Wall Street Journal: Israel Seeks to Wrap Up Conflict With Iran Soon

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The flags of Israel and Iran.

Israel continued to strike targets in Iran but is looking to wrap up its war with its rival soon, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, 23 June 2025.

According to Channel 12, Israel believes it will reach its military objectives for Operation Rising Lion — removing the Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile threat from Israel — in the next few days.

Arab officials told The Journal that the U.S. has told Arab partners to pass the message to Iran that Israel is looking to wrap up the operation soon. However, according to the officials, Iran still feels it has to respond to US strikes on Sunday.

On Sunday, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem is willing to end the bombing campaign if Iran agrees to dismantle its nuclear program. “It depends on Iran, not on us,” says the official. “We are happy to wrap it up now; if there’s an agreement at the end, Israel will be content with the result.”

There are two options for ending the campaign itself, according to a report by Channel 12: Israel can unilaterally declare it has achieved its war aims, and Iran ends its missile strikes; or the U.S. announces that both sides have agreed to a ceasefire, something Israel sees as less desirable.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced late on Saturday, 21 June 2025, that United States forces had struck Iran’s three principal nuclear sites, warning Tehran that it would face further devastating attacks if it did not agree to peace.

The U.N.'s atomic-agency chief said U.S. attacks on Iran’s Fordow enrichment site were expected to have caused “very significant damage.”

Furthermore, among the Iranian targets Israel hit was a prison where political prisoners and regime opponents are held and entry points to the Fordow complex.

According to The Wall Street Juournal, Tehran has given few clues on its response to U.S. attacks on its nuclear sites. The regime’s clerical leaders are facing a perilous choice: hit back at the U.S. and risk widening a war with two militarily superior foes, or return to nuclear talks where they would likely have to make concessions on nuclear enrichment and their ballistic-missile arsenal, two pillars of the country’s sovereignty.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in what appeared to be his first comments since the U.S. attack, didn’t mention the U.S. and instead focused on Israel in a post on X. Israel made a “grave mistake” and “it is being punished right now,” the post said.

Leaders in Europe urged Iran not to respond in a way that would “destabilise the region,” while U.S. President Donald Trump gave no ground on his demand for Iran to agree on the U.S.’s terms for a peace deal. President Trump on Sunday didn’t rule out backing a change in Iran’s leadership.




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