Israel says it’s ready to ‘decisively’ strike Iran if attacked during upcoming holidays

Israel says it’s ready to ‘decisively’ strike Iran if attacked during upcoming holidays

AGENCIES and TOI STAFF

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran during the upcoming Jewish holiday period, after the largest exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran since July.

Iran said it attacked US military targets in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraqi Kurdistan and the United Arab Emirates, after the US military on Tuesday said it had struck Iranian targets including air defenses and mine-laying capabilities in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Later Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said one of its oil tankers was targeted in a deadly attack by Iran in the strait.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth media group, Katz said that “for now,” Iran is “striking throughout the region except us.”

“But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively,” he said.

Israel is prepared for a possible attack from Iranian forces over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September, said Katz.

If Iran attacks, Israel will “respond with great force, independently of anyone else,” Katz said, adding that “our planes are ready to take off.”

“They like to attack on Jewish holidays because, after all, they hate Jews. Look at the many things that have happened in the past. But we are prepared both defensively and offensively, in coordination with the United States in this regard,” Katz said.

Israel and the US jointly launched the war on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

The fighting entered a truce in April, and the US and Iran signed an interim agreement with Iran in June, but the deal collapsed because of disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran launched a blockade early in the war. The US and Iran have since continued to exchange fire more sporadically.

US President Donald Trump denied on social media on Wednesday that he was seeking to force Iran’s leaders back to the negotiating table.

“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable.”

“When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” added Trump, who at the start of the war urged Iranians to seize their government once the bombing stops, but later cautioned the regime would crack down on rebels.

Iran reports 11 killed in US strikes

Iranian state media reported multiple US strikes near the Strait of Hormuz overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, and cited the law enforcement chief of the southwestern Khuzestan province as saying US missiles had killed seven people and wounded eight in three separate locations in the region.

The statement came after Iran’s Red Crescent said late Tuesday that a US attack on a home hosting a wedding in the southern Sirik county wounded more than 50 people and killed at least four, including a small child.

The incidents could not be independently verified. Iran’s West Asia News Agency aired purported footage of the targeted wedding site that showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard of a home. A pair of strappy women’s dress sandals lay abandoned on a blood-soaked carpet.

“I am just glad the casualties weren’t even worse,” said Ali Molahi, identified as the father of the bride.

US Central Command denied targeting civilians, telling Reuters on Wednesday that the US military “never targets civilians, unlike the Revolutionary Guards.”

Following the reported attack on the wedding, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called the US “Satan” and appeared to reference Israel as “junior Satan.”

Writing on X, Ghalibaf cited other mass-casualty incidents caused by the US-Israeli strikes.

Iran’s military command said: “American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences.”

In a similar warning, Iran’s security chief declared that the US would now face a “new strategy from Tehran.”

“You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei warned on X.

More....

Germany blames Russia for Leipzig airport drone attack, orders Russian consulate closed

Germany blames Russia for Leipzig airport drone attack, orders Russian consulate closed

FRANCE 24

Germany's government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport on 4 August using an explosive-laden drone, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures against Moscow. French ​President Emmanuel Macron ​said he supported the ​adoption ‌of ⁠new European sanctions ‌against Russia after the attempted drone attack.

The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives, and announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among other measures against Moscow.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed "full solidarity" with Berlin in response. 

"NATO will continue to strengthen our ability to deter and defend all Allies against any threat – including malign actions like those seen in Leipzig and elsewhere across the Alliance," Rutte wrote on X following talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Rutte said Berlin had put forward "clear" evidence of Moscow's role in the "hybrid attack" and welcomed the measures announced in response.

"Russia's attempts to intimidate us, to undermine our unity and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and will fail," he added.

The European Commission president, who likewise spoke with Merz, vowed to "keep the EU united despite these escalating and serious acts".

"I assured him that the EU stands in full solidarity with Germany in the face of this attack by Russia," von der Leyen wrote on X.

"The German government has taken strong measures. And the message is clear: hybrid attacks will not go without a clear response," she said, adding the bloc was preparing additional sanctions against Russia.

"We are united in our resolve to stand against Russian aggression. We will deter anyone who seeks to undermine our freedom and security," the commission chief wrote.

French ​President Emmanuel Macron ​said on Tuesday he supported the ​adoption ‌of ⁠new European sanctions ‌against Russia after the attempted drone attack.

"We ​must be united in support to ​Ukraine, France ​will continue to ​play its full ​part," he said in a post on ⁠X.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Tuesday that authorities found elements such as the drone configuration, components, explosives and detonator that are “known to us from other Russian hybrid operations and its war against Ukraine". He said that the device pointed to “a high degree of technical expertise” and painstaking planning, but that the execution of the plan appears to have been left to “low-level” agents.

