The dangerous logic of false flags: How Israel could draw allies into a wider war

Over the past ten days, West Asia has been engulfed in a conflict whose consequences are already rippling far beyond the battlefields. After the United States and Israel launched a joint air assault on targets inside Iran, Tehran responded by declaring not only Israeli territory but also American military bases legitimate targets for retaliation. Those bases are scattered across the Arab states of the Persian Gulf—installed decades ago, now woven into the region’s political geography. During the twelve-day exchange between Iran and Israel, they functioned as a quiet nervous system: gathering intelligence, feeding radar data, supporting what some analysts have called Operation Midnight Hammer. In the fog of war, it is no longer unreasonable to suggest these facilities played a […]