Israel has attacked several targets in Iran overnight into Friday. Both Iran's political heart, the capital Tehran, as well as the center of the country's nuclear technology program, Natanz, have been hit.
There are several reasons why Israel is attacking now, according to Persson, who is a political scientist at Linnéuniversitetet.
On the one hand, the Iranian suspected nuclear weapons program has progressed so far, he says.
But I think the big factor is that Israel sees that there is an open window now. This has to do with the fact that Israel's relative power has strengthened in the region after the wars against Iran's proxy actors, Hamas and Hizbollah, which are heavily, heavily weakened.
Planned for decades
Israel has planned an attack on Iran for decades, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long wanted to carry it out.
Throughout his time as Israel's Prime Minister, he has been driven by the personal mission to neutralize the Iranian threat to Israel. That is to say, to knock out Iran's capacity to harm Israel with military attacks, says Persson.
But that also means that Iran has had decades to prepare for this, with all that implies in terms of potential revenge actions.
On Friday morning, Iran responded to the attack with 100 drones against Israel. According to Persson, Iran is expected to respond in several ways, and responses can also come from proxy actors.
They can come, for example, from Iraq, Yemen, and probably also from Hizbollah in Lebanon. One can also think of, Iran has said itself, that they will strike against American bases in the region.
Multifront war for Israel
If the development of events leads to a full-scale war between Iran and Israel, the Israeli military will fight on several fronts, including Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Yemen.
Can Israel fight on so many fronts at the same time?
It has previously been something that Israel has tried to avoid, one wants to have quick wars on one front at a time. But on a couple of occasions, Israel has fought successful multifront wars, but that was a long time ago, says Persson.
It's also the case that in the war in Gaza, Hamas is heavily weakened, it's almost just one-way shooting from Israel against Gaza. And in Lebanon, Hizbollah is heavily weakened. So the question is whether these actors, the Iranian proxy actors, can do anything in the situation they are in.
