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Israel’s ongoing military strikes on Iran—code-named “Rising Lion”—were the result of years of preparation and mark just the beginning of what’s to come, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli said in an interview with Eye for Iran.
“This operation took years to prepare,” Chikli told Eye for Iran. “It's the very hard walk of the IDF intelligence, the Mossad... thousands of people are involved in this.”
“This is just the beginning,” he said, without disclosing operational details or how the mission might continue.
Iran launched over 200 missiles at Israel injuring at least 14 people after Israeli attacks killed its top military leadership and pounded armed forces and nuclear sites leaving scores of Iranians dead.
While Israel’s initial strikes hit key nuclear sites like Natanz and Fordow, Iran’s nuclear infrastructure spans dozens of locations. According to Israeli assessments, further strikes will likely be needed to eliminate what is seen as an existential threat.
Chikli said the objective was not regime change, but to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities. While many Iranians have called on Israel to help bring down the Islamic Republic, he said meaningful change must come from within.
“This is the time to seize the moment and to try and take back your country from the Revolutionary Guards," said Chikli, "Will Iranians use this moment to change the course of history, or not?”
Diplomacy may follow destruction
Major Andrew Fox, a former British Army officer, also said the Israeli strikes were deliberately calibrated to avoid full-scale regime decapitation—signaling intent, not total war.
“If they'd been serious about regime change, then Khamenei and the president would have been fully in scope for targeting.”
Fox emphasized that while regime change might remain a long-term objective, Israel’s more immediate priority is clear: "The short-term aim has to be focusing on making sure Iran doesn't gain a nuclear weapon capability."
He suggested that President Donald Trump may be using the Israeli operation as strategic leverage to push Tehran back to the negotiating table—after exhausting political and economic pressure.
“Trump is talking about giving Iran another opportunity to make a deal... That's the horse trade that Israel made with Washington.”
Fox’s analysis points to a pattern: when sanctions and diplomacy fail to alter Tehran’s behavior, military action becomes a final tool—not necessarily to start a war, but to reset the terms for diplomacy.
Iran’s weakest moment
Dr. Eric Mandel, a Middle East analyst and advisor to US and Israeli defense officials, told Eye for Iran that this moment marks the Islamic Republic’s deepest vulnerability since its founding in 1979—one of the most consequential events in modern Iranian and Middle Eastern history.
“Iran is at its weakest in 46 years,” said Mandel, who directs the Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN).
He says Trump now faces a defining choice—retreat into isolationism or use Israeli military action as leverage for long-term strategic change.
“The big question is, what will President Trump do? Not what the Israelis will do. What will the president do with what Israel has handed to them?”
Mandel suggests that one option remains on the table: a US strike on Iran’s deeply fortified enrichment site.
“America could retaliate and would the president make a phone call to Diego Garcia where our B-2 bombers with the massive ordinances are and attack the one place that hasn't been attacked as we know which is the deeply buried enrichment facility in Fordow”
The Lion Rises
Israeli Minister Chikli said the operation’s name, Rising Lion, came from both Iran’s original flag and a verse from the Book of Numbers: ‘A nation that rises like a lion.’
"We believe this is a moment not just for security—but for shared history and future peace.”
You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran on YouTube or listen on any major podcast platform like Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music and Castbox.
Israel is considering attacks on Iran's oil and gas infrastructure in retaliation for the Islamic Republic's missile attacks on the Jewish State, a source close to the Israeli government told Iran International.
"Absolutely, 100%. I support them completely. They have the right to defend themselves," Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin told Iran International.
"People said, 'Well, Iran didn’t attack them.' Well, actually, Iran has been attacking them for many years through their sponsorship of terror—through Hamas, through the Houthis, and through Hezbollah."
Asked if he backed regime change in Iran, Senator Mullin demurred.
"That’s not up to us. That is up to the Iranian people. That’s a decision they have to make. What we’re trying to do is make sure they never get a nuclear weapon. As far as regime change goes, let the Iranians pick that fight."
An Israeli official told Iran International that Israel carried out a complex and multi-phase operation that successfully thwarted the launch of hundreds of Iranian ground-to-ground missiles aimed at Israeli territory.
An Israeli official told Iran International that Israel carried out a complex and multi-phase operation that successfully thwarted the launch of hundreds of Iranian ground-to-ground missiles aimed at Israeli territory.
Read more here.
A senior Israeli security official told Iran International that Tehran must sign a nuclear deal or face further attacks that could end its rule, adding that Iran could avoid the Israeli attacks if it was honest in US talks.
“Iran can either sign an agreement or face ongoing attacks that will endanger the stability of its regime,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“Iran deceived the United States during the negotiations and tried to buy time while continuing uranium enrichment,” the official added. “Had Iran entered the negotiations with sincere intentions, Israel would not have attacked.”
The comments appear to reflect a hardening of Israel’s stance toward Tehran after it had mostly focused its military blows on Iran's armed allies in the region but stopped short of signaling all-out war on the Islamic Republic.
“The strategy toward Iran will resemble the strategy used in Lebanon — the threat must not be allowed to materialize,” the source stated.
According to the official, the recent strikes have left Iran’s military apparatus in disarray. “The Iranians are currently in shock, their military leadership is virtually non-existent,” he claimed. “And more surprises are yet to come.”
Despite the intensity of the conflict, the source insisted that Israel’s actions are aimed at the Iranian establishment and not its people.
“Israel is not targeting the Iranian people but the Iranian regime,” he said. “The Iranian nation, with its proud history, deserves leadership that provides electricity and water — not one that spends the budget on global terrorism.”
