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In-Depth Issues:
Iranian Regime Concerned about Losing Loyalty of Security Forces - Oded Ailam ( Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
In recent days, there have been reports of a massive deployment of "Sarallah" units, the Revolutionary Guard forces responsible for securing Tehran, at central squares and strategic intersections.
A clear sign of the regime's concern about losing loyalty among local policing forces is its growing reliance on external actors.
Reports from recent days indicate the arrival of "advisors" and special units from the Shiite militias in Iraq to the provinces of Khuzestan and Sistan-Baluchestan, as well as Tehran and Mashhad.
The regime also continues to recruit stateless Afghan refugees into the Fatemiyoun Division.
The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center.
IDF: Troops Will Stay in South Lebanon Buffer Zone until Northern Israel Is Safe - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday and said:
"The mission assigned to us by the political echelon is to stand on the line that prevents direct fire on the communities [in northern Israel]."
"We will not tolerate attacks or fire on our communities, and we will not leave until security for the communities of the north is guaranteed over time."
"We severely damaged Iran. We destroyed most components of Iran's defense industry, including the factories that manufacture weapons for Hizbullah."
Addressing threats along Israel's borders, he said, "We changed the concept. We will not allow a terror army on our borders. We will not let them prepare - there is no containment, there is action. We will continue to remove threats wherever they emerge."
IDF Seeks to Deal with Hizbullah's Explosive Drones - Elisha Ben Kimon ( Ynet News)
In southern Lebanon, Hizbullah's explosive drones have become one of the most challenging threats facing IDF soldiers. Since the beginning of the week, two Israelis have been killed by explosive drone strikes.
When Hizbullah switched to drones using fiber optics that make detection and interception harder, Israel found itself facing a "low-tech" threat that disrupts its operational plans.
Lebanese sources report that Hizbullah has amassed a huge stockpile of First-Person View (FPV) drones in recent months with a range of 50 km. and an explosive payload of 7 kg.
The drone is physically connected by fiber optic cable to the operator, avoiding detection by IDF electronic warfare systems. Hizbullah launches the drones from areas where the IDF is not present.
See also IDF Races to Counter Hizbullah's Growing Drone Threat - Neta Bar ( Israel Hayom)
The IDF is working on defensive and offensive measures to counter Hizbullah's drone force buildup.
The military wants tactical radars that can move with the forces and provide relatively long warning times, allowing troops to prepare for interception or at least take cover.
For now, the IDF doctrine for detecting drones relies on soldiers serving as spotters.
The IDF is examining various technologies from Israel and abroad, while also procuring existing, available means to deal with the threat, including protective nets, fragmentation rounds, shotguns and dedicated launchers for intercepting small aircraft.
The military is also emphasizing an offensive approach, striking the operators and systems before they become a threat to troops.
Hamas Uses Ceasefire to Amass Illicit Cash - Editorial ( Washington Times)
Since the October 2025 ceasefire, Hamas in Gaza has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars, in addition to $134-335 million in cash it managed to hide in its tunnel network during its war against Israel.
Much of that money came from the Bank of Palestine in Gaza City, which Hamas looted multiple times in 2024.
Hamas has been levying charges of 15-25% per humanitarian aid vehicle, with 4,200 aid trucks entering every week.
An IDF source said Hamas taxes the aid twice - a percentage "on every truck carrying food, fuel, or medicine, and an additional tax on the goods when they are sold in the market. Hamas is making tens of millions of shekels a day, and the coffers keep growing."
Swiss National Council Votes Against Recognizing Palestinian State - Mathilda Heller ( Jerusalem Post)
Switzerland's National Council, one house of its bicameral parliament, on Tuesday voted 116-66 against recognizing Palestine as a state, with 11 abstentions.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council said that conditions are not yet in place to recognize a Palestinian state.
It cited international law, which requires an independent and functioning government. The committee found that there is no functioning organization to govern Palestine.
