Officials close to Netanyahu stress that the goal is to sharpen positions against the backdrop of talks between the US and Iran, insisting that limits on missiles and an end to support for terrorism must be part of any negotiations.
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet US President Donald Trump, Israeli officials say Jerusalem’s main concern is not what Trump himself may or may not do, but rather the current influence of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. In Israel, there is hope that just as before the outbreak of the Rising Lion war the president was initially uncertain about escalation but ultimately joined in fully, the same dynamic will play out this time as well.
New satellite imagery reveals that Iran has fully covered the tunnel entrances at its nuclear facility in Isfahan with earth, rendering the central and southern access points unrecognizable, according to an analysis suggesting Tehran is preparing for a potential US Israeli airstrike or special forces raid.
A sober examination of the gaps between the US and Iranian positions following last week’s talks leads to a clear conclusion: there is no agreement in sight. Iran has already declared that any attack would be considered an all-out war and would be met with strikes against US bases in the Middle East and against Israel. We know how this could begin; we do not know how it would end.
Iran’s National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani is set to meet Omani officials on Tuesday following US-Iran talks that ended without major breakthroughs. Meanwhile, Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said Tehran might be willing to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in return for the full removal of sanctions.
