Iran once ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the boy who cried wolf for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, and his repeated threats to shut it down, one way or another.

Israel's stunning and sprawling operation overnight targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, missile sites, scientists and generals followed eight months of intensive clandestine preparations. Why it matters: The operation launched a new war in the Middle East that could draw in the U.

Israel’s airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military facilities are the latest geopolitical shock to global financial markets that had just recovered from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Israel used 200 air force planes in the massive attack that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.