London by Thanasis Gavou

The hope of the UK, US and Western allies that the attack on Iran was Israel’s total and not just partial response to Saturday’s attack, British analysts and commentators convey.

Sky News security editor Deborah Haines’ assessment is that the limited scope of the attack near the city of Isfahan creates an optimism in the West that both Israel and Iran now believe they have shown that attacks against them will not go unanswered, “while avoiding turning what is already a high level of escalation into full-scale war.”

However, he notes that in such cases there is always the risk of miscalculation “which could derail this careful choreography”. Therefore, he considers that “the outcome of this combustible situation is impossible to predict”.

That outcome, adds the BBC’s security editor Frank Gardner, depends on whether we have seen the beginning or the end of Israeli retaliation.

According to him, however, Israel seems to have “listened” this allies’ appeal to avoid escalation, but managed to send a message “that he can strike near Iran’s nuclear program in Isfahan province and that next time he could do it with more force.”

In its own analysis, the Times also questions whether the attack on Iran was “a pretext or a prelude to a wider war.”

If it were the former, the newspaper comments, there will be many hard-liners in Israel who will be disappointed, but there will be relief in London and Washington.

The Daily Telegraph comments on the one hand that Netanyahu “did what the world warned him not to do”, with the risk of an all-out war higher than ever due to an “unpredictable” Iran.

On the other hand, however, a columnist for the newspaper believes that with the very limited reaction, Israel “conceded a victory to Iran”, sending Ayatollah Khamenei a message of weakness. “The lesson for the ayatollah is clear: next time he doubled the power of the attack. It’s worth it,” it says.

For the Guardian, the latest development shows that Iran and Israel are now “playing with fire” as the hitherto known rules of their conflict are collapsing and changing.