Erich Vontobel of the Swiss People's Party, Zurich, said, "Gaza remains under Hamas control. Hamas opposes peace, openly seeks Israel's destruction, and is classified by Switzerland as a terrorist organization."
"Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority does not exercise unified and effective state authority over the entire territory."
Furthermore, a majority of the committee believes recognition now would "run counter to Swiss neutrality and jeopardize Switzerland's role as mediator in seeking peace."
Tehran's Embassy in London Calls on Iranians Living in UK to Sacrifice Their Lives for the Regime - Andrew Jehring ( Daily Mail-UK)
Tehran's embassy in London has urged UK residents willing to die for the regime to sign up to an official "martyrdom" program, sparking national security concerns in Britain.
Consulate officials posted a message encouraging "proud Iranian compatriots residing in Britain" to register for its Jan Fada ("sacrificing life") scheme.
It asked for "all brave and noble children of Iran" with a "desire for the people's defense of the land of Iran" to come forward in a "display of solidarity, loyalty, and national zeal."
The post in Farsi on the embassy's official Telegram channel read: "Let us all, to a man, give our bodies to be slain."
Australian police are investigating a similar recruitment drive from the Canberra embassy.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Trump Prepares for Extended Blockade of Iran - Alexander Ward
President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said. In recent meetings, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran's economy and oil exports. He assessed that his other options - resume bombing or walk away from the conflict - carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said.
He still wants to tighten the grip on the regime until it caves to his key demand: dismantling all of Iran's nuclear work.
On Monday, Trump told aides that Iran's three-step offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and save nuclear talks for the final phase proved Tehran wasn't negotiating in good faith. A senior U.S. official said the blockade is demonstrably crushing Iran's economy.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Two Jewish Men Stabbed in London - David Woode
Two Jewish men were stabbed in broad daylight within minutes of each other in Golders Green on Wednesday.
Moshe Shine, 76, and Shlomo Rand, 34, were in stable condition in hospital. The suspect, a British national born in Somalia, 45, tried to stab police officers before he was tasered and arrested.
Attacks on Jewish communities have soared in the wake of October 7.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said: "This is another horrendous act of violence directed at our Jewish communities. Too many Jewish people in this country feel they have to make choices that no Briton should ever have to make, about how they dress, where they go, or how visibly they live their lives. That is completely unacceptable and has gone on for far too long."
Sir Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, said, "Words of condemnation are no longer sufficient. This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country." (The Times-UK)
See also I Tackled the Golders Green Knifeman - Yonathan Elkouby (Telegraph-UK)
- State Department: Palestinian Authority Continues Paying Palestinian Terrorists
A new State Department "Report to Congress on Palestinian Payments for Acts of Terrorism and Limitation on Assistance to the West Bank and Gaza" has found that despite changing the mechanisms, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continued payments and benefits to Palestinian terrorists and their families.
During 2025, the PA provided $156 million in payments and benefits to Palestinian terrorists and their families. Of this total, the PA provided $126 million to Palestinian terrorists and released Palestinian terrorists from Israeli jails and $30 million to the families of Palestinian terrorists who died committing acts of terrorism.
A shift to a system that fails to end specific payments and benefits for Palestinian terrorists and their families is not compliant with the provisions of the Taylor Force Act. The PA continues to provide a system of compensation in support of terrorism through new mechanisms and under a different name. PA Finance Minister Estephan Salameh reaffirmed in February 2026 the PA's commitment to continue paying terrorists.
PA officials continue to fail to publicly condemn acts of violence against U.S. and Israeli citizens in violation of the Taylor Force Act. The NGO IMPACT-se, which analyzes schoolbooks, released a new report in November 2025 which found that PA school textbooks for grades 1-12 continue to glorify jihad and incitement to violence. (U.S. State Department)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- IDF Intercepts Hamas-Backed Gaza Flotilla Far from Israel - Itamar Eichner
The IDF began taking control of the Global Sumud Flotilla's Spring 2026 Mission to Gaza late Wednesday, west of Crete. An Israeli official said the decision to intercept the flotilla at such a great distance, in international waters, stemmed from its size: 58 vessels carrying 404 activists.
