Iran: Strike proposals and threats
The Wall Street Journal reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu is pushing to resume strikes inside Iran. Israel presented U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth with an intelligence-based target list. Netanyahu denied reports that Trump had recently prevented an Israeli attack, calling them “biased and untrue”.
Netanyahu said strikes on nuclear facilities were insufficient while Iran’s regime remained in power and that he had previously instructed the IDF and Mossad that the solution was to overthrow it.
Comparing its rulers to Nazis and neo-Nazis, he invoked the Allies’ elimination of the Nazi regime and Hitler’s unsuccessful effort to obtain bombs, arguing that overthrowing Iran’s regime was the only way to stop it.
The Journal reported that diplomats were trying to prevent escalation as Washington sent additional warships to the region and Israel prepared for potential attacks.
A U.S. official warned the newspaper that hostilities were likely to expand rapidly beyond their geographic scope. Middle Eastern sources told the Journal they took the risk seriously amid Trump’s threats and Iran’s refusal to meet his demands.
A White House spokesperson said Washington would not attack Iran before the midterm elections.
Trump said the U.S. was not negotiating with Iran and that something would happen soon, adding that most people expected action “after the elections in Iran”. That electoral reference is unclear in the supplied reporting.
Iranian media reported a strike targeting an IRGC missile launch site in Sirik, southern Iran. There were also reports of Israeli Air Force activity over Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to Fars News Agency, a senior Iranian security official said Tehran expected another U.S.-Israeli attack and considered Washington’s diplomacy insincere.
The official warned that renewed large-scale conflict involving the assassination of Iranian officials or the killing of civilians would lead Iran to consider U.S. political targets and the infrastructure of countries involved in the war legitimate targets.
Regional forces and Houthi threats
NBC News reported that the U.S. was quietly withdrawing troops from bases in Jordan, Qatar and Kuwait while reducing diplomatic staff across the Middle East. CNN reported that regional diplomatic missions were adjusting staffing because of the Houthi threat.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said a Houthi ballistic missile struck King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, killing two people. Its report placed the strike on the previous day, but the report’s reference date is unspecified.
