Sometimes it’s important to zoom out. As much of the news media microanalyzes specific elements of the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran’s regime, it’s vital not to lose sight of the overarching case for, and purpose of, the conflict.

The regime has been violently anti-American since its very inception, nearly half a century ago. “Death to America” isn’t just a favored chant — it’s an animating and acted-upon ethos. It has pursued nuclear weapons for years, lying through its teeth about that ambition every step of the way. After a devastating setback to that program last summer, the regime has escalated its work to erect an umbrella of conventional weapons, including missiles and drones, to shield the nuclear malfeasance it is attempting to reconstitute. It has lied about that, too, revealing that even very recent public assurances about the types of weapons it has, and supposedly has not, developed were fraudulent. Its missiles can reach most of Europe, something it swore was not the case, until it demonstrated the opposite reality.