In Middle Eastern politics, hidden agendas, unintended consequences and surprise outcomes are the rule, not the exception. That’s why what began as a catastrophic Israeli failure on Oct. 7 may yield not only an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions but to progress in the region and an end to the tragedy in Gaza.

There are at least two ways to view Israel’s attack on Iran. Critics would argue Israel has not been transparent about its intelligence, its coordination with the U.S. or its true aims, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu —who is a defendant in an Israeli criminal corruption trial — is playing politics and can never be trusted.

But another interpretation holds that Israel seized a historic opportunity to neutralize a threat that the world’s powers have long failed to confront.

For decades, Iran’s clerical regime has pursued a nuclear program under the guise of civilian energy while bankrolling terrorism and proxy wars abroad. Its proxy militias have undermined a broad swath of the region: Hezbollah has dominated Lebanon and embroiled it in unwanted wars with Israel, while also propping up the murderous Assad regime in Syria; the Houthis have caused the deaths of 400,000 in Yemen, attacked Saudi Arabia and ruined Egypt’s Suez Canal revenue; the web of Shiite militias has undermined the sovereignty of Iraq; Hamas, in massacring 1,200 people in Israel, launched a war that has brought devastation upon Gaza.

Moreover, there is absolutely no civilian purpose to Iran’s insistence on enriching uranium at the 60 percent level, which is near-weaponizable and has been confirmed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Israel’s concerns about Iranian leaders’ statements that the Jewish State must disappear are not paranoia.

The Islamic Republic’s insistence on the right to do all this — while grievously oppressing its own people, whom it governs through fear — has been a thorn in the........

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