Israel wants war, but not ready for ‘a major war’ with Iran: Analyst Foad Izadi, associate professor at Tehran University, has told Al Jazeera that Iranian analysts believe that Israel is not yet ready for a full-scale war with Iran.
“I think the Israelis are planning a major war against Iran, but not at this time,” Izadi said. “Remember that happened to Lebanon. The Israelis attacked Lebanon after one year of preparation. They started a genocide in Gaza. They continued with that, and then after 11 months of starting the genocide in Gaza they started to attack Lebanon,” he said.
“They decided to postpone that because they needed time to plan that attack. The analysis in Iran is that the Israelis are not ready for a major military confrontation with Iran at this time,” he added.
“They may do it after one year or two years. I think the Israelis want to be in perpetual war, continuous war.”
Israeli attack so far appears to be robust but avoiding key infrastructure: Analyst Ali Vaez, project director for Iran for the International Crisis Group, says Israel’s attack on Iran so far appears to be in the “mid-range” of its possibilities.
The strikes were “considerably more robust than its response to Iran’s previous attack in April, but not going as far as targeting key infrastructure or nuclear facilities”, Vaez told Al Jazeera.
“The questions now are, 1. first, whether this is the full scope of its response, 2. and second, whether Tehran will absorb the hit and try to draw a line under this exchange or 3. up the ante again with a counter-response,” Vaez said, noting that Iran now has several options for its response, “each of which has major risks”.
Iran could now launch strikes against Israel and face another, likely bigger retaliation, Vaez said, or it could attack through the various groups aligned with the country, which have been weakened significantly in recent weeks.
Another option would be to target US interests elsewhere in the region “but then it will be facing not just Israel, but US as well”, he said.
Since the start of the war on Gaza, the US has deployed military equipment in the region, including advanced US air defence systems and aircraft.
These movements, Vaez said, had “two purposes: 1. Deter the Iranians from a response, 2. and defend Israel from a response if that fails
