Bowen: Trump and Netanyahu wanted to reshape the Middle East - now they risk a permacrisis

"To the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years: smite the terror regime hip and thigh. This is what I promised – and this is what we shall do."

— Benjamin Netanyahu , Politician

"But today, I bring this marker to show a great blessing, the blessing of a new Middle East."

— Benjamin Netanyahu , Politician

"the protracted talks with Iran are starting to get 'very boring.'"

— Donald Trump , Politician

"I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"The war didn’t go the way they wanted it to go."

— Yossi Mekelberg , Academic

"Regime change was the goal."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"We're going to create the conditions, first, for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny."

— Benjamin Netanyahu , Politician

"If President Trump decides that he's reached the end of this operation before Netanyahu wants it to end, he's still going to end it."

— Dan Shapiro , Academic

"A large part of the American public will view it as the Israeli tail wagging the American dog and that it is dragging the United States to a war in the Middle East that isn’t theirs."

— Ofer Shelah , Academic

"The U.S. involvement allows us to do what I have been hoping to do for 40 years — to deliver a crushing blow to the terror regime."

— Benjamin Netanyahu , Politician