Is Israel’s Rush to Strike Iran Based on U.S. Politics?

Israeli officials are warning they might have to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, perhaps even before the U.S. presidential election in November. Israel’s concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran are well-founded, but this speeding up the timeline on a potential strike is ill-judged.

What is the sudden urgency? Nobody has been able to point to a recent game-changing event in Iran. Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., was asked by Bloomberg News whether it was tied to U.S. politics, the idea being that Israel might have more leverage to influence U.S. responses during an election campaign than after. He dismissed this.