Katz Says Israel Could Be Back At War With Iran 'Tomorrow'

Katz Says Israel Could Be Back At War With Iran 'Tomorrow'

Dave DeCamp

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that the Israeli military was ready to restart the war against Iran and that it could happen as soon as "tomorrow".

Katz vowed that Israel would bomb Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh if Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel and that the IDF was prepared to respond if that prompted Iranian attacks on northern Israel.

"There is no reality in which Israel will not respond to an Iranian attack," Katz said, according to Israel Hayom. "The equation stands – rocket fire on Israeli communities means an immediate assault on the Dahiyeh. The possibility exists that Iran will attack Israel not only in response to strikes in the Dahieh. We could find ourselves at war with Iran tomorrow."

The Israeli minister said that a second potential scenario that would lead to a renewed war with Iran would be if President Trump decides to restart the bombing campaign.

"There are two scenarios that would resume full-scale fighting – a decision by President Donald Trump or Iranian missile fire. This could happen in two days," he said.

Katz also insisted that Israel was ready to fight Iran on its own, which he called a "blue and white operation," despite the fact that Israel is extremely reliant on US air defenses.

"The IDF is just waiting for it. We have selected targets to strike in Iran, and the IDF is prepared and alert, but we will not interfere with the US President’s current moves vis-a-vis the Iranians," he said.

Katz also boasted about the destruction of Shia Muslim villages in southern Lebanon. "It was clear during Operation Silver Plow that the Shia villages along the contact line had to disappear," he said, using the codename for Israel’s recent operations in southern Lebanon.

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Northern Ireland: Historic Catholic Convent Near St Patrick’s Tomb Destroyed in Deliberate Fire

Northern Ireland: Historic Catholic Convent Near St Patrick’s Tomb Destroyed in Deliberate Fire as Christian Europe Burns

Robert Semonsen

A historic former Catholic convent near the burial place of Saint Patrick in Northern Ireland was devastated by a deliberate fire Sunday night, forcing more than 70 firefighters into an overnight battle to save the adjacent parish church.

The blaze, according to a report from Life Site News, broke out at the former Convent of Mercy in Downpatrick, County Down, at around 7 p.m. on June 28. By the time emergency crews arrived, the building was already engulfed in a well-developed fire.

The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said the cause is believed to have been deliberate. No injuries were reported, but the damage to one of Downpatrick’s most recognizable Catholic landmarks was severe.

At the height of the emergency, roughly 70 firefighters were on the scene. Ten appliances responded, backed by aerial ladder units, a command support unit and a water tanker.

Crews used breathing apparatus, firefighting jets and aerial ladder jets to bring the inferno under control. Their most urgent task was not only to contain the fire, but to prevent it from reaching St Patrick’s Church.

The former convent was attached to the church, immediately raising fears that the flames could spread to one of the town’s most important Catholic sites. Firefighters worked through the night to stop that from happening.

The Downpatrick Family of Parishes expressed relief that St Patrick’s Church had been saved. The parish said the fire had been prevented from reaching the church by the “heroism and skill” of the Fire Service.

“Fire fighters worked through the night to protect St Patrick’s and to them we owe an enormous debt of gratitude,” the parish wrote. The statement captured the community’s gratitude, but also the deeper grief of seeing a Catholic landmark destroyed.

The timing made the fire even more painful. Just hours before the blaze, the parish had celebrated the ordination to the priesthood of Fr Thomas Hampton inside St Patrick’s Church.

“Coming at the end of a wonderful day in the life of the parish family — the Ordination to the Priesthood of Fr Thomas Hampton—when the parish came together in a tremendous act of hospitality and welcome, it is particularly sad that so beautiful a building has been destroyed,” the parish said.

The former Convent of Mercy was built in the 19th century and had long formed part of Downpatrick’s Catholic skyline. Although the building had not recently been in use, it remained a visible symbol of the town’s religious memory and Catholic charitable life.

Local politicians described the scene as devastating. SDLP councillor Conor Galbraith said it was deeply sad to see a fire in “such a historical part of our town.”

