THE most malign force in the Middle East, has shown its hand at last.
No longer hiding behind its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis and others, Iran launched 35 cruise missiles, 110 ballistic missiles and 185 drones against Israel on Saturday night.
This in retaliation for the Israeli attack on its consulate in Damascus.
Fortunately for Israel, its technological might, and that of the US, UK, France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia prevented thousands from being killed.
The alliance of such disparate defenders is reassuring and underlines the efforts being made to sow harmony between Israel and several Arab nations before they were derailed by the Hamas attacks of 7 October.
Many commentators saw Iran’s attack - and the predictable Israeli response -
as a trap.
No surprise, then, that Israel’s friends are warning against escalation.
Given the circumstances, that advice will be hard to take on board.
So, while the world holds its breath, Jerusalem is deciding on the degree of retaliation.
Too much, it’s war; too little, Iran continues to act with impunity, including accelerating development of nuclear weapons.
This brutal theocracy, born of a bloody Islamic revolution in 1979, is one of the harshest regimes in the world.
Run by Ayatollah Khamenei, repression is rife, basic freedoms non-existent, poverty widespread and a strict religious crackdown imposed, particularly on women.
Two young women, who refused to wear a headscarf, were beaten to death by so-called ‘morality police’ in a year.
In the 2023 rebellion, triggered by those deaths, Iran’s Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated 530 protestors were killed and 20,000 detained by security forces.
Successive waves of dissidence have been crushed, but calls for the overthrow of the state are increasing.
We hope that would be peaceful, but what a relief to us all if that were to happen.