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In-Depth Issues:
U.S. Envoy Witkoff: Iranian Negotiators Bragged about Their Nuclear Potential ( i24News)
U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that negotiations with Iran collapsed after Iranian officials openly asserted their intention to enrich uranium at levels sufficient to produce nuclear weapons.
Witkoff said the Iranian negotiators openly acknowledged possessing 460 kg. of uranium enriched to 60% - an amount they admitted could be converted into as many as 11 nuclear bombs.
"They weren't hiding it. They were proud," he said, adding that the Iranian officials also boasted of bypassing international monitoring systems to reach that point.
"President Trump sent us to see if Iran was serious. But by the second meeting, it was clear a deal was impossible."
U.S. Destroys Iran's Navy ( CENTCOM-Facebook)
U.S. Central Command said Tuesday: "Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO."
"The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades. Those days are over."
"Freedom of maritime navigation has underpinned American and global economic prosperity for more than 80 years. U.S. forces will continue to defend it."
See also Satellite Images Show Burning Iranian Naval Ships - Christoph Koettl ( New York Times)
Satellite imagery released on Monday shows smoke billowing from at least four military ships that have burned for more than 24 hours after attacks on the Iranian naval base in Bandar Abbas.
They include two frigates and a forward base ship, one of Iran's largest military vessels.
Three U.S. F-15s Downed by Kuwaiti Air Defenses ( CENTCOM)
Three U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses on Sunday during active combat that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones.
All six aircrew ejected safely and have been safely recovered.
Inside the Plan to Kill Ali Khamenei - Mehul Srivastava ( Financial Times-UK)
When the bodyguards and drivers of senior Iranian officials came to work in Tehran on Saturday, the Israelis were watching.
Nearly all the traffic cameras in Tehran had been hacked for years and their images transmitted to servers in Israel, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The capabilities were part of a years-long intelligence campaign that helped pave the way for the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, one of hundreds of different streams of intelligence.
Israel was also able to disrupt single components of a dozen mobile phone towers near Khamenei's offices, making the phones seem as if they were busy when called and stopping Khamenei's protection detail from receiving possible warnings.
"We knew Tehran like we know Jerusalem," said one current Israeli intelligence official.
Palestinians: Still Committed to Aligning with Enemies of the West - Khaled Abu Toameh ( Gatestone Institute)
Shortly after airstrikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, several Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), issued strong condemnations of Israel and the U.S. and voiced support for the Iranian regime, which has provided significant financial and military support to both for decades.
In 2003, Palestinians took to the streets to voice support for Saddam Hussein against the U.S. invasion.
The Palestinian terror groups that continue to control Gaza, led by Hamas, seem determined to pursue their Jihad against Israel, notwithstanding the death and destruction they inflict on the Palestinians.
President Trump's "Board of Peace" will never be able to bring security and stability as long as these groups continue to maintain a civilian and military presence in Gaza.
The Palestinians have again shown that they do not hesitate to side with the enemies of Israel and the U.S.
Removing Iran's mullahs from power is not enough. The Israeli-U.S. military operation should be expanded to include the Iranian regime's proxies.
The Anti-Israel Mob Is Twisted beyond Belief - Brendan O'Neill ( Telegraph-UK)
In North London, once again a mob of anti-Zionist imbeciles has roughed up a newly-opened branch of Gail's, an upmarket bakery chain.
It was instantly besieged by the usual keffiyeh clowns yelping about Israel's "genocide."
The preening fools of the cult of Israelophobia gathered outside the bakery to unfurl a vast banner saying "Boycott Israel for Genocide and War Crimes in Gaza."
What does a bakery in North London got to do with Israel's war against the antisemites of Hamas?
Gail's was founded by the Israeli baker Gail Mejia, who is not associated with the business anymore.
But I'm not sure that would make a blind bit of difference to the frenzied Israel-haters.
The very fact that Gail's was founded by someone from the Jewish state they love to hate would be enough to damn it as toxic, morally unclean, and a chain that all good people must boycott.
To rage against a bakery on the basis that a citizen of the Jewish nation founded it is to make a spectacle of your own swirling prejudices and irrational hatreds.
We see students fuming like a medieval mob whenever an Israeli representative is invited to their campus. And hotheads wearing the Palestinian flag smashing Israeli produce in the supermarket aisles.
Making moral cleanliness dependent on one's willingness to boycott Israel is twisted beyond belief.
