There is another aspect to the Iran conflict that should be remembered, that aspect being the US did not go it alone in the decision to attack Iran. So decisions made on strategy and tactics, thoughts and details - or the lack thereof - are not entirely down to one administration.
Leaders of countries and administrations of countries, the slightest whisper of a health crisis will inevitably cause problems for that leader. Netanyahu, the man who for the last 40 years has wanted to remove what he saw as the true enemy of his life...namely Iran and their connections with Lebanon and Yemen suffered a significant health crisis late in 2025. The diagnosis was given to him just before his visit to Washington DC. That diagnosis was kept under wraps from his own people until April 24, 2026. It was only then in a post on social media that he announced that he had been treated for prostate cancer. Even now, there are arguments within the Knesset and the people of Israel about how clear his mind was when deciding to attack Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and other areas of the Middle East. The treatment he received was extremely intense according to various medical experts, including Hadassah medical center who treated him. The question being whispered is how much of this diagnosis and treatment clouded his mind when he was making decisions that ultimately cost lives...not just in the neighbouring countries, but his own country too.
Malignant non-disclosure: PM’s belated cancer revelation subverts public’s right to know (Times of Israel - May 1, 2026)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, for many years, closely guarded the details of his personal health.
Amid that long record of reticence to divulge his medical situation, Netanyahu’s revelation last week that he was recently diagnosed with, and treated for, prostate cancer came as a disturbing surprise.
Israel’s longtime leader, aged 76, belatedly disclosed that he had suffered from and been treated for a malignant tumor during a period of intense security instability, and possibly even during the war with Iran itself.
Along with the concerns for the physical health of the prime minister came questions about the manner in which he informed the public of his illness, regarding the apparently severe delay in informing the public that he was suffering from a serious disease while running the country, and even over the veracity of the actual details that were released.
This begs the question....are we looking at a man who has held Iran responsible for his brother's death for so long and that he wanted revenge so much that when given a potentially terminal diagnosis decided that he desperately needed to carry out that revenge whilst he still could? He knew he could not do it alone, past attempts to rope in the US had failed to materialise. The current administration, being run by what is essentially someone equally desperate to make a legacy would be easy to convince. The details and "what if's" were not going to be a part of the discussion, Netanyahu was seeing his own mortality, he needed to convince the US administration that "something had to be done before it was too late".......that "something"...was it nuclear dreams, was it terrorism, was it oil?
Or was it the result of one man with a new diagnosis of cancer who saw the end of his life coming faster than planned and who was desperate to gain revenge on his own personal enemy?
If the answer is "yes" that Netanyahu saw his own mortality, then all the things that the rest of the world knew would happen - Strait of Hormuz closure, neighbouring countries attacked etc - were missed, ignored and lost in the midst of clouded decision making and the walking into a conflict with Iran, a country that is still an unknown entity, a vast country with equally vast resources and friends next door (or within shouting distance) who are willing and able to help out against a sick man (maybe 2 sick men since Trump has his own health issues) and their desire to create their own legacies.
Everyone can scream that the US administration stuffed things up with Iran and not thinking about the direct consequences....but let us not forget that the decision to take Iran to war was not a decision of one administration alone.