Voices: Netanyahu’s ‘Israel first’ attack on Iran shows that Trump can shout – but no one is listening

So now we know why America partially evacuated some of its embassies in the Middle East with such haste. It knew very well what was coming: a massive pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran’s nuclear capabilities and key military personnel.

Assassinating Hossein Salami, the head of the Revolutionary Guard, a political as well as a military force, is a symbol and a warning to the ayatollahs of what damage Israel can inflict on them if it so wishes. It is also – or should be – a similar symbol and a warning to the United States of what Benjamin Netanyahu is capable of when he senses his domestic political purposes are best served. He will act, in the words of the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, “unilaterally”.