Israel's strike on Iranian nuclear and military facilities has pushed the Middle East one step closer to a far wider, more dangerous regional war. It also has implications for recent U.S. diplomatic efforts toward a deal with Tehran over its nuclear program. Iran's immediate response ' the firing of about 100 drones into Israel, many of which were shot down ' appears an opening gambit; meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country's airstrikes would continue 'for as many days as it takes.' The Conversation turned to Javed Ali, an expert on Middle East affairs at the University of Michigan and a former senior official at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, to talk through why Israel chose now to strike and what the implications are for U.S. policy on Iran. One of the more immediate reasons was that an International Atomic Energy Agency report found that Iran was making progress toward enriching uranium to a degree that, in...
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