The following is an excerpt from the new book, In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel’s Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis, by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Elliot Kaufman, published by Wicked Son.
How did Iran’s regime, the master of proxy warfare, come to engage in open fighting with its more powerful adversaries? One answer is its stubborn pursuit of nuclear weapons, the focus of President Trump’s single day of strikes in June 2025’s 12-Day War. But the current war with Iran has been focused as much, if not more, on Iran’s missile program. That is what unleashed the open warfare in the first place.