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By Yaakov Lappin

The joint American-Israeli campaign against Iran represents an unprecedented level of military integration. It is aimed at fundamentally transforming the strategic reality of the Middle East while neutralizing the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threats, several former Israeli defense officials and analysts said Thursday.

Speaking during a webinar hosted by the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman, vice president of JISS and former deputy director for foreign policy and international affairs at Israel’s National Security Council, emphasized the historic nature of the allied offensive.

“Never before in our history—and we’ve been working in alignment with the United States—did we actually work in combined operations mode, something that the last reminiscent [case] is of the British and the Americans in Normandy [in 1944],” Lerman said.

“This is an ongoing effort, shoulder to shoulder with full intelligence sharing, with full operational transparency with each other, with highly coordinated division of labor. Totally unprecedented,” he added.

Lerman said the American motivation at the highest level for the war is driven fundamentally by the nuclear issue. He argued that after the previous conflict in June 2025, the U.S. defense establishment realized that Iran had not been dissuaded from pursuing its course of action.

Additional American goals, he said, are to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime traffic and to counter the Iranian attempt to take Gulf Arab states “hostage” by targeting them with missile and drone attacks.

Regarding regime change, Lerman noted the Trump administration’s aversion to prolonged nation-building projects.

“The very words regime change are highly problematic for the Trump administration,” Lerman explained, citing the shadow of Vietnam and Iraq. Instead, the strategy focuses on “creating the conditions for the Iranian people to take their fate into their hands,” primarily through the destruction of the regime’s repressive mechanisms.

Senior JISS fellow Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser, echoed the sentiment that regime change cannot be guaranteed by external military force.

“What should be ensured by the operation, by the war, [is] that any regime, this one or another one, will be very, very weak,” said Amidror.

He estimated the conflict could last “two to six weeks,” noting that the allied forces must reach a point where they agree the regime is sufficiently degraded.

Professor Col. (res.) Gabi Siboni, CEO of JISS, placed the current operations within the broader context of Israel’s grand strategy since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I think that if you look at it carefully, you see a very clear strategy of Israel, developed by our prime minister and the Cabinet, which was to eliminate the proxies of Iran, isolate Iran, and then deal with Iran,” Siboni explained.

He praised the shift in posture, noting that the United States military operates without the restrictive layers of self-imposed legal constraints that Israel had typically adopted for itself.

“We are learning from the Americans now,” Siboni said. “We are learning a very important lesson regarding the way military operations should be conducted to make sure that we are doing it to kill the enemy and to win the war.”

Maj. (res.) Alex Grinberg, an expert at JISS on Iran and the Shi’ite world, provided insight into the internal dynamics of the Iranian regime under fire. He said that the goal must be to “break the back of the enemy.”

“It’s a regime that is sadistic and that blackmails money from families to get [back] the bodies of their dear ones [protesters] who were massacred. So, this regime must be destroyed,” Grinberg argued.

He analyzed Iran’s strikes against Gulf nations, suggesting they are a desperate attempt to saturate American air defense systems.

“Its geopolitical behavior proves that there is no way to compromise with this regime,” Grinberg said, describing the Islamic Republic as “incurably aggressive.”

He also called for the elimination of former senior IRGC commanders and military advisers, saying, “These are very powerful people, and they must be done in as soon as possible because they’re very dangerous.”

Any scenario of the regime surrendering as Nazi Germany did in 1945 is baseless, said Grinberg, adding that this is based on decentralized power networks, and that the war goal should be to “break separately all of the vertebrae of this spine. And this way it will stop functioning.”

Dr. Pnina Shuker, a JISS national security expert, focused on the profound impact of these Iranian strikes on the Gulf Arab states.

“It appears that the Iranian logic behind attacking Gulf states is to create internal instability, aiming to exert indirect pressure on the United States to end the war,” Shuker assessed. “There is a logic behind this modus operandi. However, it seems these attacks are achieving the exact opposite result.”

Instead of driving a wedge between regional allies, the attacks are accelerating defense integration and deepening strategic reliance on international partnerships, Shuker observed.

She noted that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have set aside their recent political disputes to unite against the shared Iranian threat.

She explained that Qatar faces an even more complex situation, having previously maintained a delicate balancing act with Tehran. However, the Iranian attempt to strike Doha International Airport crossed a red line.

