Many individuals in Israel and the US believed crushing the Iranian regime was inevitable. Yet within this group, four key figures spearheaded the historic move, designed to proactively neutralize the danger posed by a regime determined to impose its religious fanaticism on the entire world through terrorism and violence.
The first is naturally President Donald Trump. Ultimately, he made the bold decision to place the US at the vanguard of the campaign. Unlike his predecessors who dragged their feet and bought time, Trump has maintained a hawkish stance against Iran throughout his political career. This is precisely why he withdrew from the nuclear agreement, eliminated Qassem Soleimani (the former Iranian Quds Force commander), and sent his bombers to strike the nuclear reactors.
Trump stands alone among presidents as the one who took the bull by the horns and prevented a historic American failure, similar to what the US experienced with North Korea.
The second figure, and in many respects actually the first, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For decades, no single person has explained the global threat posed by Iran to the world – and particularly to the American public – quite like Netanyahu.
Over the past year and a quarter since Trump returned to the White House, he and Netanyahu held countless conversations regarding the Iranian issue, the vast majority of which remained out of the public eye. This occurred behind the scenes, far beyond their seven public meetings. While Trump's instincts were correct, he was undoubtedly heavily influenced by the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu's persuasive skills, deep historical understanding, and reliance on the spectacular performance of his security forces instilled Trump with the confidence to make the right decisions during both "Operation Rising Lion" (the IDF offensive in June 2025) and "Operation Roaring Lion" (the recent strike on Iran).
In this regard, Netanyahu brought a familial-historical journey full circle. His father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu, worked tirelessly before and after the death of Ze'ev Jabotinsky (the Revisionist Zionist leader) to convince the US to act against the annihilation of European Jewry during the Holocaust, albeit without success. Faced with his own historic test, the prime minister succeeded where his father could not. This achievement cannot be taken for granted.
The third dominant force is Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio. Operating with great wisdom and earning widespread respect across the US political spectrum, Rubio has maintained a staunchly hawkish approach to Iran for years, grounded in decades of deep expertise. He too profoundly influenced Trump's trajectory.
The fourth pivotal player is Senator Lindsey Graham. Much like Rubio and Netanyahu, Graham believed and publicly stated the Iranian regime is a modern incarnation of the Nazis. During endless trips to the Middle East and countless meetings with Trump, he continually sounded the alarm against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran
Following his most recent Middle East tour about two weeks prior, Graham returned to Mar-a-Lago (Trump's Florida residence) carrying a critical message – the Gulf states actively desired American action against Iran. He heard this directly from regional leaders, a reality that completely contradicted public reports. Beyond their frequent encounters on the golf course, Graham and the president spoke by phone extensively. It is also highly relevant that Graham shares an exceptionally close bond with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Naturally, alongside these four figures, many others in the upper echelons of the administration, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, fully grasped the catastrophic danger Iran posed to America and the world.
This profound understanding, coupled with the operational confidence both nations acquired over the past year, ultimately sparked the historic action. At its core lies a critical lesson drawn from the 1930s – one must never allow a regime threatening global peace to amass the military power necessary to execute its dark intentions.
