What could be the effect of the Israeli strikes against Iran?

The Iranian regime could respond in a number of ways: It could advance its nuclear program and work to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons that would be fired with ballistic missiles.

It could fund and support terror organizations that do everything they can to murder Jews in Israel and abroad.It could target Israelis abroad, including mass casualty terror attacks against Israeli embassies or innocent Israeli tourists abroad.

It could try to normalize in the eyes of the world, in particular the Arab world, the idea that it is legitimate to attempt to destroy Israel and wipe out the Jewish people.

It could try to take over entire countries that border Israel to create a permanent threat right on our doorstep.It could try to initiate terror attacks within Israel without taking responsibility for them.

The aftermath of ruins in central Israel following direct Iranian missile impacts, June 15, 2025 (credit: Flash90/Yossi Aloni)
The aftermath of ruins in central Israel following direct Iranian missile impacts, June 15, 2025 (credit: Flash90/Yossi Aloni)
The thing that all these options have in common, of course, is that they’re already happening.

Iran's goal is to destroy Israel

Iran stands behind Hamas and Hezbollah, behind the massacre on October 7, and behind the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires and further attacks from Bulgaria to Mumbai, from Kenya to Thailand. For a long time, Iran controlled Syria and Lebanon (and destroyed them both) in order to implement a siege on Israel. It funded terror organizations in the West Bank to ensure constant instability between Israel and the Palestinians.

Above all, the Iranian regime has repeatedly said, without hesitation and without shame, that its ultimate goal is the destruction of the State of Israel. There is no other UN member state that explicitly states it aims to destroy another country. Only Iran.

And to avoid any doubt, Israel isn’t interested in destroying Iran. We have no historical or territorial conflict with the Iranian people. We have no demands of one another except for one: The Iranian regime wants us to die, and we refuse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is my political rival, but his decision to strike Iran at this moment in time is the right one. The whole country is united in this moment, when faced with an enemy sworn to our destruction, nothing will divide us.

We went to war for the only reason that justifies war – we had no choice. A nuclear Iran would have been an existential threat to the State of Israel. Iran cannot be a nuclear state. Not now. Not ever.

The writer is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Israel and current leader of the opposition.