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In-Depth Issues:
Israel Helps Defend U.S. Forces - Ariel Kahana ( Israel Hayom)
Some of the missions carried out by the Israeli Air Force in Iran are intended to assist U.S. forces in the region.
A knowledgeable source said the decision on which of the two militaries will carry out a given mission is made according to which has the relative advantage in completing it successfully, rather than which side views the target as more important or which side is more directly threatened by it.
That means there are cases in which U.S. pilots are sent to hunt missile launchers aimed at Israel.
At the same time, Israeli pilots are assigned missions to strike missile launchers aimed at U.S. bases and assets in the region.
In addition, there are cases in which Israeli intelligence directs U.S. pilots to strike targets, as well as others in which U.S. intelligence guides Israeli pilots.
4,000 Iranian Security Forces Killed, Two More Weeks of Fighting Expected - Yoav Limor ( Israel Hayom)
Israeli assessments indicate that about 4,000 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Basij militia and other security forces have been killed so far, with at least twice as many wounded.
Only a very small number of civilians have reportedly been harmed.
Israeli officials estimate that about two more weeks will be needed to achieve the campaign's main objectives.
IDF Denies Its Running Low on Missile Interceptors - Emanuel Fabian ( Times of Israel)
Israel is not running "critically low" on air defense interceptors, the IDF said, denying international reports saying this.
Officials say the IDF is actually running through fewer interceptors than it anticipated at this point in the operation, since Iran has only been firing several missiles a day at Israel.
Israel is also using shorter-range systems to intercept attacks from Hizbullah in Lebanon, rather than the longer-range systems needed to counter missiles from Iran.
Iran Intensifying Efforts to Attack Jews and Israelis around the World - Itamar Eichner ( Ynet News)
Senior Israeli officials warned Saturday that Iran is intensifying efforts to carry out attacks against Jews and Israelis around the world.
Officials said that for the Iranians, "an inseparable part of the war against Israel is carrying out attacks. The Mossad is deployed all over the world, not only in Iran, in pursuit of terror cells and in thwarting attacks. The numbers of attempted Iranian attacks are insane."
Israel's National Security Council issued a warning last week to Israelis abroad: "Since the start of Operation Roaring Lion, a surge in motivation and an increase in terrorist activity and threats by Iranian security bodies against Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide have been identified."
It called on Israelis to conceal Jewish and Israeli symbols in public, exercise heightened caution at all destinations, particularly in countries neighboring Iran, the Gulf region and places under travel warnings, and refrain from sharing real-time personal information on social media, including accommodations, travel plans and locations.
6 Killed in Crash of U.S. Refueling Plane in Iraq - Helene Cooper ( New York Times)
All six crew members died after a U.S. military KC-135 refueling aircraft that was part of the American war against Iran crashed in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said Friday.
The incident involved a collision with another aircraft. A U.S. official said the other plane involved was also a KC-135, which landed safely.
Hizbullah Decides to Go to War - Avi Issacharoff ( Ynet News)
Hizbullah's leadership made a clear and calculated decision to go to war with Israel the moment Israel attacked Iran and killed Ali Khamenei, who served as the group's spiritual authority.
Hizbullah's rate of fire is 90 rockets per day, most of them 122 mm Grad rockets.
In Sept. 2024, the Israel Air Force achieved the destruction of 90% of Hizbullah's rockets and precision missiles, following an intelligence operation that spanned many years.
The quality of its commanders has also declined, as many were killed, and less experienced commanders were appointed in their place.
Hizbullah's infantry units - the Radwan Force - continues to operate, although in light of the blows it has suffered and the many targeted killings within its ranks it has now shifted to guerrilla warfare, with roadside bombs, anti-tank fire, and sniper attacks.
Approval from Hizbullah's senior command in Beirut is no longer required for attacks on Israeli forces. Operatives in the field now decide when to strike and whom to target.
"Al-Quds Day" Was Invented by Ayatollah Khomeini - Lenny Ben-David ( Substack)
Thousands of protesters demonstrated Friday to mark "Al-Quds Day - Jerusalem Day" in Tehran, London, and New York.
The first Al-Quds Day was established by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, on the fourth Friday of the month of Ramadan.
Jerusalem/Al-Quds is the third-holiest site for Sunni Muslims after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
For Shiites, like Iranians, Jerusalem barely registers since their veneration of Shia imams focuses on the Iraqi cities of Karbala and Najaf, and the Iranian cities of Qom and Mashhad.
While public relations campaigns feature the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, this shrine is not the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Worshippers turned their backs to the Dome of the Rock and face south toward the Al-Aqsa mosque and Mecca.
