Striking Iran: Does It Serve Netanyahu's Electoral Calculations?

An unannounced meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Ovda air base in southern Israel has revived the possibility of a new strike on Iran, a week before the Israeli elections scheduled for October 27. Reports conflict between accounts that Netanyahu pressed President Donald Trump to resume military operations against Iran before the Israeli elections and the US midterms on November 3, and others that he prefers postponing the confrontation for fear of casualties and widespread unrest. International relations professor Hamed Fares says Netanyahu is weighing escalation as a winning electoral card against an adventure with unpredictable consequences, noting that merely brandishing the threat of war could serve him politically without carrying it out, while US approval remains a decisive factor.