Israel Has Long Sought a US War on Iran’s Regime. What’s Next?

As US President George W. Bush was preparing to go to war with Iraq in 2003, Israeli officials tried in vain to turn his attention instead to Iran. Ever since, they’ve urged Washington to hit the Islamic Republic with the goal of regime change.

Now the US is doing so and — in a first — together with Israel. While the US joined Israel’s June 2025 attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the two powers this time planned and carried out the bombardment in unison. Several top Iranian leaders appear to have been killed, notably in a morning attack on a meeting of intelligence officials in Tehran, according to an Israeli official.