Unprecedented Iranian Regime Attack Against Israel

On April 13-14, the Iranian regime launched an unprecedented strike against Israel, both in terms of scale and as Tehran’s first-ever direct attack against Israeli territory. Despite concerted and commendable combined efforts by Israel, the United States, Arab partners, and others to render the massive barrage of over 300 drones and missiles largely ineffective, and despite Iran quickly signaling its desire to avoid further escalation, Tehran will only be encouraged to conduct further large-scale and potentially devastating attacks if American officials treat this as a one-off success for Israel’s self-defense. The United States should publicly support Israel’s and its other regional partners’ ability to respond to such provocative aggression, including by providing military capabilities to bolster Israel’s deterrence and by strengthening U.S.-led efforts on integrated regional air and missile defense.