Israel’s reported strike in Isfahan, Iran, early Friday morning demonstrated its ability to hit targets within Iran’s borders but also showed a level of restraint.
The strike reportedly hit a military air base near the city in central Iran, according to the New York Times. Israeli officials, as is standard for them, have not commented on the strike, while Iranian officials have downplayed its significance.
An American official revealed that the Israelis “target[ed] an air defense radar site near Isfahan that’s part of the protection of the Natanz nuclear facility,” according to ABC News.
Israeli officials, for their part, indicated that they designed the attack to send a message to Tehran that it has the capabilities to hit targets within their borders and evade their air defense systems. The operation was designed to demonstrate that Israel “chose not to hit your nuclear sites this time, but we could have done worse right here,” an Israeli source told the Jerusalem Post.
Israel was responding to last weekend’s unprecedented attack against Israel. Iran fired more than 300 cruise and ballistic missiles and attack drones at Israel on April 13-14. The attack was unprecedented both in the number of munitions fired but also because many of them were fired from Iranian territory.
Israel and Iran have long engaged in covert operations designed to disrupt the other, ranging from assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, often attributed to Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, to Tehran’s continued funding and support for proxy forces in the region. It was not until last week that Iran had attacked Israel from within its own borders.
Israel and a coalition of allies, the United States included, were able to intercept nearly all of the missiles and drones. The more than three hundred munitions led to one casualties and minimal damage at a southern Israeli air base. Iran’s attack was in response to an Israeli attack at an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, which killed multiple senior military leaders.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper described Iran’s aerial assault on Israel as “disproportionate to the initial strike by the Israelis” and told the Washington Examiner it risked “changing the dynamic of how both countries face off against one another in a very dangerous and negative way for Israel in the region.”
A former senior Pentagon official argued that Israel “delivered” a message that Tehran cannot “unilaterally change the rules of the game.”
“If the intent of last night’s strike inside Iranian territory was to make clear that Tehran will not be allowed to unilaterally change the rules of the game, message delivered,” former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul said on X. “Their air defenses were ineffective, a military base was targeted, the attack was limited but precise. The long-held pillar of Iranian security strategy to keep the war on their periphery fought through proxies is no longer.”
“But this strike is clearly intended to not escalate the situation further. If everyone decides that further rounds of state on state attacks are not in their interest, this chapter can closes…for now,” Stroul, now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, added.
While Israeli leaders had vowed a significant response to any Iranian aggression preemptively, some experts argued that Israel now could refrain from responding, which in itself would be impactful.
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“There will be voices that will urge the Israelis to take out the Iranian nuclear program, which I think is a false chimera anyway. But I would argue that if you’re going to do something, and they may have to do something, I would be precise, I would be short,” former U.S. Central Command Commander retired Gen. Frank McKenzie said last week. “But sometimes, when you’re in that position, showing some restraint is the best strategic option that you can take.”
Israel seemingly followed McKenzie’s would-be strategy, and now it appears as if neither side is ready to declare war on the other even after the events of the last couple of weeks.