On the eve of scheduled negotiations between the Iranians and the Americans, Israel launched a surprise attack on 12 and 13 June on the infrastructure and leaders of Iran’s nuclear programme and the Revolutionary Guards, causing civilian casualties in the process. A report by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) on the acceleration of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity is said to have alarmed and motivated the attack by Israel, which is fiercely opposed to the development of nuclear weapons by its enemies. The Iranian response was swift, and the two countries, locked in forty years of antagonism, are now exchanging fire on a daily basis.

For the time being, Western countries seem to be rallying behind Netanyahu, who is thus regaining the diplomatic support he gradually lost with the tragedy in Gaza. The eyes of the world are on the United States, but it is difficult to know at the moment whether Donald Trump will become directly involved in the conflict. Iran’s enemies see this new front as an opportunity to bring down the indefensible regime of the Mullahs, hated by the vast majority of Iranians. But the region’s civilians can only suffer from this conflagration and this predominance of force, to the detriment of international law and diplomacy.

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