Dobrindt told reporters in Berlin that intelligence points to “people being involved who acted on behalf of Russian state entities", though he didn't specify which ones. “Taken together, the police investigations, the pattern and intelligence findings prove a Russian responsibility for the attempted attack at Leipzig airport.” 

Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that “with the attempted attack in Leipzig, the Russian leadership decided deliberately to do significant damage again to our already massively burdened bilateral relationship". He said that the Russian consulate in Bonn will be closed effective September 18 and the contract under which the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin is operated will be rescinded.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry told the Interfax news agency that Moscow “would respond” to what it described as Germany’s “anti-Russian decision".

Leipzig/Halle is a major hub for international freight and for providing support to Ukraine. The planes that regularly use it include Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft.

More...

US launches new 'tanker for tanker' policy, strikes Iranian ships in Strait of Hormuz - report

US launches new 'tanker for tanker' policy, strikes Iranian ships in Strait of Hormuz - report

JP

The strikes mark the first time in recent weeks that the US has launched direct retaliatory strikes on Iranian ships in the strait, rather than preventing them from violating CENTCOM's blockade.

The US military struck two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tankers on Tuesday in the first direct retaliatory attack on Iranian ships since the beginning of the war, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing US officials. 

The move is part of a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by US President Donald Trump, the report said, and aims to further deter Iranian attacks on ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Prior to the new strategy, the US had only prevented Iranian ships from violating the naval blockade.

The tankers were anchored off Iran's coast north of the US naval blockade line, said Axios, when US drones launched missiles and hit their engine rooms. 

The White House and US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed that the wave of strikes launched on Iran were in response to recent Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the strait, as well as American bases in the region. CENTCOM's social media comment did not name specific targets struck during Tuesday-Wednesday's strikes.

However, the attacks were part of a larger plan to prevent Tehran from rebuilding radar and missile capabilities used to attack the ships, the report added.

One US official said the strategy was to “mow the lawn” in order to reduce the risk of Iranian attacks on oil tankers and US military assets in the region, said Axios.

Around 100 Iranian targets hit on Tuesday, US official says

Around 100 targets were attacked during Tuesday’s round of strikes, Axios cited US officials as saying.

IRGC air defense sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications sites, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack drone launchers were among the targets hit, the officials said.

Iran has, in response, launched attacks on Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq.

The US embassy in Jerusalem issued a security warningfor American citizens in the Middle East due to rising tensions.

Similarly, Bahrain's Interior Ministry issued an alert for "potential threats in the country."

The renewed strikes degraded Tehran’s capabilities in Hormuz and “bought at least a month” of lowered threat levels for commercial tankers, a US official told Axios.

Trump claimed that he “couldn’t care less” if Iran signs an agreement in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing,” he said in the post.

Rumors of War

Putin's Next Move: Europe Is Preparing For Something Bigger

PNW STAFF

Something has changed in the atmosphere surrounding the war in Ukraine.

For more than four years, Western governments have worried about escalation with Russia while operating under one critical assumption: the war could be contained. Ukraine would fight, Europe and America would supply weapons, Russia would threaten retaliation, and NATO would reinforce its eastern frontier.

But the fighting itself would remain largely inside Ukraine.

Recent developments are raising uncomfortable questions about how much longer that assumption will hold.

Ukrainian officials now say Russian military leaders have been ordered to prepare several possible operational scenarios for a new offensive in northern Ukraine, including the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. That does not mean such an offensive is imminent, nor does it mean Russia has assembled the enormous force necessary to capture Kyiv.

But Kyiv appearing again in Russian military planning should get everyone's attention.

The Ukrainian capital was the great prize Vladimir Putin failed to take in 2022.

What happens if Russia decides to threaten it again?

And perhaps more importantly, what happens if this time Ukraine begins to buckle?

The answer could extend far beyond Ukraine.

Putin Needs A Way To Change The War

Russia has spent years grinding forward at enormous cost, capturing territory village by village while Ukraine increasingly strikes military, energy and infrastructure targets deep inside Russia.

But if Putin ultimately wants to bring this war to an end on Russian terms, capturing another handful of towns in eastern Ukraine may not produce the political shock necessary to force Kyiv into submission.

Threatening the capital would be different.

Even without capturing Kyiv, opening another northern front could force Ukraine to redistribute troops, stretch already limited air defenses and create enormous psychological pressure on the government.

It could also create exactly the kind of crisis Europe has spent the last two years quietly preparing for.

Look across Europe and a remarkable pattern has emerged.

Sweden has distributed updated "In Case of Crisis or War" preparedness information to millions of households. Finland has issued guidance covering everything from long power outages to military conflict. Poland has prepared civilian emergency guidance.

Then the European Union itself urged citizens to be capable of surviving independently for at least 72 hours during a major crisis, recommending supplies including food, water, medicine, radios, flashlights and cash.