What I Learned Reading Iranian Media - Zvika Klein ( Jerusalem Post)
For the past week I've been following Iranian media closely, seeing a warped version of reality.
Last week Tasnim pushed speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have been killed or wounded.
India Today described posts claiming that Mossad planted doctors and dentists inside Iran and used routine treatment to implant tracking devices in the dental cavities of senior Iranian figures. This would explain how Israeli intelligence has repeatedly seemed to know so much about Iran's leadership circles and movements.
A NewsGuard analysis cited by Euronews found at least 18 false war-related claims from Iranian sources in the early phase of the current conflict, along with artificial intelligence (AI)-doctored or misleading visuals used to present fake battlefield victories.
Examples include a false Mehr claim that Iranian missiles hit the USS Abraham Lincoln, and a Tasnim-published IRGC claim that 650 U.S. troops had been killed or wounded.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Trump Says Regime Change in Iran Will Happen but Not Immediately - Luke Broadwater
President Trump said in a radio interview with Fox News on Friday that the Basij, a militia affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, "say, 'Anybody protests, we're going to kill you in the streets.' So I really think that's a big hurdle to climb for people that don't have weapons....They literally have people in the streets with machine guns, machine gunning people down if they want to protest." He said both he and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel would understand the reluctance to rise up. (New York Times)
See also Israeli Officials: Conditions Not Yet Ripe for Iranian Popular Uprising - Anat Peled
Two weeks into the war, Israeli officials now assess that Iran's ruling regime is unlikely to fall in the immediate future, as Tehran's battered rulers remain in control and conditions on the ground aren't yet ripe for a popular uprising.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, "I can't tell you with certainty that the Iranian people will bring down the regime. If it doesn't fall, it will be much weaker." The U.S. and Israel are likely to continue pushing to weaken the regime through economic pressure and covert activity even after any halt to the fighting.
(Wall Street Journal)
- Mass Arrests, Intensifying Crackdown Sweep Iran amid Attacks - Reza Akvanian
Iranian authorities have launched a sweeping wave of arrests and tightened domestic repression as U.S. and Israeli strikes continue to hit military facilities and security institutions tied to the Islamic Republic. Hundreds of people have been detained across the country over the past two weeks. Revolutionary Guards and Basij units have established checkpoints in urban areas, with citizens reporting aggressive searches of vehicles and mobile phones.
(Iran International)
- British-U.S. Military Base in Iraq Hit by Iranian Kamikaze Drone Attack - Eliana Nunes
A swarm of drones hit an air base used by Western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq, on Wednesday night. A UK counter-drone team shot down two of the drones, while others managed to hit the coalition base. No British personnel were injured, although some American troops suffered minor injuries.
(Mirror-UK)
- A Victory for Vigilance at a Suburban Detroit Synagogue - Jack Butler
A man looking to kill Jews rammed a car into Temple Israel in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, Mich., Thursday. He then exchanged gunfire with security guards, who killed him. Most Americans don't realize how much effort Jewish schools and houses of worship put into keeping such danger at bay. American Jews shouldn't have to practice their faith or exercise their constitutional rights behind fortress walls.
(Wall Street Journal)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- IDF Kills Dozens of Hizbullah Terrorists in Southern Lebanon - James Genn
The IDF said Saturday it conducted targeted raids against Hizbullah over the past week. The IDF killed dozens of terrorists and dismantled dozens of terror infrastructure sites, including a weapons depot, command center, and observation posts. On Saturday, the IDF completed an additional wave of strikes across Lebanon, striking Hizbullah launch sites and Hizbullah's Radwan Force command centers in Beirut.
(Jerusalem Post)
See also IDF Strengthens Attacks Against Hizbullah in Lebanon - Amir Bohbot
The IDF on Saturday expanded its ground operations against Hizbullah in southern Lebanon and launched artillery fire into the area. As hundreds of Hizbullah's Radwan infantry were recently observed moving toward southern Lebanon, IDF forces have been ordered to implement a "hunt and neutralize" strategy targeting these units.
(Jerusalem Post)
- 58 Injured in Iranian Missile Strike in Northern Israel
58 people were wounded after an Iranian ballistic missile struck the Israeli Bedouin Arab town of Zarzir, near Nazareth, early Friday. One home was severely damaged, and other nearby houses were affected by the blast and shrapnel. (i24News)
- Israeli Foreign Minister: President Trump Sees the Security Situation as We Do - Amichai Stein
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar told the Jerusalem Post, "President Donald Trump saw, and continues to see, the situation exactly as we do. That was reflected in their joining the military action in June 2025. All the more so now."
