How can Israel respond to Iran’s brazen attack?

After Iran’s attack on Israel was largely thwarted by the country’s defenses and key allies, attention has turned to how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could choose to respond.

"The fact that the Iranian attack was a total failure does not detract even an ounce from Israel’s obligation to retaliate against Iran for its direct act of aggression," Jonathan Conricus, a former spokesman for the IDF and senior fellow at Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), focused on the Middle East, told Fox News Digital.

The comments come after Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones from its own territory at Israel on Saturday, an attack that Israel claims was largely beaten back by its sophisticated defenses and the help of allies in the region.

But the brazen Iranian attempt has opened up questions about how Israel may choose to respond, even amid reports that the Biden administration has urged Netanyahu to show restraint in a bid to prevent an escalating conflict in the Middle East.

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"It’s hard to conceive of a world in which Israel responds to Iran’s crossing of redlines by merely absorbing Tehran’s missile and drone strikes. It’s even harder to think of such a world in a post-October 7 Middle East," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at FDD focused on Iranian security, told Fox News Digital. "Despite two decades of alarm ringing over the Iranian nuclear program, Israel has thus far not overtly attacked Tehran’s nuclear program. One wonders the degree to which this may change as Israel prepares its response."

According to a report from the Jerusalem Post, such an attack on Iran’s nuclear capabilities has been the subject of years of planning, with the