The old fascists wanted to make Europe Judenfrei - the new lot want to make it Israelfrei. Different words, same vile bigotry.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Iranian Strikes on Energy Infrastructure in Qatar and Saudi Arabia Force Closure of Key Production Facilities - Vivian Nereim
Iran attacked energy installations on Monday in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. After Iranian drones targeted a power plant and an energy facility in Qatar, QatarEnergy, one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, said that it would halt production, sending the price of natural gas soaring.
Earlier on Monday, a fire broke out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery in Saudi Arabia's eastern province after two Iranian drones were intercepted, causing fragments to fall. Some units of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure. Five drones were also intercepted near the Prince Sultan Air Base, a military complex south of Riyadh. A drone attack also struck the American embassy compound in Kuwait. (New York Times)
See also Iran Attacked Civilian Targets in Gulf States from the First Moment, Not Just American Bases - Danny Zaken
After the Iranian regime began to attack oil facilities in countries across the Gulf, Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait decided on a dramatic reduction in activities at all oil and gas facilities. An Arab diplomat
said Iran attacked civilian targets in the Gulf states from the first moment and not just American bases. Their defense forces intercepted most of the missiles and UAVs.
A decision made Monday by the Gulf Cooperation Council countries allows each of them to decide on joining American and Israeli forces in counterattacks against Iran.
(Israel Hayom)
- Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Is Closed
Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said Monday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and Iran will fire on any ship trying to pass, Iranian media reported. Iran's move threatens to choke a fifth of global oil flows and send prices sharply higher.
(Reuters)
- U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia Struck by Iranian Drones - Jon Gambrell
Two Iranian drones struck the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, early Tuesday, causing a "limited fire" and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry. (AP)
- Netanyahu Insists U.S. and Israel's Strikes on Iran Won't Lead to "Endless War" - Joseph A. Wulfsohn
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday: "You're not going to have an endless war.
This terror regime in Iran is at the weakest point that it's been since it hijacked Iran from the brave Iranian people 47 years ago. So this is going to be a quick and decisive action. And we're going to create the conditions first for the Iranian people to get control of their destiny, to form their own democratically elected government, which will make a different Iran altogether."
"If we go through what we plan to do, I think it will create conditions for peace. This is not an endless war....This is a gateway to peace. It's the exact opposite of what people are saying."
Netanyahu called the assertion that President Trump was dragged into a war with Iran by Israel "ridiculous." "Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world. He does what he thinks is right for America. He does also what he thinks is right for future generations....Iran is committed to your destruction. And whether people understand it or not, the leader has to understand it. Donald Trump understands it. You don't have to drag him into anything."
The Iranians "are totally fanatic about this - about the goal of destroying America. So, they started building new sites and new places, underground bunkers that would make their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months. If no action was taken now, no action could be taken in the future. And then they could target America. They could blackmail America. They could threaten us and threaten everyone in between. So, action had to be taken." (Fox News)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Over 1,000 IRGC and Iranian Security Officials Killed - Amichai Stein
Israel estimates that 1,000-1,500 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iranian security forces have been killed in the strikes so far, an Israeli source said. On Monday, Israel carried out a significant strike in Tehran, focusing on internal security emergency bases, as well as Basij militia and IRGC installations. Targets included 10 headquarters of Iran's intelligence ministry and IRGC-Quds Force positions. The Israel Air Force also conducted strikes on missile launchers, weapons production facilities, and other IRGC Air Force sites.
(Jerusalem Post)
- IDF Strike Kills Hizbullah Intelligence Chief - Emanuel Fabian
The IDF said Monday that an overnight strike in Beirut killed Hussein Makled, "the head of Hizbullah's intelligence headquarters." Another strike in Beirut killed Adham al-Othman, a senior commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad's al-Quds Brigades in the Lebanese arena. (Times of Israel)
See also IDF Strikes Hizbullah Weapons Depots, Command Centers in Beirut - Emanuel Fabian
The Israel Air Force on Tuesday struck weapon depots, command centers, and satellite communications equipment belonging to Hizbullah's intelligence division in Beirut. The IDF issued evacuation warnings ahead of the strikes "to mitigate harm to civilians." (Times of Israel)
See also IDF Deploys Deeper into Southern Lebanon amid Hizbullah Attacks - Emanuel Fabian
The IDF said Tuesday it had deployed troops deeper within southern Lebanon, beyond the five posts currently held by Israel, "as part of an enhanced forward defense posture...to create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel. The IDF is conducting targeted strikes against Hizbullah terror infrastructure in order to remove threats and prevent infiltration attempts into Israeli territory." This comes after Hizbullah launched rockets and drones at northern Israel on Monday and Tuesday.
