Israel-Iran Relations Go Up In Flames

June 16th, 2025

Arnav Goyal

Iranian officials have been claiming to have enough uranium to make nuclear bombs for a while now, yet nothing has been delivered. Prime Minister Netanyahu has claimed for years that Iran has nuclear bombs, yet nothing. The Israel-Iran divide goes long back. Iran funds proxy organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which Israel has had a prolonged fight with, especially after the October 7th attacks. Yet, these tensions never seem to end, and it has only taken a turn for the worse over these past few days.

On June 12, 2025, Israel considered military attacks against Iran, for the sole purpose of countering their nuclear capabilities. Hours later, they followed up on the consideration. They launched Operation Rising Lion, a series of missile strikes aimed to stop Iran from acquiring even more nuclear weapons. Israel bombed:

The Capital City of Tehran, where they struck many high-ranking military officials such as the Chief of Staff, and the Commander in Chief of the Iranian military
The Natanz Nuclear Facility, which held much of the main nuclear building capabilities that Iran had, and almost all of the complex was destroyed after the attack
The Isfahan Nuclear Facility, a secondary nuclear facility that was mostly destroyed as well

With this, many were quite outraged, especially officials from the United States President Donald Trump privately discouraged the Israelis from attacking Iran, due to further talks between the US and Iran taking place over a nuclear treaty. However, he did later commend the strikes against Iran, and put public pressure on Iran to make a deal, otherwise there would be even more unnecessary harm. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Israel acted in its own interest and expressed disdain at the idea of providing further military assistance for these strikes.

Naturally, Iran was not happy by any means. They derided the attack as a threat to their republic, and the Ayatollah said Israel would pay “a bitter price for the war.” However, much of their air defense systems did not engage, and many weren’t prepared for the strikes, further contributing to the outrage. Seeing this, the Iranians launched retaliatory strikes against Israel, which has now led to a full blown conflict.

The Iranians launched roughly 150 ballistic missiles and 100 drones to Israel on the evening of June 13, with roughly 10 missiles hitting the center of Tel Aviv, due to the Iron Dome not being 100% effective. This has led to a full-blown regional conflict among both the Israelis and the Iranians, one that’s become even worse.

With this, we’ve seen more and more retaliation from both sides, and a warning from the Israelis that this conflict is in for the long run. The day after the initial wave, Israel launched hundreds of new missiles into Iran, targeting oil depots, further bombarding nuclear facilities, and targeting defense bases. Iran has targeted a lot of Tel Aviv’s city center, and the IDF has claimed that many buildings have been destroyed due to the amplification of this conflict. Iranian officials have also warned the Israelis that this can and will only go further if they keep continuing hostilities, the same has been said to the Iranians by Israel.

Naturally, the reaction from the international community has been overwhelming. Many countries, such as France are urging restraint, however, supporting Israel in this endeavor to stop Iran from getting nuclear capabilities. Due to these strikes, we’ve also seen a massive uptick in oil prices, the worst in roughly 6 months, at a time where there is a steady decline in gas prices.

Overall, Israel’s attack on Iran, and further retaliatory strikes have proved to pave the way for a widening regional conflict in the Middle East, going from a full-blown proxy conflict, to a full-blown arms conflict. It remains to be seen if Iran has the capability to amass nuclear weapons, and if Israel could be bluffing to ensure political support.