One perplexing aspect of this nuclear dilemma is how serious the religious edict in Iran against nuclear weapons was and is. It does seem genuine, on one hand, and yet on another Iran has been a rather shrewd player in arming sometimes extremist allies across the region against its enemies. I’ve heard some say that Iran hovering for years at the nuclear weapons threshold was more about winning concessions from the west. Nevertheless, from Iran’s perspective, that deliberate delay strategy might have been fatally costly given that its government’s very existence is now threatened by Israel because of a lack of a nuclear deterrent

Israeli attacks on Iran: Israel said it targeted Iran’s missile manufacturing capabilities and carried out “a series of strikes” targeting over 20 military sites in Tehran. The Israeli military assesses that it has significantly degraded Iran’s ability to fire large barrages of missiles toward Israel, according to an Israeli military official. Several people were injured after Israel targeted Iran’s national police headquarters, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA. Tehran residents haven’t been able to sleep in days due to the “constant sound of bombing,” an Iranian American woman who was in the capital told CNN.