Israel has attacked Iran in response to Tehran’s attack over the weekend. The strikes were “limited scope” and smaller than what was expected. In fact, Iran has not signaled that it’ll even retaliate.

CNN has previously reported that Israel told the United States that its response to the weekend attacks would be limited in scope. U.S. intelligence had suggested Israel was weighing a narrow and limited strike inside Iran because they felt like they had to respond with a kinetic action of some kind given the unprecedented scale of the Iranian attack. Basically, both Israel and Iran are simply “saving face,” and not wanting to appear weak.

But the U.S. and other ruling classes already knew this was coming. Israel was never intending to let this slide.

U.S. Ruling Class: A “Limited Scope” Response To Iran’s Attack On Israel Is Coming

Israel’s action in Iran is the latest escalatory move in a region that has been rocked by Israel’s devastating war in Gaza following Hamas’ brutal October 7th attack. That attack killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw more than 200 others taken hostage.

In turn, Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials, caused widespread destruction of the enclave, and sparked a humanitarian crisis where more than 1 million people face “catastrophic” levels of hunger.

Iran has also been “preparing” for Israel to attack.

Iran Is Preparing For Israel To Attack

Most ruling classes are urging both Israel and Iran to exercise “restraint” to avoid flinging this conflict into a global conflagration.

Iran has previously said that should Israel attack, the response would be “immediate and at a maximum level.” This came in a statement from Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to CNN Thursday. It is still possible that Iran will continue to show restraint and not retaliate.