Senior Israeli analyst Yoni Ben Menachem, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs, says recent remarks by Donald Trump regarding Iran’s military buildup should not be mistaken for hesitation.
According to Ben Menachem, Trump’s public messaging is a deliberate performance, stressing that the US president is fully informed and receives daily intelligence briefings from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Ben Menachem argues that Washington’s alignment with Israel has now gone beyond the nuclear file. He says the US has effectively adopted Israel’s strategic doctrine by recognizing Iran’s ballistic missile program as an equally critical threat. In his assessment, this marks a major shift in American policy and reflects unprecedented backing of Israel’s security position.
Warning against limited or symbolic military action, Ben Menachem says partial strikes would only perpetuate instability. In his view, as long as the regime in Iran remains in power, the region will continue to face recurring cycles of violence involving Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. He describes Tehran as “the head of the octopus,” asserting that these groups are sustained ideologically, militarily, and financially by the Iranian regime.
