The United States military has overseen scores of secretive ship-to-ship oil transfers to keep Gulf energy exports flowing, using aerial and water drones as well as helicopters in an operation to guide convoys to awaiting tankers.

The operation on the edge of the Strait of Hormuz employs a shuttling technique long used by Iran to skirt sanctions. Two specific locations where the oil transfers take place were identified by 11 people familiar with the operation – one off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and the other off Oman’s port of Sohar. It started in early May, and at least 92 ships have been involved in the transfers, according to shipping data and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.

As recently as June 11,17 pairs of ships could be seen carrying out simultaneous oil transfers at the two sites, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters.

An Apache helicopter downed by Iran on June 9, sparking retaliatory bombings by the US, was involved in the mission, according to four sources, including a former US official with knowledge of the attack. Using satellite imagery, Reuters counted six pairs of tanker ships clustered together in a small area off the port of Sohar the day the Apache was shot down.

Reuters could not confirm what role the Apache played in the operation. In response to Reuters questions, a US defense official said no Central Command forces are taking part in an offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat, US officials said.

The extent of the ship-to-ship transfers, how they work, and the Apache’s role in the operation have not been previously reported. The White House referred questions to CENTCOM. The Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment about the transfer operation.

The two spots where these transfers take place, in the Gulf of Oman near the exit of the Strait of Hormuz, are close to the boundaries drawn by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new Iranian body established to manage the Strait. Ships that fail to comply with Iran’s orders are at risk of drone and missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Fujairah port itself has come under repeated Iranian fire during the time this US-led operation has been underway. This past weekend, according to the British maritime risk management group Vanguard, an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off the coast of Oman.

Vanguard said in a statement that the crew was safe and that the impact caused some cargo leakage, but no environmental damage. It did not specify whether the tanker was involved in a ship-to-ship transfer.

Iran responded to the US-Israeli war by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil consumption normally passes. That created the largest global energy supply disruption in history and has spurred inflation worldwide.

The ship-to-ship transfers, though risky and inefficient, appear to be a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to help restore normal oil flows from the Gulf. US President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen on Friday under a framework peace deal with Iran announced this week, but details remain vague. Reuters could not determine whether the announced deal had affected the oil transfers.

A Reuters investigation published May 20 found that Iran has established its own system for ushering ships through the opposite side of the Strait, involving island checkpoints, diplomatic deals, and sometimes fees.

Staggered departures and waypoints

The American transfer operations are fully controlled by the US military, said eight of the sources, including a private security contractor who has been involved in the transfers.

Tankers must sail to a meeting point before they reach the strait, then stagger their departures so they are around 3,000 to 4,000 meters apart, according to one of the sources, as well as satellite imagery. Their transponders are off and their lights are dimmed, according to four sources.

A series of waypoints allow the US military to monitor the progress of the designated tankers, but the Americans are “obviously watching you all the time,” one of the sources said.

When they pass through the strait, just beyond a zone that Iran has delineated as under its control, the tankers pull alongside the recipient ships, which are Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, to begin the oil transfers. These take between 24 and 40 hours to complete. The empty tankers then shuttle back through the strait, and the newly loaded VLCCs sail onward.

What makes this ship-to-ship operation possible is that a few shippers are willing to sail their vessels through the strait to deliver oil to the waiting tankers, despite the Iranian blockade.

But the operation is risky. “You just don’t know when Iran might just decide to start using drones or even gunboats in order to prevent even those ships from transiting the strait,” said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute who specializes in maritime risk and who reviewed Reuters’ findings.

The ship-to-ship technique has been used by Iran for years to bypass sanctions, because it masks the source of the oil. The Iranians usually operate one pair of ships at a time, both to avoid detection and because its prewar exports were relatively small. The US-led operation, which involves mass transfers, gives Gulf producers better protection from Iranian retaliatory attacks so they can move crude, condensate, and petroleum products to international buyers.

Reuters reviewed more than a dozen satellite images taken between May 2 and June 11 showing ship-to-ship transfers involving state-owned Gulf tanker fleets and internationally operated vessels that receive the oil. LSEG and Kpler shipping data reviewed by Reuters showed repeated rendezvous between tankers operating in the area during the same period.

