Predictably, with the direct involvement of the United States in the military campaign against Iran, there have been increasingly heated accusations from across the political spectrum in the US that Washington has gotten mixed up in a war for, and at the direction of, Israel.
These patently false claims, however, stand in stark contrast to how events have unfolded and the profound nature of what is transpiring as a result of Operation Roaring Lion in terms of Israel’s geostrategic reality. This becomes clearer once one relegates the par for the course – “the Jews control everything and are the source of all our ills and shortcomings” – to the antisemitic distraction that it is.
The problem for those pushing the false claims is that the sequence of events leading up to the US’s part in the conflict – Operation Epic Fury – as well as that operation’s scope and execution, completely contradict their spurious narrative.
One need only remember how this conflict in Iran began. After tens of thousands of Iranian protesters were slaughtered by their own government, with countless more injured, tortured, and imprisoned, US President Donald Trump decided to tweet “help is on the way.”
More likely than not at that point in time, the American president believed that his words of encouragement and support would simply be enough to tip the scales in favor of those within Iran opposed to the regime.
When it became clear that was not the case, Trump sought negotiations with Iran to seize the moment and gain concessions on dismantling what remained of its nuclear program.
This was after the premature – and arguably unnecessary – narrow US involvement in Israel’s Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, which cut that military campaign short.
In parallel to negotiations, the Trump administration began to dispatch US military assets to the Middle East to ramp up the pressure on Iran even further, first in earnest, and then in a more systematic manner.
However, with weeks passing since Trump’s original tweet, it became clear that the American administration, for sound political and geopolitical reasons, seemed hesitant and downright weary to use US military means against Iran. The quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, loomed large.
At this point, from the American president’s perspective, he is the one, as he stated publicly, who perhaps “forced Israel’s hand” and not the other way around.
Jerusalem already had comprehensive plans to launch a wide-scale military campaign against Iran, given the unfinished business of June 2025, which left the State of Israel still under an existential threat from Tehran.
Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed this, stating that Israel’s new campaign was planned for later in the year but was moved up given the developments within Iran, and between Washington and Tehran.
Israel, not the United States of America, then initiated, and essentially took the lead in a new major military campaign against Iran, which began on the morning of February 28.
Israel takes the lead
It is Israel, which in the division of targets and missions between the IDF and the Armed Forces of the United States, has conducted the lion’s share –no pun intended – of the tasks and engaged in the most high-risk operations.
So much for America being dragged into Israel’s war. As a matter of fact, Israel is leading the free world’s struggle against tyranny and apocalyptic jihadism.
That brings me back to the new geostrategic reality emerging from the conflict, in general, and in terms of Israel’s position and influence on the global stage. Many around the world, including a good number of those in the corridors of power, do not yet realize the massive tectonic shifts taking shape.
The United States’ traditional allies in NATO, such as the UK, Germany, and France, once considered major powers, now struggle to maintain minimal military readiness and lack the tools needed for modern multi-dimensional warfare. Their global position has now degraded further after the stagnation of the Ukraine conflict and Western Europe’s internal socioeconomic issues.
American requests that NATO take part in efforts to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz have been met, for the most part, with petulant refusals or halfhearted measures. This has made the crisis within a fracturing NATO even more severe, and could have played a central role in Trump’s decision to pursue negotiations with Tehran.
Consequently, Russia sees only what to gain and ensures it remains a pole in a multi-polar world, as it reportedly provides intelligence on US military assets to Tehran. Ditto China, perhaps emboldened by the fact that if Iran can essentially close the Strait of Hormuz rather quickly and systematically, Beijing can most certainly do the same to the Taiwan Strait.
India, as another global pole, has reportedly effectively taken care of its own interests, escorting elements of its shipping through the Strait of Hormuz using its navy (whose ships are also equipped with Israeli weaponry).
European reluctance, along with the US Navy’s Gerald Ford aircraft carrier out of the fight (due to an onboard fire, the circumstances of which are unclear), and American early warning radars throughout the Middle East badly damaged by Iranian attacks, have led Washington to turn to Israel for help in opening the strait.
This as the US military and American-produced air defense systems procured by many of the Arab Gulf states struggle to defend against Iranian drone and missile attacks.
In the wider conflict arena, the State of Israel is systematically dismembering Iran’s terror-nuclear-industrial complex as well as the Iranian leadership at all levels, with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency.
The IDF and Israeli intelligence services continue to do so with tactics, weaponry, and technologies that are in the possession of only one or two other countries on the planet, along with other capabilities that only Jerusalem possesses, and as Israeli air defense systems prove once more that they are by far the best of breed.
Coupled with an intelligence prowess unmatched anywhere in the world, the State of Israel, considered a top global military power since the 1967 Six Day War, is now cementing its position as a military and technological superpower.
This comes as Israel showcases the ability to deploy overwhelming force over an extended period of time, across vast areas of operation in a major military campaign far beyond its borders. Providing not only stunning military achievements, but strategic deterrence and the ability to shape geostrategic events.
A new era for Israel has begun.
The writer is an Israeli hi-tech entrepreneur and a member of the Israel Leadership Forum. He is involved with various Israel advocacy causes, including working with Christian Zionists as well as pro-Israel Noahide groups.