Nobody warned the Iranian people. Well, that’s not entirely true — the warnings came, just not from their own government. American officials, Israeli officials, even some European diplomats tried to signal what was coming. But the mullahs? Silent. Keep the people in the dark. That’s how authoritarian regimes work.
And then the bombs started falling.
The United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure overnight, hitting multiple sites simultaneously in what appears to be the most significant direct military action against Tehran in decades. The strikes targeted facilities tied to Iran’s nuclear program — the same program Iran has insisted for years was entirely peaceful. Right.
This didn’t happen in a vacuum. Iran has been pushing for years — funding Hamas, arming Hezbollah, supplying drones to Russia, threatening to wipe Israel off the map every other Tuesday. At some point, the other side pushes back. That point appears to have arrived.
The Biden years were defined by appeasement — pallets of cash, sanctions relief, endless negotiations that went nowhere while Iran spun more centrifuges. The message that sent was clear: keep going, we’ll keep talking. So they kept going.
Now there are consequences. Real ones.
Details are still coming in, and the fog of war is thick. What we know: the strikes were coordinated, they were significant, and they weren’t a warning shot. This was a message delivered with precision munitions.
What happens next is the big question. Iran will respond — they always do, even if it’s through proxies and plausible deniability. The region is on edge. Oil markets are already reacting. The world is watching to see whether this marks a turning point or the opening move of something much larger.
One thing is certain: the era of Iran operating without consequence is over. Whether you agree with the strikes or not, you can’t deny that the rules of the game just changed.
Bob has been covering American politics and foreign policy for over two decades. His opinions are his own — and he’ll stand behind every word.