Middle East Crisis Broadens: Top Priority Is Avoiding All-Out War

Editorial

15:00 JST, June 18, 2025

The devastating attacks being traded by Israel and Iran on each other’s major cities constitute a state of emergency. To stop this cycle of retaliation, the international community must unite and demand a ceasefire from both sides.

Having conducted airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear and missile facilities, Israel continues day after day to target infrastructure for energy — the country’s key industry — such as oil storage facilities in Tehran and a gas processing facility linked to an offshore gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Israel’s military campaign has expanded to include nonmilitary facilities, such as those of the state-run television station, government agencies and hospitals, with the death toll exceeding 200.

Meanwhile, Iran has attacked Tel Aviv in central Israel, among other areas, with missiles and drones. Dozens are reported dead on the Israeli side.

Israel carried out two airstrikes on Iran last year, but avoided targeting key sites such as nuclear facilities. This time, Israel has argued that a “preemptive strike” was needed as Iran’s nuclear development posed a threat to its very existence.

However, Iran was engaged in indirect negotiations with the United States on the nuclear issue. Given the talks, could the threat to Israel be really called imminent?

In a video message after the latest strikes began, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the people of Iran to rise up against an “evil regime.” Some people have said that Israel sought not only to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons but also to assassinate the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and overthrow the regime.

The turmoil must not be prolonged through large-scale military actions, and the crisis must not be allowed to expand to the entire Middle East.

Iran bears heavy responsibility for continuing its nuclear development with little transparency and for raising tensions in the region to an extreme. The country possesses large quantities of highly enriched uranium that can be converted for use in nuclear weapons, and while it asserts that the stockpile is for peaceful purposes, that claim is not convincing.

The United States, which has influence over Israel, must insist on restraint and exert pressure.

The Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Canada, which was attended by U.S. President Trump, could have served as a good opportunity for in-depth discussions on the situation in the Middle East. However, Trump left the summit early, saying he needed to focus on the Middle East situation.

The pro-Israel stance of European leaders is also troubling.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron have expressed their support for Israel. The joint statement on the Middle East situation issued by the G7 explicitly states that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”

Won’t this just encourage Israel to take further action rather than stop the fighting? This calls into question the purpose of the G7.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 18, 2025)