Outcomes of Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear threats and those behind them depend upon two interdependent priorities: to eliminate current warhead and delivery capabilities and to help peaceful Iranian people unify against a manically oppressive leadership that holds their lives and children's futures in the balance.
While President Donald Trump alone can assure immediate and complete destruction of Iran's ability to wage nuclear war, Elon Musk's Starlink communication system affords the primary means for Iranian people to unify and coordinate long-warranted regime change.
Code-named "Operation Rising Lion," Israel Defense Forces have already destroyed or severely damaged much of Tehran's nuclear program and key military sites, gained control over the Iranian airspace, and successfully assassinated numerous high-ranking military and scientific officials.
Unconfirmed is how much damage has resulted from aerial attacks on underground nuclear weapons grade enrichment capabilities located at key sites of Natanz, which is 135 miles southeast of Tehran, and Fordow, which is buried deep below a mountain 60 miles southwest of the capital city.
Whereas there is speculation that strikes may have imploded the Natanz facility, assured Fordow destruction will likely depend upon whether President Trump decides to lend Israel the cockpit keys to a fully fueled and loaded B-2 Spirit stealth aircraft with a 30,000 pound bunker buster bomb capable of hurling countless tons of broken concrete rubble upon centrifuges and fissile weapons material located 400 to 500 feet below its surface entrance to end any doubt.
Although the Trump White House has made it clear that the U.S. did not participate in the assault on Iran, there is no doubt that the Trump administration has provided Israel with weaponry, including support to Israel's Iron Dome missile interception defenses against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) retaliation.
Trump told ABC News on Sunday after reaffirming that the country is not involved in the conflict: "We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved."
It's, therefore, probably not lost on Iran's remaining mullah leaders who haven't yet expired or fled the country why Trump issued a warning for everyone to immediately evacuate Tehran following the refusal of a time-limited, last-chance invitation to destroy its enrichment facilities and stockpiles.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Iranian people last Friday, saying: "I have no doubt that your day of liberation is closer than ever.
"And when that happens, Israelis and Iranians will renew the covenant between our two ancient nations. Together, we'll bring a future of prosperity and hope.
"The time has come for you to unite around your flag and your historic legacy by standing up for your freedom from an evil and oppressive regime," he said.
Tehran faces widening discontentment across Iran in smaller cities and the countryside, which is not new. The Iranian economy has been perilous for decades and is now certain to become weaker with Israeli strikes on oil refineries.
Billions of dollars have been spent empowering terrorist proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis), to prop up Bashar Assad's regime in Syria, and to finance massive missile projects that have returned no benefits to Iranian residents.
Outrage has erupted over widespread corruption and self-enrichment of senior clerics and flag officers (and their families) in the IRGC and regular military.
A wave of strikes and protests raged across Iran from early 2018 until mid-2019 against the country's poor economic situation and repressive government as part of a wider democracy movement.
The September 2022 slaying of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman named Masha Amini — who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran's mandatory headscarf law by not wearing the required hijab — unleashed nationwide international protests under the banner "Woman, Life, Freedom," which challenged not only the regime's dress code but, more broadly, religious tyranny.
Unknown is whether military officers would emulate Egypt's military during 2011 protests against Hosni Mubarak in refusing to attack civilian protesters.
Speaking from an undisclosed location in exile, Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran's former shah who was overthrown in the country's 1979 Islamic revolution, told the BBC Sunday that people who oppose the country's government have been "reenergized" by Israel's attacks.
Observing that Iranian leaders are leaving the country out of fear, he said: "The ultimate solution is regime change. And now we have an opportunity, because this regime is at its weakest point."
Whereas there appears to be considerable appetite for regime change among a majority of Iran's populace, the movement lacks organized leadership.
And while widespread government opposition offers an advantage that it can't be stifled by arresting or eliminating a small number of people, it also makes national strategic planning and command coordination and control impossible, particularly without communications independent of government interference.
And this is where Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system offers a crucial service as he did in a Gaza hospital last year.
In response to this need, Musk has activated Starlink service in Iran to circumvent a government Ministry of Information and Communications statement: "We inform the honourable people of Iran that, in view of the country's special conditions and with the measures of the competent authorities, temporary restrictions have been imposed on the country's internet."
Ultimate suppression of the Iranian nuclear threat to Israel; the Middle East; and, yes, to America will depend upon victory of Israeli forces in solidarity with oppressed Iranian people over a despotic and tyrannical regime.
Nevertheless, two powerful American figures, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, may decisively tip the balance in favor of a peaceful outcome for many future generations.
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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