Iran-Israel war is unrealistic

Re “War clouds,” Opinion, April 28

How does Rosa Brooks believe that Israel and Iran would fight each other? It’s not as if they are neighbors. Tel Aviv is almost 1,000 miles from Tehran almost twice as far as Baghdad, which was barely in range for the Israeli fighter jets that carried out the attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor. Israel has the same aircraft today, with the same range and no real aerial tanker capacity. If Israeli planes can’t get to Iran, what difference does Iran’s air defense make? Their armies are hundreds of miles apart, and each would have to go through American forces in Iraq. Neither country has a navy capable of supporting a seaborne invasion or even mounting much of an attack on the other.

True, there is the rhetoric. Anti-Israel rhetoric from Iran is routine, but you need more than talk to fight a war. You have to have the means to attack the enemy. Unless Israel is planning a nuclear first strike on Iran with its own long-range missiles, both sides lack the means to lend substance to their threats.

EDWARD FUREY

Woodhaven, N.Y.