Israel’s Iran threat is familiar, but it is unlikely to attack without US backing

Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Anonymously sourced US reports suggest Israel is on the brink of an all-out attack. Photograph: Planet Labs PBC/AP

The withdrawal of non-essential US personnel from parts of the Middle East and the anonymously sourced US reports in the past 24 hours that Israel is on the brink of an all-out attack on Iran are all deeply alarming, but they are also familiar.

The Israeli government has approached the same precipice, of a war to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme, several times in the past two decades, going as far as honing detailed plans and conducting practice air sorties.