This is no longer the language of survivalists preparing for some distant catastrophe.

It is government policy.

Military preparations have been even more significant.

Germany has developed Operational Plan Germany, a whole-of-society defense concept for transforming the country into a critical logistical hub if NATO must move enormous numbers of troops and equipment eastward.

Poland has pushed large-scale military training and reserve expansion. NATO has reinforced its eastern flank, established additional multinational forces and developed its most comprehensive defense plans since the Cold War.

Across Europe, subjects that would have seemed politically extraordinary only a few years ago have returned to mainstream debate: conscription, expanded reserves, hardened borders, ammunition stockpiles, civil defense, military mobility and preparing civilian infrastructure for wartime use.

Europe isn't doing this because its leaders know a war with Russia is coming.

They are doing it because they no longer believe they can safely assume one isn't.

What Happens If Kyiv Is Threatened?

This is where the situation becomes dangerous.

Imagine that Russia eventually launches a major northern offensive.

Ukrainian defenses struggle.

Russian forces begin moving toward Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to European governments for emergency assistance.

What happens next?

Britain and France have already gone much further than many would have imagined when the war began. European governments have progressively crossed one threshold after another regarding weapons supplied to Ukraine.

Now Britain and France are sharing sensitive technology enabling Ukraine to manufacture Storm Shadow/SCALP long-range cruise missiles. Moscow responded with an unusually forceful warning, saying British military installations and equipment inside Ukraine and beyond its borders could become targets in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes using British weapons.

Russia accused Britain and France of "playing with fire."

Now imagine that warning colliding with a genuine battle for Kyiv.

Would Poland simply watch Ukraine's capital fall?

Would Britain?

Would France?

Would European governments that have spent billions of dollars preparing Ukraine to survive conclude that they must finally intervene more directly rather than accept Russian victory?

Nobody knows.

But that is precisely where the dominoes begin lining up.

How The Dominoes Could Fall

A Russian offensive creates the threat of Ukrainian collapse.

The threat of collapse produces greater European intervention.

European personnel or facilities become involved.

Russia strikes them.

European soldiers are killed.

A European government retaliates.

Russia responds.

NATO moves additional forces toward Poland and the Baltic states.

Moscow interprets those deployments as preparation for further intervention.

Another incident follows.

At no point does anyone necessarily announce that they have chosen a Russia-NATO war.

Every government simply responds to the decision immediately preceding it.

That is how escalation becomes extraordinarily difficult to stop.

And Europe already has much of the military infrastructure necessary for that escalation being built around it.

Then The CIA Director Flew To Moscow

Against this backdrop came one of the strangest developments of all.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe unexpectedly traveled to Moscow aboard a U.S. military transport aircraft and met senior Russian intelligence officials.

CBS and ABC reported that Ratcliffe warned Russia against attacking NATO countries amid intelligence assessments that Moscow could attempt to test the alliance.

The Washington Post reported an additional disturbing element: new U.S. intelligence suggests Putin may view America as weakened or distracted by its prolonged war with Iran and therefore see an opportunity to escalate against American interests or allies in Europe.

The precise message Ratcliffe delivered remains disputed. President Trump has publicly downplayed the reports, describing the meeting as relatively routine and insisting Putin will not attack NATO territory.

But the trip itself remains extraordinary.

Everyone Is Preparing For Something

Perhaps the most unsettling part of the current situation isn't any single development.

It is the accumulation of them.

Russia is considering military scenarios involving Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Europe is preparing its civilians for major emergencies.

Germany is preparing its territory to become NATO's logistical highway east.

Poland and the Baltic states are strengthening themselves against Russia.

NATO is reinforcing its eastern flank.

Britain and France are giving Ukraine increasingly sophisticated military capabilities.

Russia is openly threatening British military targets.

American intelligence reportedly believes Putin may see Washington as distracted.

And America's CIA director just flew to Moscow for extraordinary discussions with Russia's intelligence leadership.

None of this proves that a larger European war is coming.

But the governments closest to the danger increasingly seem unwilling to bet that it isn't.

That may be the biggest story unfolding in Europe right now.

The great wars of history rarely began because everyone involved wanted a great war. One crisis produced a response. That response required another response. Alliances became involved. Red lines moved. Miscalculations accumulated.

Eventually nations discovered they had traveled much farther down the road toward war than anyone originally intended.

Perhaps Russia's plans for northern Ukraine will remain nothing more than contingency plans. Perhaps Putin understands that another attempt to threaten Kyiv could provoke exactly the European intervention he wants to avoid. Perhaps Ratcliffe's trip to Moscow will help prevent the next escalation rather than foreshadow it.

But Europe has spent the past two years preparing for the possibility that something much bigger could emerge from Ukraine.