In a video posted online by participants, the Israeli Navy can be heard hailing the flotilla. "This is the Israeli Navy. Attempts to breach the lawful maritime security blockade of Gaza constitute a violation of international law. If you wish to legally transfer aid to Gaza, you may do so through established and recognized channels. Please change your course and return to your port of origin. If you are carrying humanitarian aid, you are invited to proceed to the Port of Ashdod, where the aid will undergo security inspection and subsequently be transferred to Gaza."
The Israel Foreign Ministry said the "medical aid" found on board consisted of "condoms and drugs."
The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that "the driving force behind the flotilla provocation is Hamas - joining hands with professional provocateurs - with the aim of sabotaging President Trump's peace plan transition to its second phase and intended to divert attention from Hamas's refusal to disarm."
The ministry said that following UN Security Council Resolution 2803, which adopted Trump's peace plan, humanitarian activity in Gaza had been managed by the Board of Peace and the Civil-Military Coordination Center, which had sent "enormous quantities" of humanitarian aid into Gaza. "Like previous provocations, this is nothing but a PR stunt: a provocation without humanitarian aid." (Ynet News)
See also IDF Seizes 21 Boats in Gaza Flotilla - Itamar Eichner
Israeli naval forces seized 21 of the flotilla boats, focusing on the larger, faster vessels - described as its "main and most significant" ships. About 170 activists were detained and transferred to a navy vessel to be brought to Israel in custody. The seized boats were disabled, with their engines rendered inoperable and left at sea. Around 40 other vessels continue toward Israel under close monitoring. Another flotilla of 40 boats from Turkey is expected.
(Ynet News)
See also
Video: Flotilla Activists aboard Israeli Vessels (Israel Foreign Ministry)
- Head of Hamas Intelligence Operations Division Who Helped Plan Oct. 7 Killed in Gaza - Elisha Ben Kimon
The IDF and Israel Security Agency announced that they eliminated Iyad Ahmad Abd al-Rahman Shambari, head of the operations division at Hamas's military intelligence headquarters, in northern Gaza on Monday. The IDF said Shambari was responsible for "consolidating operational situational awareness for the entire Gaza Strip....In his capacity, he took an active part in planning Hamas's raid as part of the murderous massacre carried out on October 7." (Ynet News)
- Netanyahu Urges Trump to Support Deadline for Lebanon Talks as Hizbullah Continues Attacks - Tobias Siegal
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged U.S. President Donald Trump to limit ongoing negotiations with Lebanon to a 2 to 3-week window ending in mid-May, during a call Wednesday, Israel's Channel 12 reported.
Israeli officials have argued that continued Hizbullah attacks against IDF troops and northern communities are eroding the chances of reaching an agreement and undermining Israel's deterrence. Limiting Israel's operations in Lebanon benefits Hizbullah by allowing it to regroup and continue posing a threat to forces on the ground.
If talks fail to produce results within the requested timeframe, Israel seeks to move forward with its original plan of expanded military action against Hizbullah in Lebanon north of the Litani River. South of the Litani River, Israel and Hizbullah have exchanged near-daily fire in recent days. (Jerusalem Post)
See also Hizbullah Launched Missiles and Drones at Israeli Communities on Thursday - Lilach Shoval (Israel Hayom)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Iran
- Explaining the Iran-U.S. Value Asymmetry - Dr. Irwin J. Mansdorf
The geopolitical friction between the U.S. and Iran is driven by fundamentally different cultural value systems that dictate their respective psychological motives. American strategy is anchored in the Enlightenment ideal of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" - a constitutional guarantee that prioritizes the avoidance of suffering and the preservation of individual well-being. In contrast, Iran is guided by a Shiite theological framework that sacralizes suffering and martyrdom as essential components of a moral victory within the context of jihad.
