Iran’s highly controversial nuclear program has ignited Israel’s second war with Iran in less than a year. It broke out on February 28, when the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic of Iran in a preemptive offensive intended to destroy its military and nuclear capabilities and decapitate its leadership.

Within hours of the commencement of the coordinated campaign, Israel announced that Iran’s 86-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who ruled the country since the late 1980s, had been killed in an air strike. It was a devastating blow that shook the theocratic regime, which is ideologically dedicated to Israel’s destruction.

The joint attacks took place several days after the third round of US-Iran talks ended on an uncertain note. The negotiations were aimed at reaching an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, which particularly alarms the United States and Israel.

Interestingly enough, the first Israel-Iran war also erupted following the failure of diplomacy. Last June, after five futile rounds of negotiations between the United States and Iran, Israel struck Iran in Operation Rising Lion. The United States, in Operation Midnight Hammer, later joined the 12-day war, bombing three Iranian uranium enrichment plants.

US President Donald Trump claimed that the sites were “obliterated,” but in actuality they were seriously damaged.

The latest talks, mediated by Oman, produced no breakthroughs, prompting Trump to unleash US military power. His resort to force was not altogether surprising. On February 20, he gave Iran a deadline of “10 to 15 days” to agree to a deal to stop its enrichment of uranium. US Vice President JD Vance urged Iran to take his ultimatum “very seriously,” but the regime declined to follow his advice.

Nor was Iranian leadership prepared to impose limits on its ballistic missile program or curtail its sponsorship of the Axis of Resistance, an anti-Israel alliance composed of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis of Yemen and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq. These were issues of vital importance to Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump, having been told by US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that Iran was unwilling to accede to his demands, delivered a stern message on February 27.

He said he was displeased with the state of negotiations........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)