After 627 exhausting days in Gaza, the “total victory” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a traumatized Israeli nation may have arrived from a different direction: Iran.
Consider the scale of the threat. As Yonah Jeremy Bob observed, Iran amassed a staggering arsenal of 2,000 to 3,000 ballistic missiles, many of which were capable of striking deep into Israeli territory and inflicting catastrophic damage on civilian centers.
These missiles were deliberately dispersed across Iran’s vast terrain, making any preemptive strike fraught with the risk of a devastating second wave. This was a classic deterrent posture.
And yet, in just 12 days, Israel shattered that deterrent.
Operation Rising Lion represents one of the most audacious and strategically coherent military campaigns in Israeli history. Through a fusion of precision airstrikes, Mossad-led sabotage, and targeted assassinations – coordinated closely with the US and its President, Donald Trump – Israel delivered a sweeping, near-total degradation of Tehran’s nuclear and military infrastructure.
The regional and geopolitical consequences are nothing short of seismic.
Launched on June 13, the campaign struck key nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. The US joined the one-two punch soon after with bunker-busting munitions to finish the job.
Satellite imagery and intelligence reports confirm widespread destruction: Critical power systems were disrupted, centrifuges were destroyed, and underground facilities at Fordow sustained what the IAEA called “very significant damage.” While the full extent of the damage remains classified, experts estimate that Iran’s enrichment timeline has been pushed back by months, if not years.
A silent but equally devastating campaign eliminating Iran's nuclear scientists
Alongside these strikes came a silent but equally devastating campaign: The elimination of at least 14 key Iranian nuclear scientists. The loss of this intellectual core not only hampers immediate technical capability but also instills psychological fear, deterring others from taking their place. This was warfare not just of steel and flame, but of memory and morale.
Israel also neutralized much of Iran’s air defenses and missile networks. Using drones, electronic warfare, and stealth assets, Israeli forces systematically dismantled Iran’s offensive capabilities. A covert Mossad drone base inside Iran enabled precise targeting from within, collapsing the Islamic Republic’s retaliation capacity before it could fully deploy.
This is hybrid warfare – digital, psychological, and kinetic – at its finest, executed with stunning coordination. Israel emerged with its objectives clearly met: Iran’s nuclear program stalled, its missile threat weakened, and its air defenses stripped bare.
Netanyahu and Trump framed the outcome as both a military and a diplomatic success, achieved without dragging the US into a long war. Markets responded accordingly. Oil prices stabilized. Regional actors paused. The message was sent: Strength does not have to mean chaos.
Of course, Iran is not finished. Hidden centrifuges remain. Enriched uranium stockpiles still exist. The regime’s ambitions are not erased. But the window has been decisively narrowed. Israel has bought itself crucial time – time to prepare, to deter, to reengage the world from a position of strength rather than desperation.
This operation marks a watershed in Israeli doctrine. It signals a shift toward proactive, integrated, and multi-domain deterrence. It also reminds the world that Israel will not wait for international consensus when its very existence is at stake. It will act swiftly, decisively, and alone if necessary.
The Middle East, as ever, remains on a knife’s edge. But the balance has shifted. Iran’s nuclear project lies in disarray. The regime faces not only material losses, but a crisis of confidence. Meanwhile, Israel has reasserted itself – not only as a regional military power, but as a sovereign actor willing to bear the burden of its own survival.
Will Iran rebuild? Probably. But it will do so under scrutiny, constraint, and constant risk. And in that interval, there lies an opening for Israel, the US, and the world to reshape the arc of this long-burning conflict.
For a nation worn thin by war, “total victory” does not have to mean total destruction of the enemy. It can mean something simpler: We survived. We outlasted the threat. We saw what was coming, and we did what had to be done.
The world may not appreciate it publicly, or even comprehend the potential Armageddon that was averted. But let others debate, delay, and equivocate. Israel acted. And in that clear-eyed courage lies the essence of victory.