Sa'ar stressed that the definition of victory held by the Israeli government and the American administration is the same. "We don't want to enter a new war every year or every two years. Therefore, our goal is to remove the existential threats that Iran poses to Israel for the long term, not just temporarily."
"Regime change may be a consequence of the operation; it does not necessarily have to be part of the military campaign itself. Our mission was to weaken the regime, particularly its repression forces, in a way that creates the conditions that will ultimately allow the Iranian people themselves to bring about that change."
"The regime has been weakened, and its level of operational readiness is declining....The strikes caused enormous damage to Iran's nuclear-weaponization program, ballistic-missile program, as well as targeting senior figures and various enrichment components. As a result, Iran has been pushed significantly further away from acquiring nuclear weapons."
"The reality of life...[is] that this regime does not change its nature. It has not changed its intention or its plan to destroy the State of Israel. Therefore, the long-term goal can be fully realized only when this regime is replaced by another. Otherwise, the threat could always return." (Jerusalem Post)
- Israel Facing Iranian Cluster Bombs - Moshe Cohen
As part of the ongoing conflict with Iran, Israel's home front is facing multiple ballistic missile barrages every day that
frequently include cluster munitions. "Cluster bombs break up in the air at high altitudes and crash over kilometers in wide radii," warned Aaron Godiner, former commander of the Fire and Rescue Authority of Ramat Gan-Givatayim, in a Sunday interview with Maariv.
"When the smaller bombs, each weighing between three and five kg., explode, they cause severe damage. This damage can range from the destruction of residential apartments if they fall in populated areas, to the destruction of vehicles if they are hit directly, or significant damage from fires and craters on the roads." (Jerusalem Post)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
The Iran War
- From Containment to Prevention: The Trump-Netanyahu
Alignment to Defeat Iran's Jihad - Dr. Dan Diker
The joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran represent a major strategic shift from containing Iran to actively preventing and dismantling the Islamic Republic's military, nuclear, and terror infrastructure. The partnership created an unprecedented level of strategic alignment and operational cooperation between the U.S. and Israel.
Trump understood that the Palestinian issue has never been the engine fueling Middle Eastern instability. Rather, the Iranian regime's ideologically driven and religiously fueled campaign has sought to dominate the region through proxy terror, nuclear extortion, and political subversion. Iran's terror proxies are not expressions of political or territorial grievance. They are instruments of Tehran's messianic and imperial ambitions on their way to regional and global dominance.
The senior commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recite religious invocations before missile strikes. Its ideological training, which now consumes more than half of all required IRGC instruction, frames the eradication of Israel and the defeat of America as divine obligations. Its leaders believe that triggering an apocalyptic conflict is a shortcut to heaven. Within the regime's doctrine of messianic jihad, those lost in the fight against the West are martyrs, and those at home who rebel against the regime are heretics deserving of death.
The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center. (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
- Can the U.S. and Israel Stop Iran from Closing the Strait of Hormuz? - Maj. (ret.) John Spencer
Iran has threatened for years to close the Strait of Hormuz, the most important maritime energy chokepoint in the world. Now the regime appears to be trying. In recent days Iranian forces have attacked commercial shipping, deployed naval mines, and warned that the strait will remain closed as part of its confrontation with the U.S. and Israel. Can Iran actually close the strait and can the U.S. and its allies reopen it?
Iran's maritime strategy in the strait relies heavily on fast attack boats designed for swarm tactics, sea mines, unmanned surface vessels and drones, shore-based anti-ship missile batteries, and coastal surveillance and targeting systems. To reopen the strait, the U.S. must first dismantle this network.
The first phase of the response is already underway. U.S. Central Command reported that U.S. operations have destroyed 90 Iranian vessels, including more than 60 ships and over 30 mine-laying boats. Drone ships and unmanned maritime systems are being targeted. Fast attack boats are being eliminated. Mine stockpiles are being struck. Shore-based anti-ship missile batteries along Iran's coastline are being targeted.
Once Iran's ability to disrupt traffic is sufficiently reduced, the U.S. would escort commercial vessels through the strait as soon as it becomes militarily feasible.
This strategy has been used before. During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, Iranian forces struck oil tankers and laid naval mines throughout the Persian Gulf in an effort to disrupt maritime traffic and pressure Gulf states supporting Iraq. In response, President Ronald Reagan launched Operation Earnest Will in 1987 and began escorting reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Gulf under U.S. naval protection in an operation that continued for more than a year.
The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at West Point's Modern War Institute.