The fire occurred in one of Ireland’s most spiritually significant towns. Downpatrick is closely associated with Saint Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint, whose reputed burial place is nearby at Down Cathedral.

That symbolism cannot be brushed aside. A former convent burning near the resting place of Saint Patrick is not merely a local property loss, it is another wound to the Christian inheritance of Ireland and the wider West.

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Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits Mexico's Baja California

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits Mexico's Baja California peninsula

Hayley Vawter

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake shook parts of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, marking the latest earthquake to happena along the Pacific Ring of Fire on Tuesday afternoon.

The earthquake happened at 12:45 p.m. Pacific time in the Gulf of California, according to data from the U.s. Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake occurred roughly 6 miles deep and light shaking was reported in the Mexican state of Sinaola in the cities of Los Mochis and Culiacán.

58,870 Buildings Damaged or Destroyed in Deadly Venezuela Earthquakes

58,870 Buildings Damaged or Destroyed in Deadly Venezuela Earthquakes

Video

NASA’s preliminary radar imagery shows an early view of damage from Venezuela’s earthquakes. Researchers estimated about 58,870 buildings were damaged or destroyed, with impacts concentrated along the central coast.

US envoys in Qatar to meet mediators, but no direct talks with Iran set for coming days

US envoys in Qatar to meet mediators, but no direct talks with Iran set for coming days

Jacob Magid

ToI Staff

Top US envoys Steve Witkoff and ‌Jared Kushner were in Doha on Tuesday for meetings with Qatari mediators to discuss negotiations with Iran, but Qatar and Iran said there would be no high-level meeting between Washington and Tehran on Tuesday or in the coming days, contradicting a Monday claim by US President Donald Trump.

“Mr. Steve Witfoff and Mr. Jared Kushner are here in Doha to meet with mediators, with Qatari officials, and the talks will be around all regional issues… including, of course, negotiations with Iran, but also including Lebanon,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said.

“They are not here for their negotiations with the Iranians,” he told a media briefing.

Ansari clarified that no high-level meetings or direct talks between the United States and Iran were planned in Doha.

“To the best of my knowledge, there are no direct meetings scheduled between the two parties in the coming days,” he said, adding that no high-level Iranian delegation was in Qatar.

Instead, there will be so-called technical talks this week on issues including regional security that could later be elevated to senior level, Ansari said, saying the technical meetings “are ongoing… and they haven’t stopped.” They include “tracks on the nuclear side… a track on the economic and state performance issue” as well as security, the spokesman said.

Trump had said Monday that his country’s next meeting with Iran would take place in Qatar on Tuesday.

“Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Additionally, a senior Trump administration official said later Tuesday that Witkoff and Jared Kushner would meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Al Thani and other mediators in Doha today “to continue regional dialogue on the MOU” — without any mention of meetings scheduled between US and Iranian negotiators.

“On Wednesday, US and Iran delegations are expected to participate separately in technical talks with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan,” the senior US official said in a statement to reporters.

The developments follow exchanges of fire over the weekend that tested the June 17 interim accord between the United States and Iran. The 14-point pact allowed 60 days for the two sides to negotiate a permanent truce in the conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and to resolve thorny issues including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

Israel had no part in negotiating the memorandum of understanding, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself from it. Still, the terms of the opening clause, permanently ending the war and ruling out any resumption, assert that it is binding on the US, Iran “and their allies.” Israeli officials are bitterly opposed to the deal’s terms, which resolve none of the war’s key goals — notably, eliminating Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and creating the conditions for the fall of the regime.

Both the US and Iran had said they would send officials for meetings in Qatar to discuss the MOU signed by the two sides aimed at ending the war.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said dialogue with mediator Qatar on the implementation of the interim deal, including on the release of frozen Iranian assets, was likely to take place in Doha on Wednesday.

But he added that “no meeting at any level with the American side has been scheduled for the coming days.”

“We have not yet entered the stage of negotiating a final agreement,” he said.

“What will take place in Doha tomorrow is a discussion with the Qatari side about implementing parts of the memorandum of understanding, including the release of Iran’s blocked assets,” Baghaei told journalists at his own briefing.

However, that left open the possibility of messages being passed to the Qataris between the two sides.

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