Iran is NOT Hamas….
Explosions have been heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and the Israeli military told the public to find shelter, as Iran launched a fresh wave of missiles.
The IDF said it had identified that missiles had been recently launched from Iran. “You must enter the protected areas upon receiving the alert, and remain there until further notice. Exiting the protected area will only be possible after receiving explicit instructions,” it added.
This follows an earlier wave of missile attacks that struck a high-rise building in Tel Aviv. Police said one person died in the attacks, while Israel’s ambulance service said 34 people were injured…
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Iran said dialogue with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme is “meaningless” after Israel’s biggest-ever military strike against its longstanding enemy and accused Washington of supporting the attack, reports Reuters.
“The other side [the US] acted in a way that makes dialogue meaningless. You cannot claim to negotiate and at the same time divide work by allowing the Zionist regime [Israel] to target Iran’s territory,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as saying.
He said Israel “succeeded in influencing” the diplomatic process and the Israeli attack would not have happened without Washington’s permission.
Iran earlier accused the US of being complicit in Israel’s attacks, but Washington denied the allegation and told Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would be “wise” to negotiate over its nuclear programme.
The sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks was set to be held on Sunday in Muscat, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead after the Israeli strikes….
Former IDF intel chief lays out four scenarios for the Middle East
Hours after Israel began striking Iranian military leaders and nuclear sites, a former chief of Israeli military intelligence outlined four scenarios.
How they might unfold depends on the responses of the United States, China, Russia and Iran, Amos Yadlin said on Friday at the GLOBSEC security forum here. All of them, however, assume continued Israeli military action.
“It is not over yet. I think as we speak, airplanes are still flying into Iran to complete some of the job,” said Yadlin, who is currently an unofficial adviser to the Israeli government.
The former Israeli Air Force general praised the operation, describing it as a “unique” challenge given the secretive and dispersed nature of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which includes “all kinds of enrichment sites, all kind of other nuclear sites all over the country.”
The strikes were “very good on nuclear, he said, but “nuclear is not enough,” and Israel must continue to strike other Iranian military assets, especially its 3,000or so missiles.
Iran, meanwhile, has vowed to retaliate.
Four scenarios
Yadlin outlined four scenarios.
The first, he said, is a bilateral war between Israel and Iran, with the United States staying largely out. In describing the strikes on Friday morning, Secretary of State and acting national security advisor Marco Rubio carefully characterized them as a “unilateral” decision by Israel.
President Donald Trump had also publicly opposed an attack, yet Israeli leaders interpreted Trump’s stance as tacit approval—or at least non-interference, Yadlin said.
“I guess this was the case last night when Bibi called Trump, I think one hour before the attack,” he said…..
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One official at an international organization that monitors nuclear testing said the group had not detected any indication that Iran had tested such a weapon.
Yadlin, a frequent critic of Netanyahu, said on Friday that Hamas’s October 2023, attack on Israel represented not only a brutal act of terrorism but also “a huge failure—intelligence failure, operational failure, leadership failure, political failure” by Israel’s leaders.
He was, however, supportive of the strikes on Iranian targets. He said the main impetus for the timing of Israel’s attack was the “opportunity” presented by the weakened state of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria—all close allies of Iran. “There was an opportunity, and it was maybe the last time.”….
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The price of oil and gold has soared and stock markets have fallen after Israel’s strikes against targets in Iran.
The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the focal point of global oil production, prompted a sharp increase in wholesale prices. Brent crude surged by more than 7% after news of the attacks broke, briefly moving above $75 (£55) a barrel to its highest level since April.
Stocks fell on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones dropping 1.8%, the S&P 500 falling 1.1% and the Nasdaq down 1.3%. Airline stocks, including Delta, United and American declined on fears that fuel costs could climb if there were issues with oil supply.
News of the strikes affected the aviation industry as airlines cleared the airspace over the region, while investors turned to safe investment assets such as gold….
image…The trace of a projectile is seen before hitting Tel Aviv early on Saturday. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/APExplosions heard over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as fresh wave of Iranian missiles reported
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