Why did Israel Attack Iran in 2025?

The reasons for the conflict between Israel and Iran date back for many decades, ever since the 1979 Iranian Revolution converted the countries from allies into enemies. The immediate reason behind Israel’s 2025 attack on Iran has a far shorter timeline. 

On April 12, 2025 for the purpose of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the United States and Iran entered into negotiations regarding their uranium enrichment capabilities. President Trump set a 60-day deadline for negotiators to reach an agreement. By June 13, the sixty-first day, negotiations had not succeeded. People began fearing an Iran attack imminent. Indeed, that night Israel carried out airstrikes targeting over a dozen locations in Iran.

But why did Israel attack Iran in the first place? Many people attribute their desire to attack to the current Israeli government’s hawkish attitudes. While this is one component of the reason, there is a lot more to it. Israel also was concerned about the intelligence it had been able to gather on Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

In addition, just before the attack, on June 12, the U.N. nuclear watchdog reported that Iran was failing to comply with its nuclear obligations. Much earlier, in 2003, Iran had suspended its formal nuclear weapons program and began claiming that its uranium enrichment program was for peaceful purposes only. However, this program was widely viewed, especially by Israel, as a means to destroy or at least threaten Israel. Therefore, Israel attacked Iran in order to attempt to eliminate the possibility of Iran attacking Israel.

Israel’s June 13 attack not surprisingly immediately launched the two countries into a conflict. The current Israel-Iran conflict marks the first time the two countries have ever engaged in direct full-scale warfare.

Israel unquestionably possesses superior military might. They also are believed to have nuclear weapons of their own. Iran is surely not going to be able to win this conflict, yet it has been ongoing for over a week with no end in sight.

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Iran has some powerful allies. They enjoy diplomatic ties with Russia. China is another of their allies, as the two countries signed a formal 25-year-long strategic partnership in 2021. Iran does not have strong relationships, though, with many of the countries in its region. Iraq is an Iranian ally, although their diplomatic relations are not ideal. Syria was a strong ally for many years until the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024. Now, under new Syrian leadership, the two countries’ relations have changed. 

Iran also has allies in the form of various militia groups in the region. Many if not all of these groups are not only allies; they also receive funding from Iran. The Israel-Hamas War, however, has recently diminished their capabilities. Specifically, the toll the war has taken on Hamas has rendered it far less powerful. Israel’s 2024 pager attacks significantly weakened Hezbollah, a Shiite militia group in Lebanon. Israeli and United States naval operations in the Red Sea have now crippled the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. 

Of all of Iran’s allies, Russia is of particular interest. This is because of the fact that they have diplomatic relations with both Israel and Iran. For this reason Russia is perhaps the most powerful of the Iranian allies.

Israel too has many powerful allies. The United States is its strongest. Israel, like Iran, also has fairly good diplomatic relations with Russia. To an extent, there are even Israel allies of a sort in the Middle East. Peace treaties between Israel and its neighboring Middle Eastern countries of Egypt and Jordan have existed for decades. In 2020 the Abraham Accords facilitated by President Trump succeeded in creating peace and diplomatic relations between Israel and two additional Middle Eastern countries – the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – as well as the two African countries of Morocco and Sudan.

Peace treaties and diplomatic relations, though, do not mean that these countries would join Israel or support them in any way in attacking Iran or any other country. This is because all Middle Eastern countries are very much against Israel in the perpetual Israel-Palestinian conflict. This conflict outweighs and overshadows any peace treaty or accord. We are not going to see any Middle Eastern country fighting alongside Israel in any battle or war, ever.

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So what happens now that Israel has attacked Iran? Iran has suffered great losses, as expected. Unexpectedly, though, Israel also has suffered significant losses. Iran’s missiles have been able to break through defense systems several times, destroying buildings and killing many civilians. The extent of damage Iran has been inflicting on Israel during this war is unprecedented. At least twenty-four Israelis have been killed. Buildings in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Be’er Sheva have suffered severe damage.

Israel has already destroyed much of Iran’s weapons stockpile. Iran’s missile strikes have already depleted much of Israel’s missile defense weaponry. Israel will certainly be able to restock its missile defense interceptors. Iran might be able to restock its weapons. Nevertheless, Iran is already at a significant disadvantage, so Israel will likely quickly win this conflict. For it war to continue in earnest for any lengthy period, allies of Israel and/or Iran would need to become involved. If that happens, we will be entering an entirely new era of war in the Middle East. If that does not happen, Iran is on the path to becoming less of a threat or no threat at all to Israel, the Middle East as a whole and all of the world.