Suzanne Maloney

I think Prime Minister Netanyahu wanted to achieve the dream that he's had for decades, which was to see the end of the Islamic Republic, the end of the threat that it posed to Israel's existence, and that it championed this threat to Israeli existence.

So I think that for Prime Minister Netanyahu, the persistence of the regime is going to be a tremendous disappointment.

But the Israelis, I think, are very satisfied with the military objectives that they have been achieving.

They are prepared to maintain a long, hot war against Iran because it does present such a powerful adversary to Israel and to all Israelis.

And they will continue to mow the lawn as long as they have the opportunity.

And there is, I think, a consensus around this goal among much of the Israeli national security establishment at this point in time.

It's not purely a Netanyahu-centric effort.

Israelis, by and large, feel as though they can't wait for the threats to come to them.

They have to go out and proactively eliminate those threats.

They learned this horrific lesson on October 7th, and they're not prepared to live with a monster on their doorstep anymore.

in perpetuity.

And so they will continue.

I don't think mowing the lawn is a strategy that is going to keep Israel safe in the future, but I think that they don't see better options at this point in time.

And they're also counting on the fact that the regime will have to contend with a very unhappy, very much impoverished population.

It will have to figure out how to rebuild, potentially without the support of the international financial system.

And Iran will be a weaker, more embittered state in many respects.

And we don't know what will happen six months from here.

We may see the tremors that were created by these attacks produce some fissures within the regime and actually make it less strenuous and less threatening.

We simply don't know.

And I think the Israelis are prepared to do what they have to do.