And not a moment too soon, either. Iran had already signaled that it would directly retaliate against Israel for the hit on Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. That raised expectations that Iran would launch another massive missile and rocket attack similar to the attack in April, which Israel and its partners almost entirely negated, and that it could happen immediately.

Curiously, Western intel sources hear that Iran wants to time this for a Jewish mourning commemoration that is ten days off. That seems like a long wait -- and time for everyone to prepare the defenses, too:

Western intelligence sources told Sky News Arabia that they had evidence Iran plans to attack Israel on Tisha B’Av in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which begins on August 12 and ends on August 13, the site reported on Friday.

Iran’s attack will reportedly be coordinated with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terror group embedded in Lebanon. 

On Tisha B’Av, Jews lament the destruction of the first and second Temples. During the annual event, there is fasting, mourning and a practice of self-denial. ...

The report claimed that Jewish Israelis may feel particularly vulnerable on this day - adding an additional layer of psychological torment. 

Assuming this is accurate, a delay could increase the psychological tension, sure. But it also allows Israel time enough to arrange its defenses and line up its allies. The Israelis haven't wasted any time making those arrangements, the Times of Israel reported this afternoon:

Expecting to be attacked after Iran and Hezbollah have threatened to avenge the killings of terror chiefs overnight Wednesday-Thursday, Israel is finalizing arrangements with allies for a regional coalition to thwart such attacks, Channel 12 reports.

It names the US, UK, Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan as ready to help intercept missiles and drones should they be fired — in what it says is essentially the same coalition that almost completely thwarted Iran’s April 13-14 drone and missile attack on Israel.

That in itself is impressive, especially given that Jordan and Egypt sharply criticized Israel for the Haniyeh hit that makes this necessary. One has to imagine that some of that public criticism was performative for their own populations, given Israel's unpopularity in those circles, but some of it might have been legit anger over getting dragged into another direct military confrontation with Iran. It also demonstrates, though, that these states assess Iran to be a far greater threat to their security than Israel or even their partnership with Israel.

But this seems especially significant, if the intel about the target date turns out to be accurate:

It also says Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have spoken again. And it says several US ships with relevant capabilities to detect and intercept projectiles have been dispatched to the area.

The US has already stationed some of these assets in place, so it's not as though we would have been totally unprepared to defend Israel from another aerospace attack. The longer that Iran waits to launch it, however, the more assets we can move into place to thwart it. And if we have ten days before the attack, we can move a lot more defensive assets into this theater.

One has to wonder if that isn't the Iranian calculation, too. An assassination on their soil is certainly a cassus belli in an environment where the cassi are stacking up like cordwood. They almost have to retaliate after the Haniyeh hit. But by putting it off a few more days, Iran is allowing everyone to prepare to keep the damage from escalating the conflict into a war Iran not only can't win but one that could trigger a popular uprising that would end the regime. 

Besides, it's becoming clear that Iran has more or less lost its Hamas proxy army as an effective fighting/terrorism corps. Israel claimed today that they took out five of Yahya Sinwar's senior commanders in a tunnel fight ten days ago:

Approximately 10 days ago, several senior Hamas members, including Ruhi Mushtaha, a close associate of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, were reportedly killed, according to a report in the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

In addition to Mushtaha, Bassam Al-Saraj and three other high-ranking members of Hamas's military wing, including intelligence chief Abed Al-Hadi Siam of the Gaza Brigade, were also eliminated.

Perhaps we could look at the mullahs' Google data to see if they've been doing any searches on "the sunk cost fallacy." They miscalculated the October 7 attacks and the costs keep going up the longer they try to convert off the miscalculation. The onus for breaking that cycle is on the mullahs of Tehran, and they should grasp that by now.