YONI BEN MENACHEM -- According to the report, Khomeini will have to make "difficult and successful decisions" that he has so far been able to avoid since replacing Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Islamic Revolution, in power in 1989.

According to senior political officials, a principled decision has already been made in Israel to respond to the Iranian attack with an attack on a strategic target in Iran. Israel's decision to attack strategic targets in Iran in the coming days poses a big problem for Khamenei. 

There are already very worrying signs, from Iran's point of view, that the Iranian public sees very well, that Israel has begun to dismantle the military power of some of the important Iranian affiliates in the Middle East: Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The severe damage to the Iranian axis worries Khamenei, who has built this axis with great effort in recent years to tighten the stranglehold around Israel. Now Israel has taken practical steps to break free from this stranglehold and has had important successes.

For many years, Khamenei led a wise policy against Israel, without Iran leaving any fingerprints. He established a strangulation ring around Israel through the affiliates he established and armed, headed by the Hezbollah organization which became an Iranian army on Lebanese soil and was considered Iran's "front post" which is supposed to protect it from an Israeli or American attack on the nuclear facilities.

He unquestioningly supported General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, and Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbollah. The close cooperation between Soleimani and Nasrallah made Iran the one that makes the decisions in four Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sana'a.

He promoted the Iranian nuclear project and succeeded in getting the Western powers to sign a bad nuclear agreement at the same time as establishing the well-armed axis of resistance in the Middle East.

Despite the assassinations attributed to Israel on Iranian soil, chief among them the assassination of Mohsen Fakhri Zadeh, the father of the Iranian nuclear program, Khamenei was wary of ordering a direct attack on Israel from Iranian soil.

Last April, something happened after Israel killed in Damascus General Hassan Mahdawi, the commander of the "Quds" forces in Syria and Lebanon. That's when Khamenei decided on a direct ballistic missile and UAV attack from Iranian soil towards Israel.

Iran's second ballistic missile attack on Israel, which occurred this week, symbolizes a fundamental change in Iranian policy, Khamenei was called upon to defend Iran's honor and status, after Israel killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Iranian soil, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and General Iranian Abbas Nilforoshan, commander of the Quds Force in Lebanon, Iran is convinced that Israel is determined to eliminate the entire leadership of Hezbollah.

Iran suffers significant losses, General Qassem Soleimani was killed in Iraq in 2020 by the US Army and so far Iran has not been able to avenge his death for fear of a direct confrontation with the US.

Since October 7 last year, Israel has refrained from directly attacking Iran, even though it is behind the attacks of Hamas, Hezbollah and the other Shia militias on Israel and practically declared a long war of attrition to bring it down.

However, the change in Iranian policy and the transition to direct ballistic missile attacks on Israel, in order to help its affiliates attack Israel, is crossing a "red line" from Israel's point of view. Senior political officials in Jerusalem say that the Iranian leadership has "taken off the masks" and is now openly leading the attacks on Israel.

Senior political officials say that the Middle East is on the cusp of a volcano that is about to erupt and lead to a regional war. The Iranian leadership is at the crossroads of important decisions and must decide in the coming days where it is headed. If it reacts to the expected Israeli military response in the coming days, it could drag Israel into an even stronger military response.

Security sources say that it seems that the Iranian leadership is getting close to making a dangerous decision about trying to save Hezbollah and Hamas from Israel at any cost. 

All the prestige and honor of the Iranian leadership as a regional power is now at stake and it cannot afford to lose to Israel.

On the other hand, Iran understands that it may pay a high price in a direct war with Israel such as the loss of its nuclear facilities and severe damage to its oil industry which will significantly increase the economic crisis from which it has been suffering for a long time.