(Times of Israel)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Iran War
- War with Iran Reflects Shift in Israel's Strategic Thinking - David M. Halbfinger
The war with Iran reflects an important shift in Israel's strategic thinking since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
No longer does Israel trust its intelligence establishment's ability to read its adversaries' intentions accurately. So when enemies bent on Israel's destruction begin amassing the means to achieve it, Israel now sees an imperative to destroy those capabilities whenever it gets the chance.
According to three Israeli defense officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered military leaders at the end of last year to begin planning for a solo strike against Iran. Once it became clear that the U.S. would be Israel's partner in an attack on Iran, military commanders who were previously unenthusiastic changed their tune. They grasped a historic opportunity to batter Iran, destroy its missile arsenal, further damage its nuclear program, and even try to push the Iranian government to the breaking point.
The shouldering of much of the burden by the Americans - including sending aloft a huge fleet of midair-refueling tankers - made it possible for Israel to deploy its largest air fleet ever on Saturday for a devastating assault on Iranian missile launchers. (New York Times)
- The President Fixes a Historical Mistake - Park MacDougald
President Trump is making a long-overdue correction to decades of a flawed U.S. Iran policy. Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been, both in ideology and in action, an enemy of the U.S.
Washington tolerated its provocations, fearing regional instability or a military quagmire; or they convinced themselves that the Iranians, despite their fanatical rhetoric, were rational actors who could be bargained with.
Especially after the failure of U.S. nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which inadvertently strengthened Tehran's hand in the region, Iran came to be seen as a problem the U.S. would have to live with, for good and for ill.
The basic logic of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was that Washington should recognize Iran's aspirations as legitimate, so that the mullahs would come to feel they had a stake in maintaining the regional order. American allies, in turn, would have to learn to "share the neighborhood" with Iran. This meant restraining U.S. allies from taking their own steps to check Iran's growing regional power.
The fatal flaw in the scheme was in misunderstanding Iran's motivations. The mullah's terror regime wanted what it had always wanted and said it wanted over and over, which was to destroy the U.S.-led order in the region, wipe Israel off the map, and overthrow the Gulf Arab states in a global Islamic revolution to be headquartered in Tehran. The U.S.'s accommodating policy allowed Iran to build a fearsome regional empire. This made the Oct. 7 attacks possible. (Tablet)
- Iran's Regime Is Down, but It Isn't Out - Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh
For Tehran, nuclear diplomacy had overwhelmingly been about deterring the U.S. and Israel - and acquiring sanctions relief and the time required to build long-range ballistic missiles, a well-armed proxy empire, and industrial-scale uranium enrichment.
Unlike earlier presidents, who engaged in diplomacy primarily to avoid war or the embarrassment of Iran going nuclear, Mr. Trump has shown he isn't scared of conflict. For Mr. Trump, this campaign was surely in part about restoring national honor after all the years of ignominy, of watching the Islamic Republic kill Americans while Washington did nothing. Critics who see his Iran policy as reckless likely never felt as acutely as the president the shame that came with Iran's unanswered malevolence.
Some in Washington still don't understand that the 12-day war changed everything. Israel and Iran are and will remain at war. An Israeli consensus has developed: The Jewish state will have a continuous need to degrade the clerical regime's proxies and home defenses, which could shield revitalized nuclear and ballistic-missile programs.
Until recently Israelis didn't care about regime change in the Muslim world, since they had such low regard for the potential for Muslim political evolution. The Islamic Republic's unrivaled antisemitism married to ballistic missiles, dogged nuclear aspirations and lethal proxies changed Israeli minds. Only the collapse of the Islamic Republic offers the Jewish state relief from this existential struggle.
Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. (Wall Street Journal)
- The U.S. Is Finally Responding Decisively to Decades of Aggression - Prof. Eugene Kontorovich
President Trump campaigned on ending "forever wars." The current operation fulfills that promise by finally responding decisively to decades of aggression against America and its allies. The Constitution doesn't forbid launching a surprise attack on a rare meeting of the enemy high command.
The U.S. attacks have a clear legal and practical justification. Iran has sponsored numerous lethal attacks on U.S. troops throughout the Middle East. Its proxies have attacked international shipping and funneled drugs to America. In recent years, Tehran tried to assassinate former President Trump and former senior officials from his first administration.
