The writer is senior counsellor at Centerview Partners, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former US diplomat
Until now, the initiative in the most recent Middle East conflict has been all Israel’s. It was Israel’s government that decided to undertake a war of choice, a preventive attack on the gathering nuclear threat posed by Iran. Israel has dominated the airspace over Iran, destroying or damaging several nuclear-related facilities, killing several senior military and nuclear officials, and further degrading Iran’s defences and its ability to launch retaliatory attacks against Israel.
But after less than a week, the Israeli war effort may have reached its limit: Israel alone cannot accomplish its two principal objectives. Ending Iran’s nuclear programme in the immediate term requires military capabilities that Israel does not possess. And the region’s history strongly suggests that bringing about regime change by force in Iran won’t be easy and may not bring about the desired result.