Iran’s Leadership Knows Its Armaments Secrets are Now an Open Book

Israel’s response to Iran’s recent missile attacks has transformed the Mideast landscape, setting the stage for future actions targeting the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, remarked that "Iran is essentially naked" following Israel’s Oct. 26 retaliatory strike.

This attack, which disabled Iran’s air defenses and significantly disrupted its missile manufacturing, weakened Iran’s ability to attack Israel and resupply its proxies Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi terrorists, who threaten both Israeli and U.S. interests.

Dubbed "Operation Days of Repentance," Israel’s four-hour precision strike targeted 20 locations, including missile production sites, air defenses, missile launchers and a military complex linked to Iran’s nuclear program, messaging that it can operate in Iranian skies with impunity.

The Israeli Air Force executed the operation without aircraft loss, demonstrating the reach of its capabilities across hostile airspaces in a complex mission requiring in-air refueling and massive intelligence coordination.

Key to its success were strikes against Russian-supplied S-300 defense systems and Chinese solid-fuel mixers, essential to Iran’s long-range ballistic missile production.

With Russia focused on its war in Ukraine, the Israelis estimate that Iran’s ground-based anti-aircraft missile capabilities will be compromised for at least two years.

Israel’s recent (Oct. 26) operation identifying and attacking Iranian strategic areas with pinpoint accuracy highlights its deep intelligence penetration, including knowledge of Iranian military bases, missile depots, nuclear sites and command-and-control centers. Iran’s leadership knows their secrets are now an open book.

The strike, however, did not take out Iran’s existing stockpile of approximately 2,000 to 3,000 long-range ballistic missiles and extensive UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) capabilities, which still pose a threat.

But Iran’s ability to replace the missiles is hampered thanks to the loss of solid-fuel mixers.

Operation Days of Repentance followed intense negotiations between Israel and a Biden-Harris administration concerned about escalation and its domestic political support prior to the November election.

Its American allies pressured Israel to avoid harming Iranian energy assets, nuclear facilities, and leadership. Reports suggest they likely leaked classified intelligence on Israel’s plans to a pro-Iranian internet site.

To maintain America’s goodwill and support, Prime Minister Netanyahu limited the strike to military targets while sparing energy and nuclear assets, signaling to Iran that any retaliation would trigger a stronger Israeli response using destructive capabilities yet to be displayed.

Israel’s objectives were multi-faceted:

• Demonstrating Military Superiority: Israel’s sophisticated capabilities underscored its ability to target Iran’s oil assets and its nuclear infrastructure if Iran nears nuclear weaponization.
• Neutralizing Iranian Proxies: The strike proved Hezbollah and Hamas pose no obstacle to an Israeli attack on the Iranian homeland.
• Gaining Strategic Time: Israel has bought time to consolidate gains against Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, elements of Iran’s "ring of fire" against the Jewish state.
• Reinforcing Deterrence: Israel’s actions restored its deterrent posture in the eyes of adversaries and allies alike, signaling Iran’s significant vulnerability.

Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei now faces a critical choice.

If he doesn’t respond, that suggests great weakness in a Mideast that respects only strength, while retaliation risks a severe Israeli counterstrike, potentially jeopardizing his regime.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, once again navigating an American administration determined to hobble Israel’s response to its enemies, leveraged the situation to secure a strategic win, an approach supported by a majority of Israelis.

He revealed Iran’s vulnerabilities should Israel, ideally with American support, decide to neutralize its nuclear threat.

The Biden-Harris administration, committed to de-escalation and conflict avoidance, views the October operation as the end of Israel’s Iran campaign, with President Biden remarking, "My hope is this is the end."

His administration’s funding of Iran with billions in payoffs and oil revenues secured through sanctions relief have subsidized Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the arming of its proxies and its aggression in the region.

Former President Trump criticized the Biden-Harris policy of insisting that Iran’s nuclear sites are off limits, suggesting that Biden should have urged Israel to "hit the nuclear first, worry about the rest later."

Iran’s nuclear ambitions remain the core threat.

A nuclear-armed Iran would have an unprecedented ability to pursue its jihad against Israel ("Little Satan") and America ("Big Satan"), a war it began by taking 52 Americans as hostages in 1979.

The then Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini said, "We shall export our revolution to the whole world, until the cry, 'There is no god but Allah' resounds over the whole world."

This is the mission of the apocalyptic Islamic Republic of Iran to this day, and they would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons in their pursuit of a global caliphate.

While our lame-duck president hopes this Israeli strike closes the chapter, it is likely to open another. By neutralizing the danger of Hamas and Hezbollah on its borders and significantly degrading Iran’s capabilities, Israel is shaping events to secure its own future.

Ziva Dahl is a senior fellow with the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Ziva writes and lectures about U.S.-Israel relations, U.S. foreign policy, Israel, Zionism, Antisemitism and BDS on college campuses. Her articles have appeared in such publications as The Hill, New York Daily News, New York Observer, The Washington Times, American Spectator, American Thinker and Jerusalem Post. Read Ziva Dahl's Reports — More Here.