Already the Iranian military is goading them, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claiming on Sunday that its strikes were “even more successful than anticipated”.

He also claimed that the attack was “deliberately constrained, matching the scale of aggression exhibited by the Zionist regime.”

Israel too is posturing.

A senior Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph the Iranian operation was a significant setback to Tehran.

“They hadn’t predicted the coalition working against them, British, French, US, Jordanians intercepting the missiles… It’s a major strategic blow to the Iranians and a setback for the Iranian axis,” he said.

If there is hope, it resides in the fact that a very significant number of the projectiles fired by Iran on Saturday were brought down by western military assets and not the IDF.

This should, say experts, give Biden and other western leaders real clout over Israel.

“There will be a price tag,” the Israeli intelligence source told The Telegraph. “From now on the Americans will dictate everything in this region to us and, personally, I am afraid that the American administration is going to cease the war.”

Many will hope that he is right, albeit with very different sentiments about the ongoing conflict in Gaza.