Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his political career calling for military action against Iran, only to respond in a muted fashion when Israel was directly attacked by Tehran and the US signaled it wouldn’t join a counterstrike. The Israeli operation using a stand-off missile to target an air defense radar near the city of Isfahan appeared designed to send a message that Israel was capable of penetrating Iran’s air defenses at will. But it also provided an off-ramp to avoid the strong counter-response Iran had threatened. The strike was ultimately played down by all sides — with Iran’s ... (full story)