Why is Israel determined to start WW3?

Did you miss the bit where Israel bombed an Iranian embassy? And that as an embassy is counted as soil belonging to that country, Israel in effect bombed Iran?

Yes there have been many proxy wars between Iran and Israel, but this time, it was Israel who directly targeted Iran first.

The Iranians seem to be taking a very calming stance. Honestly Israel is just not doing itself any favours, they appear aggressive and reactionary. I wonder what is happening elsewhere that they want us to look towards Iran.

It could be a very ugly ME war, but I don’t see WW3.

Iran has few real supporters. If Israel attack Iran, who will defend her? I just don’t see the Russians or Chinese prepared to risk world war over a failing fundamentalist Islamic state.

There are echoes of the Cold War here but Russia is so far behind the U.S that , short of strategic nukes, they are out of options and China is far more interested in Taiwan and longer term goals.

If Iran fall into the trap of attacking Israel properly, they will be very badly damaged.

It's scary to think that a war hungry nation like Israel has nuclear weapons. If any country would use them now, it would be them.

Didn't they attack because Israel killed some of their senior commanders in Syria? It's all a bit tit for tat now.

He is attempting to put the usa in a position where they feel they have no choice but to send troops in to help. The UK will of course follow because that's what the UK does.

OP - you do know Iran sent hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel a few days ago don't you?! It's a bit ridiculous to say the least to blame a country for retaliating against an attack. This board is mental.

The attack on the consulate annex was probably because one of the architects of 7th Oct was there meeting with reps from Islamic Jihad. They really didn’t attack Iran first given it looks like Iran was probably involved in planning the initial attack and have been helping and funding hezbollah and hamas for years. They have been conducting proxy campaigns against Israel for years. Even though it was an annex I still don’t think they should have bombed it.

There have been numerous attacks on Israeli consulates by PLO backed organisations and one from Islamic Jihad so it’s not unheard of. The difference is the use of proxies vs a direct attack by the actual government. I doubt Iran had nothing to do with those, the Buenos Aires one was the most likely to have been directed by Iran, the difference is hiding behind proxies instead of taking responsibility for it.

I would also gently point out that Hamas seemed to believe that the 7th October attack would be a trigger for Hezbollah and Iran to come to it’s aid in a fight against Israel, they were the ones who were actually trying to create a regional war here. They put out statements along the lines of “reminding friends of promises made” etc.

I think Israel is making sure that countries in it’s vicinity know there is a cost to attacking Israel whether thats through proxies or directly. That they don’t need de-escalation in a direct confrontation even though Iran basically said “well thats the end of that” after their strike on Israel. It seems irrational but it’s actually not if you think about it. They are communicating that a) a strike on Israel regardless of whether it was successful or not will not go unanswered b) their enemies may want to be able to harry them without consequence by bringing international pressure on them but it won’t work.

Think about it from the Israeli perspective, Iran has been threatening to wipe them out for years, they fund proxies in the region that regularly bomb them or fund attacks against them, Israel regularly kills their commanders and when they respond to the first direct attack everyone is yelling at them to stop it.

This is separate from what’s happening in Gaza atm really it moves into the realm of geopolitics.

I do wish they would all calm the fuck down before they drag the entire region into total war. Netanyahu is a nasty war hawk but then Iran has been attacking Israel and the west through their proxies for decades. It's all screwed up. Our one hope is that Iran takes the moral high ground and doesn't respond to last night's attack. How ironic is that though that the best chance of avoiding catastrophe relies on restraint from a terrorist rogue nation and not from a democratic ally of the major western powers.

This article provides some explanation on why a war, especially drawing the US in with it, is a life line for Netanyahu to stay in power.

Israel-Iran: How War Helps Netanyahu (foreignpolicy.com)

Some said this was the plan from the beginning. I didn't believe it. But now I'm starting to wonder!