This ideological rift creates a profound psychological asymmetry, explaining why a diplomatic stalemate persists even in the wake of overwhelming American kinetic superiority. While the U.S. seeks "Win-Win" solutions through the application of military strength, Iran pursues strategic depth through a long-term lens that views the endurance of hardship as a form of sovereignty.
These conflicting values explain the failure of traditional negotiations. Iran views capitulation as a moral defeat, allowing them to absorb heavy losses that would be politically catastrophic in a Western context. Given the Iranian capacity to tolerate military pain, American interests may be better served by adding non-kinetic strategies - such as economic isolation and leveraging internal domestic unrest - that challenge the regime's stability without feeding its martyrdom narrative.
The writer is a clinical psychologist and a fellow at the Jerusalem Center specializing in political psychology. (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- What Thomas Jefferson Would Do about Iran's Barbary Pirates - Clifford D. May
The Western approach to diplomacy is to attempt to reconcile legitimate but conflicting interests. Iran's rulers, by contrast, regard compromise as capitulation. And they have no interests that we should recognize as legitimate. For 47 years, they have vowed "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America" - unambiguous declarations of war.
American presidents in the past have responded: Maybe the theocrats don't really mean it! Maybe they'll liberalize over time! Maybe we can identify moderates among them! One president sympathized with their "grievances," accommodated their ambitions, and sent them palettes of cash. They were not appeased.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still has hundreds of small, fast-attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Those who use boats to harass or attempt to seize commercial vessels should be designated as pirates. And Americans long ago learned how to deal with pirates.
In 1786, while serving as U.S. Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson questioned an envoy from Tripoli - one of the North African Barbary states - about his government's habit of seizing American and European ships and cargo, and enslaving sailors. The envoy said he was doing his religious duty, enforcing Islamic law as he understood it. From then on, Jefferson opposed paying ransom or tribute to the Barbary Pirates and deemed negotiations futile. As president in 1801, he took a kinetic approach: the First Barbary War (1801-1805).
Iran's rulers, whatever their internal disagreements, all call themselves "Islamic revolutionaries." Their revolution, we should understand, is against America. If Iran's rulers are praying for martyrdom, that may be a matter on which we can find agreement.
The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (Washington Times)
- The Iranian Regime Has Suffered Significant Strategic Defeats - Mark Dubowitz
As a result of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, Iran's nuclear program has been set back years. Uranium enrichment and reprocessing has been gutted and weaponization sites destroyed. Fordow is inoperable, Natanz is in ruins, and a generation of senior nuclear scientists has been eliminated.
Monthly production of ballistic missiles is down from 100 to near zero. Half the regime's missiles and launchers have been destroyed. Iran's air defenses have been devastated. It faces a naval blockade, near-zero oil exports, choked imports, wrecked steel and petrochemical sectors, triple-digit inflation, and a currency that is effectively worthless.
Khamenei is dead. Larijani is dead. Hundreds of senior IRGC, intelligence, military, and Basij commanders are dead. Gulf states are shutting down the sanctions-busting, money-laundering, and financial escape routes the regime has relied on for years. Iran's proxy network is shattered, with Hizbullah and Hamas heavily degraded.
In Syria, Assad is gone and the new government in Damascus is actively blocking Iranian arms transfers to Hizbullah. With Hizbullah battered and resupply choked, Israel and Lebanon have opened direct peace talks for the first time since 1983.
There is much more to do, but it is hard to comprehend how much has been achieved.
The writer is CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. (X)
- What Victory Looks Like When Your Foe Won't Surrender - Jonathan Schanzer
Israel and the U.S. certainly won the conventional war with the Iranian regime from Day One, flying into Iran with air superiority. But the regime countered by launching an asymmetric economic war, attacking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz as well as energy and other critical infrastructure belonging to the surrounding Gulf Arab states.
Adherents to jihadism believe that their faith commands them to fight and that victory is inevitable, even if it takes decades. Adherents to Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 Islamic Revolution view the world this way. When your enemy is the infidel, and your victory is ordained by Allah, your obligation is to keep fighting, even in defeat. Surrender is not an option.
