Decisive Israeli and U.S. actions have disarmed decades of "Death to America, Death to Israel" nuclear warfare intimidation threats issued throughout the 35-year reign of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Whereas many Democrats, and yes, along with some MAGA Republicans, have voiced criticism of American involvement as provoking another forever war, such joint actions have made that prospect far less likely or inherently catastrophic.
The days of "mutually ensured destruction" (MAD for short) when there were only two countries with costly and technologically advanced means to blow each other up and the supposed wisdom to recognize mutually unacceptable consequences of doing so are long past.
Now, thanks to the recent destruction of Iran's nuclear facilities, there appears to be one less future addition to that list of eight countries currently known to possess nuclear weapons — Russia, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States — with Israel broadly believed to have them as well.
There is no lingering doubt that Iran had reached a point of near weapons-grade nuclear enrichment and production to build several warheads, along with having acquired intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities to deliver them over Mainland America.
North Korea has most certainly provided Tehran with both nuclear and ICBM delivery technology support.
Beyond this threat, as reported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Iran Mullah regime had planned to provide nuclear warfare systems to its terrorist proxy Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi associates.
As warned by former U.S. Navy Undersecretary Seth Cropsey, doing so would enable Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp's Quds force through its proxy network to wage constant warfare against America, Israel and the Gulf Arab states without exposing Iran to direct attack.
Together, Iran and its nuclear-armed proxies would have simultaneously assembled an enormous missile and drone arsenal allowing them to conduct long-range strikes for weeks during a major war, overwhelming Gulf or Israeli air defenses.
This risk factor reduced dramatically with Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" which succeeded in disabling Iran's remaining air defenses and radars, substantially damaging its nuclear weapons program, destroying an estimated 40% of its missile launchers, and killing numerous of its top military and scientific nuclear leaders.
Israeli aerial attacks also inflicted significant damage to underground nuclear weapons-grade enrichment operations at a Natanz site 135 miles southeast of Tehran and a Fordo Fuel Enrichment Plant located at the side of a mountain 60 miles southwest of the capital city.
The U.S. "Midnight Hammer" operation substantially finished the job, with six B-2 bombers releasing a total of 12 30,000-pound GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator "bunker buster bombs" on Fordo, another dropping two on Natanz, and 30 Tomahawk missiles fired from a submarine 400 miles away striking a key uranium enrichment and fissile storage site at Isfahan.
Consequently, both countries, Israel and the U.S., jointly acted upon a one-time opportunity to bring a decisive ending to Iran-sponsored nuclear proliferation threats on an epic global scale including Europe and Asia.
Finishing off the Iranian nuclear program has depleted the Islamic Republic's proxy terror leverage over Gulf states, which, in turn, enhances U.S. energy bargaining positions in dealing with Russia and China.
A weakened Iran military also strengthens the position of its overwhelmingly peaceful population to gain control of their country and enjoy the benefits of energy-fueled prosperity and both social and economic freedom.
At the time of this writing, with a perhaps fragile ceasefire truce in force, Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu has indicated that Israel is "very, very close" to achieving its Iran military goals, and apparently doesn't want to be dragged into an endless war of attrition.
Yuli Edelstein, a lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud party said that while Israel could continue to expand its list of targets against Iran, after achieving air superiority that allows it to strike at will, "we also have to say that the ball in some ways is in Khamenei's court."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Israeli officials say their country is prepared to strike Iran in the future if the regime moves to reconstitute either its nuclear enrichment program or rebuild its ballistic missile arsenal. Israel will also continue to expand its target list if Iran keeps on attacking them.
We can well imagine that the Trump administration mirrors these views, with no interest in being dragged into another endless conflict that has already killed more than 1,000 American service personnel and maimed many thousands more with Iran-supplied roadside bombs and other devices.
Leaving nuclear capabilities in the hands of this radically maniacal regime to also pass on to terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gaza would be a recipe for Middle East disaster.
Even incessantly anti-Trump Wall Street Journal editors finally got it right, stating: "The Obamaites of the left, and lately the right, counseled that the world had to bow to Iranian intimidation… The best we could hope for was a flimsy [Iran nuclear deal] that bribed Iran with billions of dollars and left open its path to a bomb."
As the Journal appropriately concludes, "They were wrong, and the world is safer for it."
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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