Promising an apocalypse by the ayatollahs who were getting ever closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon to carry out that diabolical wish, Israel had every right to hit Iran to disable its uranium enrichment facilities and its ballistic missile infrastructure.

The Friday strikes were not the start of a war by Israel, but hopefully the first blows in a finale to end forever the Iranian nukes and the threat to wipe the Jewish state off the map and kill millions of Jews. Also successfully targeted were the top leadership of the Iranian military and the fanatical Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime’s nuclear scientists.

The day before, on Thursday, in Vienna the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency ruled that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations and censured the Islamic Republic. The resolution was sponsored by France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the U.S.

The only no votes on the measure to condemn Iran for refusing inspections and accountability to the IAEA were, of course, Russia and China, along with Burkina Faso, an unstable African dictatorship.

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu says that Israel has no quarrel with the people of Iran. When those people are freed from the oppressive theocratic tyranny of the mullahs, bringing in democracy, they will have no desire to have nukes.

That is exactly what happened when democracy came to Brazil and Argentina and South Africa. In each case, the new democratic leaders voluntarily got rid of the nuclear weapons programs of the previous regimes.

Iran, blessed by nature with 200 billion proven barrels of oil (the third largest reserves in the world behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia) and sitting on top of 34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas (only second to Russia) has more energy than it can ever use. Yet they have a phony pursuit of “peaceful” nuclear power. But unlike hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative energy sources, only nuclear can be fashioned into offensive weapons of mass destruction.

Iran wants nuclear weapons, not nuclear energy. And Iran can’t have nuclear weapons.

In zapping Iran’s generals and scientists with Mossad agents on the ground and fighter jets and blasting uranium enrichment plants and Iran’s ballistic missiles and air defense network, Israel’s Operation Rising Lion was precise. Yet Iran’s response, to lob drones and missiles and rockets anywhere they could, is just terrorism, hitting civilian, not military, targets.

Until recently, Iran could rely on its terror puppets in Hezbollah and Hamas and Syria to attack Israel during a confrontation, but those puppets are all gone now, defanged and destroyed. Rather it is the U.S. which is assisting Israel to knock down the Iranian drones and missiles as Israelis hide in bomb shelters.

But at least the Israelis are not sheltering from nuclear weapons, which could have been a nightmare if the Iran nuke program produced a working warhead.

Iran should still show up in Oman tomorrow to meet U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in previously scheduled talks on nukes. Iran should shut down their damaged nuke program and rejoin the community of nations.

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