Israel-Iran war expected to de-escalate
In the early morning of Friday, Apr. 12, citizens of Isfahan, Iran, were startled by the sound of explosions, which caused their windows and the ground to shake. Individuals who were set to board flights in Tehran, Israel, were told that their flights were canceled and to evacuate the area. It was then that the people of Israel learned that they had attacked Iran.
It appears that the Iranian government wants this conflict to be over, however, as they are standing down from going to war even after declaring they would have a vigorous response to any attack Israel would have on Iranian territory. Due to economic troubles and the uneasiness of citizens in Iran, they have decided to take a less aggressive approach, according to The New York Times, “declaring victory over Israel and cracking down at home.”
Contrastingly, Israel seems to believe that the only way to get through this conflict is with a more combative approach. Abbas Abdi, an analyst and writer in Tehran, reported to The New York Times through a telephone interview, “With both Israel and internal dissent, they are taking an aggressive approach because they think both issues have reached a boiling point where if they do nothing, it will only get worse.”
Even before this attack on Iran, there were numerous “tit-for-tat attacks” between the two countries over the past three weeks. When Israel attacked Iran’s embassy compound in Damascus, Syria, Iran responded by “launching a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles directly at Israel for the first time.” Responding to these attacks, Israel fired air-to-ground missiles toward Iran, which seemed to inflict minor damages.
Following these attacks over the past few weeks, Iran has declared that it does not want war with Israel and would rather de-escalate the conflict. Additionally, many world leaders have spoken about how Iran and Israel should handle this situation. President Joe Biden has spoken about his support for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but believes he should “think carefully and strategically about the risk of escalation.” The foreign minister of Russia, Iran’s ally, Sergey Lavrov, reported to AP News, “[Iran couldn’t] not respond to a gross violation of international law and the status of a diplomatic mission, but it doesn’t want escalation.” Any world leader who has commented on the conflict between Israel and Iran has seemingly been in favor of de-escalation as they would like to prevent a war, regardless of which side they support.
As of Tuesday, Apr. 23, according to the Washington Post, the United States Senate has voted for a package of bills that will give billions of dollars in aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. While this package may make headway, it is not preventing anti-war protests from being held on college campuses across the United States. Recently, 150 faculty and staff have been arrested due to these protests, and it is unclear when or if protests will stop.