After a lot of research on the middle east I believe we are days away from Israel attacking Iran. It will shock the world. They will send in fighter jets to take out primary locations such as nuclear development facilities and military bases. They may also knock out the electric grid and other utility systems. The attack may include the use of long range missiles as well. Israel will primarily target any missiles that would be used for retaliation.
The Iranians will then retaliate, if they are able - against Israeli cities and military bases and ports. It is at that point the US will join the battle and also start an extensive bombing campaign on Iran. The typical coalition of nations will form against Iran like in the gulf war, which is just a token amount of extra jet attacks on Iran. The US has already preplaced Naval and air force assets for this possibility of war.
The first 48 hours are critical in seeing if Iran can and will retaliate. Then we'll know if they have nukes on missiles they can use against Israel. Apparently Israel feels this is all worth the risk to eliminate Iran has an adversary.
There is also an outside chance Iran would activate sleeper cells in the USA, which they call the great Satan. We can't rule out Iran nuking NYC or Washington, DC, or other targets and cities during this war, including other US bases in the middle east. There are many unknowns involving an enemy like this. We also don't know how China or Russia will react to this conflict.
All of these questions have been considered and discussed in great detail by Israel and the US, and it is my opinion they will push the button regardless of the risks involved. The failure to do anything is too great for Israel, they feel they must act sooner rather than later. Under the Obama-Biden regime, they remember how they favored Iran and refused to stop them.
Whether Trump wins the election or not doesn't matter to them at this point, they have an opportunity to take Iran out and they have made a decision to go for it. Nuclear scientists have concluded that Iran is weeks away from developing their own nukes, regardless if they have a dozen nukes already. Allowing Iran to exist as a nuclear state like North Korea, is totally unacceptable to the Israelis. Their country is so small, they cannot absorb much of a nuclear attack without totally destroying the infrastructure and losing millions of lives in the process.
The idea that they can retaliate after an attack and destroy other middle eastern nations with nuclear missiles is a mute point. They would still find themselves decimated by bombs and in a radioactive wasteland for decades if not generations to come. They will conclude that the only choice they have is to preemptively attack an enemy before they can attack Israel. When a person adds up all the facts, it makes sense that Israel will offensively attack Iran.
China and Russia may stay out of it, especially since the attack will take place suddenly and quickly and they won't be able to respond diplomatically or militarily quickly enough to make a difference.
It is not likely Israel will use nukes on the surface during the first day of attacks. But they may use nukes for bunker buster bombs to take out hidden nuclear facilities and missile storage areas. But if Iran counter attacks in any way, then the gloves are off, and Israel will then use nukes on the surface as needed - to make sure they knock out all retaliatory capabilities. And, all of this is without factoring in what the US will do. When you add the US military into the mix you will see a "shock and awe" war that will surpass what was done against Iraq in the first gulf war. George Eaton