“Live updates: Israel says it has completed strikes on Iran; Tehran says damage is limited,” NBC, 10-26-24.  NBC should contrast the 200 Iranian ballistic missiles versus the targeted airstrikes by Israel–which country is acting more in line with international law and within the requests by the international community–to first ask will this become a larger regional war (apparently not thanks to Israel’s actions) but more importantly whether the instigator (Iran) will curb its revolutionary ways.  Iran still has time to act more like a normal state, but the Supreme Leader and the 40-plus year system created will have difficulty backing down.

“Israel attacks Iran military targets, Tehran says damage ‘limited’,” Reuters, 10-26-24.

What normal countries do, well extraordinary countries do.  Iran can take note.  “Israel structured Iran strike so that Tehran could deny damage done – report,” JPost, 10-26-24.

“Israel strike crippled Iran’s missile production, sources say,” Axios, 10-26-24.  “Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran took out a critical component in Iran’s ballistic missile program, according to three Israeli sources.  Why it matters: The destruction of the equipment severely damages Iran’s ability to renew its missile stockpile and could deter Iran from further massive missile strikes against Israel, the sources said.  The sources said Israel hit 12 “planetary mixers” used to produce solid fuel for long-range ballistic missiles, which make up the bulk of Iran’s missile arsenal. A senior U.S. official confirmed that the strike cripples Iran’s missile production capability.  Between the lines: The Israeli sources said the mixers are highly sophisticated equipment that Iran cannot produce on its own and must purchase from China. Remanufacturing the mixers could take at least a year, the sources said. While Iran still has a big stockpile of ballistic missiles, Israeli sources say the fact that Iran can’t produce new ballistic missiles would also limit its ability to replenish the ballistic missile stockpiles of its proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis. Driving the news: Israeli sources said the attack also hit four S-300 air defense batteries that were in strategic locations and protected Tehran and nuclear and energy facilities in Iran. The Iranian military said in a statement that the Israeli strike was conducted from Iraqi air space and added that several radar systems suffered limited damages that are in the process of being repaired. … Israeli sources confirmed the strikes were conducted from Syrian and Iraqi air space, some of them close to the Iraqi border with Iran. The sources said the Israeli air force attacked a factory for the production of drones and conducted a “symbolic” strike on a facility in the city of Parchin that was used in the past for the research and development of nuclear weapons.”