Flash90)

The attack on Iran that wasn’t: Ehud Barak’s autobiography

As Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak was determined to carry out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program. His book provides the tools to examine the limitations of the U.S.-Israeli relationship and the considerations Israeli leaders put into the decision to go to war. By Shemuel Meir “My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching…

By +972 Magazine January 17, 2019

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exposes files that prove Iran's nuclear program in a press conference at the Kirya government headquarters in Tel Aviv, on April 30, 2018. (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Three years on, the Iran nuclear deal is still Israel’s best bet

Netanyahu has tirelessly tried to spin the Iran nuclear deal as dangerous, but the prime minister’s propaganda campaign has drowned out reasons why the agreement actually benefits Israel and the Middle East. By Shemuel Meir Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rushed to praise President Donald Trump on his “important and brave” decision to reinstate sanctions on Iran,…

By +972 Magazine August 27, 2018

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference on the Iran nuclear program at the Kirya defense headquarters in Tel Aviv, April 30, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Netanyahu just made the best case for the Iran nuclear deal

Intent on killing the Iran nuclear deal, Netanyahu and Trump have dispensed with logic and are relying on emotion, confusion, and fear to try to achieve their objective. By Paul R. Pillar Benjamin Netanyahu’s display of a cartoon bomb before the United Nations General Assembly nearly six years ago received much ridicule but at least was grounded in some…

By +972 Magazine May 1, 2018

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sits across from Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on June 30, 2015, in Vienna, Austria, before a one-on-one meeting amid negotiations about the future of Iran's nuclear program. (State Department photo)

The Iranian nuclear deal remains the least bad option

Pulling the U.S. out of the deal — or provoking Iran to pull out — would mean abandoning the least bad option for dealing with an Iran that can produce highly enriched uranium. By Peter Jenkins Abbas Araghchi was in London last week. Araghchi, one of Iran’s deputy foreign ministers, was a negotiator of the Joint Comprehensive…

By +972 Magazine March 1, 2018

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, and the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Sunday, May 21, 2017, to participate in the inaugural opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

The Middle East nearly disappeared from U.S. media coverage in 2017

Allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. elections dominated the news cycle last year. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict hardly made a dent, confirming that the American public no longer cares a great deal about the issue. By Jim Lobe Except for the ongoing war in Syria, coverage of the Middle East by the evening news programs of…

By +972 Magazine February 8, 2018

President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to Trump's departure to Rome at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on May 23, 2017. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Israel’s threats could push it into unnecessary war with Iran

Endless threats and the inclination toward a preventative strike are likely to push Israel into an arms race and a much wider and unnecessary war of attrition with Iran. By Shemuel Meir Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu are striving together to cancel the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran. Even Netanyahu’s new mantra, that he only…

By +972 Magazine November 13, 2017

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz at the Defense Ministry. (photo: Haim Zach / GPO)

IDF may start viewing Iran nukes as less of a threat

A new document published by the IDF’s chief of staff rebuts Netanyahu’s attempts at consensus-building on the Iran nuclear threat. The so-called Israeli consensus on the Iranian threat took another blow on Thursday after IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot published a new document titled “IDF Strategy.” News on the document was published in Haaretz,…

By Edo Konrad August 15, 2015