(Substack)
- The World Will Be Safer after this War with Iran - Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp
The Iranian regime's growing aggression had to be faced head-on. Trump's goals were spelled out clearly from the beginning: to terminate Iran's nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs, including the development of ICBMs that could hit Europe and the U.S.
These objectives are being met in what has so far been a spectacularly successful campaign by the world's two leading military powers working in a partnership unprecedented since the Second World War. As Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Secretary of War, put it: "Looking up, the IRGC and Iranian regime see only two things on the side of aircraft: the Stars and Stripes and the Star of David."
Last week's UN Security Council vote condemned Iranian aggression by 13-0. Even Russia and China felt unable to stand by their ally and abstained. Even if regime change does not immediately result, the region and the world will be safer after the conclusion of this war. Until now the terrorist regime had been permitted to gain in strength and danger while Western leaders didn't do much more than wring their hands and look away.
America and Israel have also shown they can suppress Russian and Chinese-supplied air defenses with ease, which is good news for all of NATO. This campaign has already achieved a huge amount at relatively limited cost.
The writer, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, was chairman of the UK's national crisis management committee, COBRA.
(Telegraph-UK)
- Iran Can't Emerge from the War with a Veto on Oil Flows from the Persian Gulf - Editorial
Two weeks into the conflict, the Iranian regime's strategy is now clear: Target the production of oil in the Persian Gulf and its flow through the Strait of Hormuz. If it can raise the price of oil high enough for long enough, it believes it can force Mr. Trump to call off the bombing campaign.
There has been the near total closure of the Strait of Hormuz for non-Iranian oil, a surge in the global price to $100 a barrel, and panic in financial markets and the press. Iran's remaining leaders bet that they will emerge from the war with a sword over the Gulf they can use at any time.
This is the danger Mr. Trump faces as he contemplates when to end the war. Reopening the strait and reducing Iran's veto power over its traffic will now have to be a goal. As a conflict evolves, war aims have to change as well.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said, "We don't want to leave early, do we?...We got to finish the job. We don't want to go back every two years." On Thursday the President said, rightly in our view, that a short-term increase in oil and gasoline prices is worth eliminating Iran's threat to the Middle East, the world economy and the U.S. Mr. Trump is also right that the U.S. shouldn't fight wars we don't intend to win. Winning now includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz. (Wall Street Journal)
- Iran War Could Lower Energy Prices - Peter Navarro
President Trump's decision to confront Iran's nuclear program, stockpiles of ballistic missiles, and promotion of terrorism addresses an urgent national-security threat. It also tackles an overlooked problem: For more than four decades, Iran's rogue behavior has imposed a hidden tax. Call it the "Iran Terror Premium."
When markets price crude oil, they must account for the risk that conflict, sabotage and terrorism will interrupt the seaborne oil trade. Iran creates that risk through its own forces and through proxy groups such as Hizbullah, Hamas, the Houthis and militias in Iraq, which have targeted energy infrastructure, shipping routes and regional oil facilities.
The risk of disruption pushes prices higher. Market analysts commonly estimate that tensions involving Iran add roughly $5-15 a barrel to global oil prices under normal conditions. Even modest increases in price ripple through the global economy in the form of higher production costs.
The burden of the Iran Terror Premium behaves like a parasite on the global economy - draining growth through slightly higher fuel prices, transportation costs and production expenses year after year. The world has tolerated this situation for decades. If Iran's threat to global energy markets is removed, the geopolitical risk premium should fall - leaving prices lower.
The writer is White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing. (Wall Street Journal)
Israeli Security
- IDF Seeks to Seize "Historic Opportunity" - Yossi Yehoshua
In recent days, the IDF has formed a clear impression from talks with U.S. military officials: Washington is not preparing to end the war at this stage. On the contrary, the U.S. is preparing to expand it. More and more forces are being deployed to the region, and American strikes are expected to intensify. In the IDF, the sense is that the campaign is only entering deeper phases in the scope of its attacks.
An unusual operational coordination has developed between the two militaries. Each military has different strike zones, but share an intelligence target bank and coordinate strike plans. In Israel, a special intelligence cell is operating to feed targets in real time, including for American unmanned aircraft operating over Iran.
IDF officials stress that there is no intention to be dragged into unnecessary adventures - but also no intention of stopping too early. "If we stop now," military officials say, "the question that will be asked is how we failed to complete the historic mission." From Israel's perspective, this campaign is not another regional round of fighting.
