Israel’s war against Iran’s ayatollahs is a seismic moment, not just in the conflict launched on 7 October but in the history of the modern Middle East. In a matter of a few short days, Israel has become the first major power to isolate, weaken and humiliate the Islamic Republic with devastating blows that have exposed the country’s weaknesses.
Israeli strikes have severely degraded much of the Iranian nuclear programme, especially at Natanz. They have decapitated the leadership of the IRGC, killed over a dozen nuclear scientists and targeted key regime figures, such as the head of its armed forces. In addition, they have dealt a significant blow to the country’s economy with attacks on its gas fields and oil refineries.
The ingenuity and audacity of Israeli operations have left the regime in a state of crisis, paralysed by its enemy’s air supremacy and the knowledge that all its assets are vulnerable to attack. It has also emboldened a great number of Iranian citizens who would dearly love to see Khamenei and his ilk overthrown in a coup.
But Israel’s actions are something else; they are above all a triumphant vindication of western military might, political resolve and intelligence against a rogue state intent on spreading its messianic brand of fascistic terror.
For years, the West adopted a softly, softly approach to the Ayatollah regime, using financial pressure and diplomatic initiatives to win over its leaders. The fruit of its endeavours was the highly flawed JCPOA, an agreement that allowed Iran to enrich uranium and maintain its ballistic missile arsenal in return for billions of pounds in sanctions relief. The West looked the other way as Iran used this money to bolster proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and provide Russia with drones and ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. Appeasement was the order of the day.
Dr. Jeremy Havardi
But the last 20 months have changed Israel’s outlook in fundamental ways. After the 7 October catastrophe, Israelis had an epiphany. They realised that they could no longer tolerate genocidal enemies on their borders who were threatening them with annihilation. So, Israel crushed Hamas in Gaza, ignoring repeated pleas for a ceasefire that would have left the Islamists in power.
Israel also ignored calls for a diplomatic solution in Lebanon. In a series of bold military operations, Israel decapitated the leadership of Hezbollah and stripped it of much of its long-range missile arsenal. It then eviscerated Iran’s air defences in the missile exchanges last year, prior to the current aerial blitz that has left the Iranian regime prostrate before the Israeli Air Force. If any proof were needed that a determined western nation can face off against an autocracy, Israel has just provided it.
Indeed, what we are seeing now is not just Israel fighting for her survival against an autocratic foe. Israel is also fighting for the West against a barbaric regime that has long harmed the interests of the UK and many other nations.
Sir Ken McCallum, the Director General of MI5, revealed recently that the UK had responded to at least 20 Iran-backed plots since 2022, ones that posed potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents. Iran has targeted overseas dissidents, media organisations and journalists who expose the regime’s oppression and, in addition, has used kidnapping as a tool of foreign policy. Among those detained was the British-Iranian dual citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe. Iran has also ramped up cyber-attacks against the UK via the IRGC.
Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5 CREDIT: MI5/PA
The UK is not the only country to be so alarmed by Iran’s nefarious plotting. In 2018, Iran tried to mastermind a mass terrorist attack at a rally of the Iranian opposition in Paris, one attended by tens of thousands of people, including visiting politicians. In March 2022, the Swedish security service released a lengthy report which stated that Iran, alongside Russia and China, was the biggest threat to Sweden’s security and that Iran was conducting industrial espionage aimed at the Swedish high-tech industry.
The Iranian authorities have also targeted their citizens abroad. In October 2024, the Iranians executed a German national, Jamshid Sharmahd, who had been kidnapped earlier during a stopover in Dubai. His ‘crime’ was to provide technical support and website design services for an Iranian monarchist website. Two Iranian activists have also been murdered on Dutch soil in recent years.
Naturally, the US has suffered from Iranian-inspired terrorism over many decades. During the 1980s, Iran launched multiple attacks on US targets in the Middle East, the most infamous of which was the bombing of the US marine barracks in 1983, killing 241 American service personnel.
Iran has recently warned that it could attack British, French and American bases in the Middle East, putting the lives of thousands of soldiers at risk. Since 2023, Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, have launched an aggressive war against commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is one of the key arteries in the global shipping system, with 12 percent of seaborne oil and 8 per cent of liquified natural gas transiting via the Suez Canal. A resumption of such aggression could see consumer costs rise as shipping companies are forced to re-route their cargoes.
All of this demonstrates that the military confrontation between Jerusalem and Tehran is not just some parochial Middle Eastern dispute taking place in a faraway region of which we know nothing. It is a battle between a beleaguered Western democracy and a rogue state led by religious fanatics who are intent on subjugating their country’s neighbours. Israel is the Middle East’s Ukraine, and it deserves the support of Western politicians.
Iranian missiles over Israel. Pic: Sam Joseph, June 2025
Instead of calling for de-escalation, Western leaders should be demanding the proscription of all Iranian-funded terror entities, including the IRGC. They should call out the ayatollahs for targeting Iranian dissidents on European soil and denounce their armed support for Putin’s Russia. They should insist at a minimum on the complete dismantling of the Iranian nuclear programme, one which threatens world peace and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Above all, they should declare that a regime that persecutes its own population, hangs gays from cranes, suppresses religious minorities and abuses women is a pariah state that can have no place among the world’s respectable nations.
Right now, the ayatollahs are at their weakest since 1979, with Israel setting the trigger for regime change. Let us hope that the Iranians rise up against their oppressors and that the West fully supports them.
