Netanyahu may target Iran in 2025 after military campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria: Report

The year 2025 may be decisive for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s quest to reshape West Asia.

For the past one year, Netanyahu has made significant progress in the quest: hammering Hamas in the Gaza Strip and neutralising its leaders, battering Hezbollah in Lebanon and removing much of its leadership, and making way for the fall of Assad dynasty in Syria by weakening Iran and its proxies that propped the regime of Bashar al-Assad through the decadelong civil war.

In 2025, Netanyahu might be looking forward to taking decisive steps to complete the quest.

The final steps of Netanyahu’s quest might include neutralising the Iranian nuclear weapon and missile programmes, according to Reuters.

In two rounds of aerial battles this year, Israel has already taken out Iran's air defences, leaving it essentially naked, and dealing a significant blow to its capability to a develop a nuclear weapon by striking at a key nuclear facility. In 2025, Israel may go for the ultimate kill as Netanyahu stands more emboldened as ever.

Why Netanyahu may strike Iran’s nuclear programme

Netanyahu, the longest-serving Israeli premier, has long been a hawk.

Throughout his political career, Netanyahu has pushed for hawkish solutions to the Iranian threat. He has also been hawkish on securing the Israeli security in the region, which often leads to statements suggesting an approach that would either reject or water down any Palestinian state in the future.

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As Israel has long considered Iran’s nuclear weapons an existential threat, and as Iran currently stands weakest in a very long time devoid of allies, Netanyahu is poised to zero in on Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and missile programme as part of his “unyielding focus to dismantling and neutralising these strategic threats to Israel”, according to Reuters.

Iran is “very vulnerable” to such an attack by Israel, said Joost R. Hiltermann, Middle East and North Africa Program Director of the International Crisis Group, to the news agency.

Hiltermann further said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Israel did it, but that doesn’t get rid of Iran.”

As Donald Trump assumes office in the United States next month, Netanyahu may even have an ally in the mission.

Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is weighing options to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, which range from stepping-up sanctions to conducting pre-emptive strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

A few days before the Journal’s report, The Times of Israel also reported that the Israeli military has been drawing plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran faces 2 uneasy choices

With the loss of strategic depth in Syria and weakening of its allies in the region and its own weakening, Iran faces two uneasy choices.

Either Iran would give up its nuclear weapons ambitions and negotiate or it would develop nuclear weapons to restore deterrence and risk confrontation.

“If they (Iranians) do not back down, Trump and Netanyahu might strike, as nothing now prevents them,” said Palestinian analyst Ghassan al-Khatib to Reuters.

However, considering the Iranian record so far, Khatib argued that the Iranian leadership may be willing to negotiate and compromise instead of going for a military confrontation with Netanyahu and Trump.

However, there are signs that Israel is convinced that Iran may go for developing nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, The Times of Israel reported that the view within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is that Iran may decide to develop nuclear weapons as it is scrambling to rebuilt deterrence that has been battered over the past year and nuclear weapons are the only way that may now provide any deterrence.

Owing to such an assessment, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) is continuing its readiness and preparations for potential attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, military officials told the newspaper.

As Iran and its allies stand considerably weakened from more than a fighting with Israel, the Israeli military now sees an opportunity for pre-emptive strikes to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities, according to the newspaper.