"We are fighting the head of the octopus," senior IDF officials say. "To solve Israel's biggest strategic problem, you have to defeat it." (Ynet News)
- Israel Has Moved from Managing Threats to Dismantling Them - Herb Keinon
Before Oct. 7, Israel's dominant security doctrine was containment. Hamas in Gaza and Hizbullah in Lebanon were largely treated as threats that could be managed through deterrence, periodic military blows, and cautious steps. Against Iran itself, Israel waged a "war between the wars" - a shadow campaign of strikes, sabotage, and targeted killings meant to slow Tehran's buildup without triggering a full-scale confrontation.
The Oct. 7 massacre exposed the dangers of allowing hostile forces to accumulate capabilities just across Israel's borders while assuming deterrence would hold. Israel's decision to strike deep inside Iran reflects a willingness to accept immediate costs in order to prevent far greater dangers later, instead of delaying confrontation in hopes of avoiding escalation. In effect, Israel has moved from managing threats to dismantling them. (Jerusalem Post)
Gaza
- Trump's "Board of Peace" Needs to Ask a Few Hard Questions before Pouring Billions into Gaza - Khaled Abu Toameh
As President Trump and members of his "Board of Peace" pledged billions of dollars for relief and reconstruction in Gaza, recent public opinion polls show that most Palestinians are still concerned about widespread corruption in Palestinian society. The Palestinians are loudly warning international donors that Palestinian leaders are not trustworthy in handling money.
The Palestinian Authority is expected to play a significant role in the future management of Gaza. Recently, Nickolay Mladenov, director-general of the "Board of Peace," announced the establishment of a "Liaison Office" with the PA. The newly established National Committee for the Administration of Gaza is dominated by officials affiliated with the PA and its ruling Fatah faction.
For the past 33 years, the international community has failed to track the flow and use of aid money donated to the Palestinians, enabling high-level corruption. Tens of billions of dollars in international aid given to the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas regime in Gaza have been lost to corruption, siphoned off by terror groups or mismanaged by the PA leadership. Corruption, mismanagement and diversion have repeatedly played a major role in preventing aid from reaching ordinary Palestinians.
Gaza has become the only place in the world where a terror group can repeatedly wage war - funded by the international community. For decades, Gaza has been one of the most heavily funded territories in the world in terms of international aid per capita. Yet despite the enormous financial injections, Gaza remains impoverished, unstable, and dominated by Hamas and other terrorist groups.
While donors thought they were funding hospitals and schools, Hamas was appropriating and investing enormous resources in weapons, military infrastructure, and preparation for the next confrontation with Israel. The assumption that writing big checks will somehow produce different results has collapsed.
(Gatestone Institute)
Observations:
- What happens to the hundreds of kilograms of uranium enriched to 60% buried under hundreds of tons of reinforced concrete and granite rock in Iran? Extracting enriched uranium is an engineering, logistical, and chemical nightmare. Following the massive strikes of 2025 and 2026, the nuclear facilities in Isfahan are concrete tombs.
- The uranium is stored dozens of meters underground in areas designed to survive bunker-busting bombs. When the ceiling collapses, it does not leave a convenient corridor for fighters. It creates a tangled mass of reinforced concrete fragments and steel that requires heavy excavation equipment.
- To reach the uranium, forces would need a convoy of hydraulic excavators, diamond drills, and engineering teams working for weeks. An operation like this in the middle of hostile territory is tactically impossible. Every minute of crane work would be a flashing red signal to intelligence satellites, including Chinese and Russian ones.
- Iranian uranium is usually stored as gas (UF6) inside massive, heavy cylinders. Each standard B30 cylinder together with the required "Overpack," the protective casing designed to prevent leakage and radiation exposure, weighs between five and ten tons. These containers cannot be lifted by a standard assault helicopter. Extremely heavy transport helicopters would be required.
- If the cylinder has been damaged, even a few minutes of exposure without heavy shielding would be a death sentence. If the structure has been compromised, the air would be filled with radioactive particles and corrosive gases. Forces would need to wear sealed and cumbersome protective suits.
- If the uranium cannot be removed, there is a way to neutralize it. Teams could conduct precise deep drilling. Through these boreholes, substances such as boron or gadolinium could be injected directly into the storage cavities. These materials are neutron absorbers and act as poison for a nuclear reaction. Once the enriched uranium physically mixes with these substances, it becomes useless as a weapon.
- Right now, the uranium is not a ticking bomb. It is more like an expensive grand piano buried on level minus four of a collapsed building. It may be a strategic asset, but no one will be playing it anytime soon.
The writer, former head of the Counterterrorism Division in the Mossad, is a researcher at the Jerusalem Center.
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