This isn't a war to protect Israel, which has done an excellent job of protecting itself. For the first time, the U.S. and Israel are fighting side by side. While America's other major allies decided to sit this one out - and even deny the use of air bases on their soil - Israel has proved itself a peer partner that makes it possible for America to achieve its strategic goals at far less risk to its own forces.
The writer is a professor at the George Mason University Law School and a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. (Wall Street Journal)
- The Case for Cautious Optimism about the War in Iran -
Gerard Baker
As critics assail Mr. Trump for the supposed lawlessness of this campaign, it's important to address the moral and legal case for action first, and to note that Iran's government has been responsible for the deaths of more Americans than any other in the past 50 years. From its outset in 1979, the Islamic Republic has made murdering Americans among its highest priorities. Under the principle of self-defense, action taken against a regime that has killed so many of our own citizens is legitimate, not simply for retributive justice, but to prevent further killings.
When a tyrannical, homicidal regime has been committed to killing you for decades, regime change is self-evidently the most desirable outcome. We are all familiar with the historical record: Achieving regime change through air power alone is an extraordinarily long probability. But even if this new round of punishment for Iran fails to dislodge the regime, the further damage we can deal to it can only weaken it still further.
So if regime change doesn't come now, what kind of regime survives? Leaderless, impoverished, isolated, besieged, mostly disarmed, is Iran likely to be stronger after being on the receiving end of a campaign from the most technologically sophisticated and best-equipped militaries in the world?
(Wall Street Journal)
Israeli Security
- Why Modern Day Security Realities Have Evolved Past the Two-State Solution - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland
The events of Oct. 7 sparked a paradigm shift in Israel. The assumption that Hamas was deterred, and therefore did not constitute a significant threat, proved to be flawed, exacting a devastating blood price.
It must be acknowledged that the Two-State Solution in its familiar form no longer serves as a viable alternative for Israel. In theory, one might assume that a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines would be militarily far inferior to Israel and therefore would not constitute an existential threat in a direct, conventional war. Yet that assumption ignores the broader regional context.
Israel is situated in a hostile Middle East and exposed to threats from coalitions of states and armed organizations. The events of Oct. 7 demonstrated that fighting in one arena can rapidly escalate into a multi-front campaign. In today's era, Israel is threatened by precision missiles and drones launched from thousands of kilometers away, from Iraq, Yemen, Iran and even Turkey. In such a reality, establishing a Palestinian state in the heart of the country could become an additional risk node within a much wider tightening ring.
Moreover, the technological revolution in weaponry has implications for demilitarization. Demilitarization used to mean preventing the introduction of heavy weaponry such as tanks and aircraft into the territory of a Palestinian state.
But in 2026, the modern battlefield is built around small, lethal systems that are easy to smuggle, including drones, rockets, and advanced anti-tank missiles such as the Kornet. These can be concealed easily within civilian spaces and supply trucks, making effective oversight nearly impossible. The presence of such systems in the West Bank would pose a direct threat to Israel's main transportation arteries and population centers.
The writer is a former head of Israel's National Security Council. (Jerusalem Post)
Observations:
- Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday that America's major combat operation against Iran - Operation Epic Fury - aimed to cripple Iran's military and ability to pose a threat. The joint force operation that was coordinated with Israel took months and in some cases years of "deliberate planning and refinement."
- "Across every domain - land, air, sea, cyber - the U.S. Joint Force delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran's ability to conduct and sustain combat operations."
- The first moves involved U.S. cyber capabilities, which can include jamming, spoofing, signal interruption, manipulation of digital networks, satellite interference, and more. Their focus was "disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate, and respond."
- Then more than 100 aircraft, including fighter jets, tankers, early warning and control planes, electronic warfare planes, bombers, and uncrewed aerial systems, were launched from land and sea, from within the region and from the U.S., forming a single wave for a daylight strike.
- Air Force B-2 bombers, flying from the U.S., dropped "precision penetrating munitions on Iranian underground facilities." Israel separately executed hundreds of aircraft missions against hundreds of targets across Iran. U.S. Navy warships launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iranian targets.
- "This was a massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare, striking more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours," Caine said. The aim was to "daze and confuse them."
- He added that the U.S. integrated air defense network, which includes Patriot and THAAD batteries and Navy destroyers capable of ballistic missile defense, has been intercepting hundreds of missiles targeting U.S. and partner forces.
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