“The Qatari prime minister flatly rejected these claims [that the missiles were aimed at American interests],” Shuker noted. “He accused Iran of dragging its neighbors into war.”

While the Gulf states have exercised notable restraint, Shuker warned of uncertainty as Iran continues to escalate.

“The Gulf states now face a dual-front challenge: sustaining effective interception against unpredictable missile swarms, while safeguarding domestic stability in the face of pro-Iranian mobilization,” she concluded.

When asked about the potential for the Trump administration to seek an end to the conflict before Israel’s desired timetable, Shuker cautioned that internal American politics could play a role. JNS

Russia has reportedly been supplying Iran with intelligence about the locations of American military forces in the Middle East in an effort to help Tehran respond to ongoing U.S. and Israeli strikes, according to a new report.

The Washington Post reported Friday that since the start of “Operation Epic Fury” about a week ago, Moscow has been passing along information about the positions of U.S. naval vessels, aircraft, and other military assets in the region. Three sources familiar with the situation told the newspaper about the alleged intelligence sharing.

“It does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort,” one official familiar with the intel told the outlet.

Since the campaign began with its opening strike, Iran has attempted to retaliate by launching thousands of drones and missiles aimed at American targets throughout the Middle East.

Despite reports that Russia may be assisting Tehran with intelligence, President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth have said the United States has swiftly gained control of the battlefield, asserting that American forces have achieved “total dominance” and that Iran has already “lost everything.”

Details about how extensively Russia may be helping Iran identify potential targets remain unclear.

The Kremlin has sharply criticized the military campaign against Iran, describing it as “a preplanned and unprovoked act of armed aggression against a sovereign and independent UN member state.”

Hegseth, meanwhile, said the U.S. military operation against the Iranian regime has delivered overwhelming results during the first several days of fighting.

“Our forces are executing with unmatched skill and the mission is advancing decisively,” the Pentagon chief said Thursday.

“This is the kind of no nonsense, results driven warfighting that America demands.”

He also indicated that additional American military strength is being deployed to the region.

“Our capabilities are overwhelming and gathering still, as are those of our Israeli partners,” he said.

“Our munitions are full up and our will is ironclad, which means our timeline is ours and ours alone to control, as long as it takes to ensure the United States of America achieves these objectives.”

{Matzav.com}

President Donald Trump declared Friday that the United States will not reach any agreement with Iran unless the country first agrees to unconditional surrender, issuing the warning in a message posted on Truth Social as the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran continues.

“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”

Trump went on to outline what he said could follow such a surrender, suggesting that once a new leadership acceptable to the United States and its allies is chosen, efforts could begin to rebuild Iran.

“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” he went on.

“IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. ‘MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).’ Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The president’s demand for Tehran’s capitulation came one day after he also said he wants a direct role in determining who will succeed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the initial wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes that launched the war last Saturday.

Trump dismissed speculation that Khamenei’s 56-year-old son, Mojtaba, could take over the leadership role, calling him a “lightweight” and an “unacceptable” option.

In a phone interview Friday with CNN, Trump said he would not necessarily oppose another religious leader assuming the position previously held by Khamenei.

“I may be, yeah, I mean, it depends on who the person is,” he told anchor Dana Bash on the phone. “I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic.”

Trump also indicated that he would not insist that Iran become a democracy as part of any leadership transition.

“There has to be a leader that’s going be fair and just. Do a great job. Treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners,” he told Bash.

At present, Iran is reportedly being governed by a three-man council that includes two hardline figures along with the country’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Throughout the week, Trump has repeatedly pointed to the recent leadership change in Venezuela as a model for what could eventually happen in Iran, after U.S. commandos captured socialist leader Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3 and the White House backed Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who agreed to release political prisoners and cooperate with American oil companies.

The president has acknowledged, however, that replicating that scenario in Iran may be more complicated, noting that more than four dozen senior officials have already been killed during the war.

Still, Trump expressed confidence that the strategy will succeed.

“It’s gonna work very easily. It’s going to work like did in Venezuela. We have a wonderful leader there. She’s doing a fantastic job. And it’s going to work Iike in Venezuela.”

Trump also voiced support Thursday for reported plans by Iranian Kurdish forces to enter Iran from Iraq in hopes of sparking a broader uprising against the regime in Tehran.

“I think it’s wonderful that they would want to do that,” the president told Reuters. “I’d be all for it.”

{Matzav.com}