drag the US into a conflict against Iran

Over the last 30 years, in which he has held different positions, Netanyahu has taken advantage of meetings, speeches and appearances in international forums to warn that Iran always “it’s ready” to build a nuclear bomb. A warning with which he tried to convince first Bill Clinton, then George W. Bush and later Barack Obama to take action on the matter.

In 1996, during his first term, a young Netanyahu asked the US Congress for action to prevent the development of nuclear weapons because, according to him, it would have consequences “catastrophic” for everyone. The Clinton Administration listened to him, but prioritized containment through economic sanctions. A few years earlier, when he was just a member of the Knesset, Netanyahu had already warned that Iran could have a bomb in the next “three to five years.”

At the beginning of the 2000s, the Israeli continued to insist from outside the Executive. And although the former president George W. Bush was the author of the well-known “Axis of Evil” — a term that included Iran, Iraq and North Korea because, according to him, they supported terrorism and manufactured weapons of mass destruction — decided not to allow Israel to attack Iran.

According to revealed years later The Guardianbehind Bush’s refusal was the concern that a direct conflict with Iran would have repercussions throughout the Persian Gulf, where he had already launched his “war on terror” with the interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11. Furthermore, he considered that the entire arsenal could not be destroyed in a single blow.

In 2012, Netanyahu, once again at the head of the Executive, took his personal war to the United Nations General Assembly. There, he produced a drawing of a bomb to illustrate his claims that the ayatollah regime was closer than ever to the nuclear threshold. “By next spring, at the latest by next summer, they will have reached the final stage of uranium enrichment,” he assured, knowing that Barack Obama’s government had already begun diplomatic negotiations with Iran.

Some conversations that would culminate in 2015 with the Joint Action Planan agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the gradual lifting of economic sanctions.

The Democrat’s conciliatory stance infuriated Netanyahu, who directly challenged his American counterpart and compared the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Nazi regime. “In the same way that the Nazis tried to destroy civilization and replace it with a ‘master race’ while destroying the Jewish people, Iran is trying to take control of the region and expand with the stated goal of destroying the Jewish state,” he compared.

Much to Netanyahu’s satisfaction, Trump tore up the nuclear deal in 2019, but then he also failed to get Washington to launch direct military action… until now. After four years of the Biden government, marked by disagreements over the war in Gaza, Netanyahu saw Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 as your great opportunity.

In summer, the United States attacked the three main facilities of the Iranian nuclear program, “almost completely destroying them,” according to Trump himself. By then, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran had more than 440 kilos of uranium enriched to 60%an insufficient level to manufacture a nuclear weapon, but very close to the 90% necessary.

It was not, however, until early 2026—after US forces intervened militarily in Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro in January—that Netanyahu managed to convince the Republican that a joint military operation could end the military and nuclear capabilities of the Iranian regime. And the insistence of the Israeli prime minister would have been the final factor for the president to give the green light to the operation. Epic Fury.

This is what the Secretary of State said this Monday, Marco Rubioin a television interview. In it, Rubio said that Washington had acted in “preventive way” because they knew that Israel was going to attack Tehran and that this could have an impact on their country. “There was an absolutely imminent threat. We knew that if Iran was attacked, even by anyone else, they would pursue us immediately and we were not going to sit idly by and respond,” he said.

His words came after several days in which he, the president and other senior officials of the Administration have tried—without much success—to construct a story to justify the offensive. An operation that on its first day killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and has left more than 500 dead in Iran and six casualties in the American ranks.

Mission: convince Trump

While Trump continues juggling to explain the reasons for an operation whose duration he does not know — “four or five weeks,” he has noted — and still does not know if he will deploy ground units, the New York Times has detailed how Netanyahu stood in the Oval Office on the morning of February 11 with the intention of guiding the president down the path of war.

Previously, both they had discussed secretly a possible offensive. However, when Trump administration officials — special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner,— began negotiating in Geneva with the Iranians about the future of their nuclear program, Netanyahu feared the diplomatic efforts would undermine his plans. So he redoubled his pressure, trying to convince Trump that it was a good time, not only to dismantle the nuclear facilities, but to bring about regime change. That is, put an end to the ayatollah and his military leadership.

Despite the repeated justifications of Trump and Netanyahu, the truth is that the IAEA has never found evidence that Iran has a structured plan to manufacture an atomic bomb. If there was no immediate threat or race to avoid a bomb, why have the United States and Israel attacked Iran now?

The timing is not coincidental, and the attacks coincide with a politically delicate period for both leaders. Several experts maintain that Netanyahu needs waging conflicts to maintain oneself politically. Thus, this new offensive gives him another opportunity to shore up his legacy before the legislative elections, which must be held before October and to which he arrives affected by his management of the Israeli hostages kidnapped in Gaza.

For its part, Trump’s popularity has collapsed this yearin which the midterm elections in November could give Democrats control of both houses of Congress and open the door to a possible impeachment.