The thing that's strange to me is why they waited so long. They have been sabre-rattling for war with Iran since George W. Bush was in office. If I recall correctly, we were supposed to get involved there by about 2007. But the last 2 years of Bush in office, he did basically nothing and dished the problem off to his successors.

What just happened is almost exactly the scenario that was discussed back in the 2000s: Bunker busters to eliminate the facilities at Natanz, et al. So, I'm not sure what the hold up was? America apparently had the exact capabilities then, and Iran in that time period gained no additional abilities to deter such an attack.

It seems like America was waiting for something but I'm not really sure what. There are theories though that Israel forced this because popular support for Israel is dying in the USA with the decline of the Boomers and Evangelical Christianity (more recent Evangelicals aren't as pro-Israel and actually want to focus on the American economy, illegal immigration, etc). So it's now or never from the perspective of Israel.

But the delay still is puzzling. Wouldn't it just have been better, from a strategic perspective, to do it back then?