Hal Brands, Columnist

Israel’s War With Iran Isn’t One Conflict. It’s Three.

The bombing campaign isn’t just about stopping Tehran. It’s also about global nonproliferation and taking on the axis of autocracies.

June 18, 2025 at 4:00 AM UTC

By Hal Brands

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the sky over Beirut on June 14.
Photographer: Nael Chahine/AFP/Getty Images

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The struggle between Iran and Israel isn’t one war. It is three globally significant wars all at once. Israel is waging a war for the Middle East, a war for nuclear nonproliferation, and a war against an axis of aggressors that is testing the international order on several fronts.

Understanding any war requires grasping its stakes. The very high stakes of this war may soon offer President Donald Trump an ugly choice.

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