Now Kyiv is appearing again in Russian military planning, Moscow is threatening European military targets, NATO is strengthening its defenses, and Washington is communicating directly with the Kremlin.

Everyone appears to be preparing for something.

We just don't know yet what that something will be—or which domino will fall first.

After Trump - Middle East Nations Already Plotting Next Moves

After Trump - Middle East Nations Already Plotting Next Moves

 PNW STAFF

Donald Trump may be the most powerful player on the Middle Eastern chessboard today, but virtually every government in the region understands something that could ultimately prove more important: Trump has an expiration date.

January 20, 2029.

Israel knows it. Turkey knows it. Saudi Arabia knows it. Qatar knows it. Iran knows it. Hamas certainly knows it.

That reality may help explain some of the seemingly contradictory maneuvering now taking place across the Middle East. Governments are negotiating with Trump, accommodating Trump and attempting to extract concessions from Trump. At the same time, they are positioning themselves for the possibility that America's next president could dramatically change the rules of the game.

They don't necessarily have to defeat Trump's policies.

Some may simply have to survive them.

This is particularly important because the Middle East Trump inherited has become even more volatile.

The war with Iran has shaken confidence in traditional security arrangements, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have now established the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement. Their first high-level meeting under the pact is taking place as all three countries reassess their security requirements in an increasingly unstable region.

Meanwhile, Gaza remains unresolved.

The original promise was that Hamas would be disarmed and a new governing structure would emerge. Yet the process has dragged on, while Turkey, Qatar and Egypt have become increasingly important intermediaries in determining Gaza's future.

For Hamas, delay may itself represent victory.

Hamas does not necessarily need to defeat Israel militarily. If it can preserve enough fighters, weapons, financial networks and political influence to remain relevant until America's political environment changes, its prospects could look considerably different.

Iran may be calculating similarly.

Tehran has suffered enormously during its confrontation with America and Israel, yet the regime remains standing. Fighting erupted again this weekend when U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran therefore has every reason to watch the American calendar.

Why make concessions today if Tehran believes a future administration might offer negotiations on more favorable terms?

Turkey may be playing the longest game of all.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can maintain his relationship with Trump while strengthening Turkey militarily, expanding its influence in Syria, participating in Gaza diplomacy and building new strategic relationships with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

The critical point is that these relationships could survive Trump.

The original article raises exactly this concern regarding the possibility of Turkey eventually receiving American F-35s. Presidents come and go. Advanced fighter aircraft don't.

The same principle applies to Saudi Arabia's nuclear ambitions. Nuclear infrastructure constructed during Trump's presidency could remain for decades.

That means Washington isn't simply negotiating agreements for 2026.

It may be constructing the strategic environment of 2036.

Then comes the variable every Middle Eastern capital will increasingly be watching: America's 2028 presidential election.

It would be foolish to assume that every Democratic president would abandon Israel or return automatically to Obama's Middle East policies. Democrats themselves remain deeply divided over Israel.

But the direction of the debate is unmistakable.

Forty-five members of the Senate Democratic caucus recently signed a letter sharply criticizing Israeli policies in the West Bank, while some Democrats have advocated restrictions or an outright halt to American military assistance to Israel.

Potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender Rahm Emanuel has gone further. Although he argues Democrats can remain pro-Israel, Emanuel recently warned Israelis that the current U.S.-Israel relationship cannot continue unchanged and proposed ending what he described as America's subsidy of Israel's defense budget.

Meanwhile, the Democratic grassroots are shifting as well. Candidates associated with the movement that protested Democratic support for Israel during the Gaza war have scored notable victories in 2026 Democratic primaries.

Turkey, Qatar, Iran and Hamas don't need to know who the Democratic nominee will be to recognize the possibilities.

A Democratic victory could potentially mean greater pressure for Palestinian statehood, restrictions on Israeli military operations, renewed diplomacy with Iran and greater willingness to pressure Jerusalem.

That possibility has strategic value right now.

Israel Has The Opposite Problem

For Israel, the clock runs in the other direction.

Jerusalem cannot assume it will enjoy the same freedom of action indefinitely.

That creates powerful incentives to resolve as many strategic threats as possible while Trump remains president: Hamas in Gaza, Iranian military capabilities, Hezbollah's remaining infrastructure and Turkey's expanding presence in Syria.

Everyone else can potentially wait.

Israel may believe it cannot.

And that could make the next two years considerably more dangerous.

Trump wants to remake the Middle East before he leaves office. Erdogan wants Turkey positioned for whatever comes afterward. Saudi Arabia wants maximum strategic independence. Iran wants to survive. Hamas wants to endure. Qatar wants to remain indispensable.

Israel wants threats removed while Washington is still willing to let it remove them.

All of them are watching the same clock.

Because the most important question shaping the Middle East may no longer be what Donald Trump does next.

It may be what everyone else intends to do when he is gone.