The Islamic Republic embraces this mindset. Military losses or economic pain are spun as proof of martyrdom and sacrifice, to be answered with even greater confidence in the revolution.
But just because someone refuses to admit defeat doesn't mean he is immune to it. The relentless Israeli-American assault on the assets of the regime is undeniably taking its toll. The problem is that such things take time.
The writer is executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
(Commentary)
Arab World
- The UAE Charts a Bold, New Course - Ella Rosenberg
Effective May 1, 2026, the United Arab Emirates will terminate its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Its rationale is heavily economic, driven by the UAE's frustration with the cartel's production quotas. Following a massive $150 billion investment program, the UAE expanded its production capacity to 4.85 million barrels per day. Yet, under OPEC+ constraints championed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE was forced to pump 30% below its actual capacity.
The UAE's calculus is to monetize reserves now, while demand is high, rather than leaving stranded assets in the ground to satisfy a cartel. When the Strait of Hormuz eventually reopens, the UAE will emerge completely unbound by quotas, ready to flood the market with an incremental 1.6 mb/d.
When the Middle East exploded into open conflict on Feb. 28, Iran launched 550 ballistic and cruise missiles and over 2,200 drones at the Emirates. The Iranian bombardment proved that economic integration and diplomatic hedging do not grant immunity.
This traumatic realization served as the catalyst for Abu Dhabi to aggressively assert its own sovereignty, deciding that it will no longer subvert its economic or political interests to regional consortiums that offer no tangible protection. During the intense weeks of Iranian bombardment, the UAE expressed profound frustration with the lack of meaningful support from its Arab neighbors.
For Gulf countries like Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, the situation is a strategic nightmare. They have witnessed firsthand that hosting sprawling U.S. military bases makes them primary targets for Iranian retaliation, yet fails to provide an absolute shield against asymmetric drone and missile swarms.
The writer is an Iran and financial terrorism expert and a senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
Observations:
- According to Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., the war with Iran began in 1979 with the founding of the Islamic Republic. Since then, Iran has incessantly threatened the U.S. and pledged to wipe Israel off the map. Indeed, since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has faced non-stop bombardment from Iran and its proxies. What is presented as a war of choice in the West, he argues, has long been inevitable.
- Oren said in an interview: "We need to understand what the Islamic Republic is. It is, more accurately, an Islamist jihadist republic, and on a theological level it is not very different from Hamas, ISIS or the Muslim Brotherhood. It exists to recreate the medieval caliphate in the Middle East and, ultimately, to extend that across the globe. That is its raison d'etre. Its modus operandi for realizing that vision is terror, war and subversion."
- "Can we make peace with Iran? Definitely - and we are desperate to make peace with the Iranian people. Just not with this particular government. We can make peace with the Palestinians, but not with Hamas. We can make peace with Syria, but not with ISIS. We can make peace with Lebanon, but not with Hizbullah. These movements don't tend to make concessions, because concessions fly in the face of their theology."
- "I thought the case for going to war against Iran was, as they say in America, a 'slam dunk.' It was the most clear-cut case I could think of. Here is a country that has declared war against the United States since the day of its inception in 1979, a government that has acted on that declaration again and again, killing many hundreds of Americans and launching thousands of attacks, each of which constitutes an act of war under international law."
- "Here is a country that has lied about its military capabilities repeatedly. It may not have been an imminent threat at that precise moment, but neither was North Korea before it got a nuclear weapon. If you ask Bill Clinton whether he would go back and use military force to stop North Korea from getting a bomb, the answer would certainly be yes. The Trump administration should have told Americans: 'This is an opportunity to make the world safer for your children and your grandchildren.'"
- "In Israel, it's a different story. We were actually being hit by missiles. Next door to where I am sitting now is my bomb shelter. I was running into it as many as 30 times a day, sheltering from missiles large enough not only to take down this building, but to take down the entire neighborhood. Israelis have been willing to stay the course, because to us this is a once-in-a-generation - perhaps once-in-an-epoch - opportunity to bring about a strategic change in the Middle East."
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