Editorial Board
WSJ, June 15, 2025
“Mr. Trump endorsed the initial attacks, though he continues to suggest that the bombing could increase the chances of a negotiated deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program.”
Israel continues to bomb key Iranian military sites, while Iran is firing missiles at Israeli cities. Central to an Israeli strategic victory will be whether it can destroy Iran’s main nuclear-weapons sites, and that effort deserves American help.
Israel’s bombing is first and foremost an anti-nuclear-proliferation campaign. Other goals include attriting Tehran’s ballistic-missile capacity, which the regime had been escalating to be able to produce hundreds a month. Israel has also begun to target Iran’s domestic oil and gas supply chains after Iran’s attacks on Israeli civilian populations.
But the immediate strategic goal is to destroy, or at least significantly degrade, Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear bomb. As we write this, that goal hasn’t been achieved. Iran’s largest uranium enrichment site at Natanz has been damaged as has the Isfahan facility. Israel has also killed as many as 14 of Iran’s top scientists working on the program.
Isfahan is where Iran converts raw uranium into uranium feed gases for enrichment. “The strike dismantled a facility for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium, laboratories, and additional infrastructure,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is in touch with Iranian officials, confirms that Isfahan has sustained considerable damage. …SOURCE