Based on the imagery, Reuters calculated that at least 90 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products may have moved through the offshore network since early May. The volumes, based on the tankers’ carrying capacities, are still small compared to the pre-war average of about 20 million barrels that passed through the strait daily.

“As the old rules weaken, it’s ironic that the United States is now taking a page out of the playbook of China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran, whose so-called ‘dark fleets’ pioneered these techniques precisely to evade US and UN sanctions,” Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a note Friday. He was referring to the practice of sending ships through the Strait without transponders, which Trump mentioned in comments on June 10 after the downing of the Apache.

Six sources with direct knowledge of the operation said the US has supported participating vessels through a combination of aerial surveillance, compliance screening, and monitoring rather than naval escort. Reuters found no indication that US military personnel were directly involved in the transfers themselves.

Through the Strait of Hormuz

The receiving side of the operation is dominated by international tanker operators, according to a review of the shipping records. One of them, Greece-based Dynacom Tankers Management, has alluded to its efforts to find creative ways to ship oil through the strait since the war began on February 28.

“Freedom of navigation is essential, and nobody can impose tolls or any other burden,” George Procopiou, Dynacom’s founder, told a Capital Link shipping conference in Athens on June 1. “We are here to serve, and Greece has the tradition of breaking blockades since antiquity,” he said. “I don’t want to go into more details, but I believe the hints are enough to understand what I mean.”

Dynacom did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the US operation.

Another maritime source, however, said the new system imposes its own risks on the industry.

“There is a paucity of reliable data,” the maritime security source said. The transponders used to communicate ships’ locations are switched off, “and companies are not reporting through the usual reporting centers.” That risks collision between the ships, which travel at night with their lights off at speeds that don’t allow for easy maneuvering, according to multiple shipping industry officials.

Four sources familiar with the arrangements said operators seeking access to the system are required to undergo a compliance review process before being allocated transit windows. The process includes submitting information to the US Navy’s Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping office in Bahrain.

Two preliminary compliance documents reviewed by Reuters required operators to provide complete geospatial tracking histories, full beneficial ownership disclosure, cargo documentation, and a willingness to permit cargo testing.

If they are approved, participating vessels are then assigned transit windows and remain in contact with the US military office in Bahrain throughout the voyage.

Emirati exports account for a substantial share of the US transfer operation, according to shipping records reviewed by Reuters. Six of the sources said UAE’s state-owned national oil company ADNOC has been among the most active participants in the US-led transfers.

The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company has also been active in the transfers. Some 2.3 million barrels of crude were siphoned from one of its ships off the coast of Sohar on June 6, one of the busiest days for the transfers, according to TankerTrackers.com data. The receiving ship, Sea Ruby, was spotted five days later off India’s southwest coast and bound for China, where the cargo was expected to be discharged.

The UAE government, ADNOC, and the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company did not respond to requests for comment.

“I don’t see a permanent solution in all of this,” said Raydan. “This is a temporary solution amid exceptional times.”

US President Donald Trump appears frustrated with Israel’s continued conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Over the last few weeks, the American president has several times suggested that Israel shouldn’t be attacking Beirut because this is leading to tensions with Iran regarding a US-Iran deal.

Now, Trump is also saying that Israel has been fighting in Lebanon for too long. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has dragged on for 981 days since Hezbollah attacked Israel on October 8. Israel has not been able to defeat Hezbollah or achieve a decisive victory.

“Israel is fighting Hezbollah too long, and too many people are being killed,” President Trump said, according to a June 16 post on X/Twitter by Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst.

“You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody. There are a lot of people in those apartment houses, and they’re not all Hezbollah,” Trump went on to say.

US President Donald Trump was born on June 14, 1946. When the Six-Day War began, he was 20 years old, and he would have turned 21 a few days after the war ended on June 10, 1967. As such, it’s plausible that the Six Day War was a formative memory for a young Trump.

Israel’s rapid victories back then were part of the doctrine of Israel’s founders. Led by young generals such as Lt. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, Uzi Narkiss, David Elazar, Yeshayahu Gavish, Ariel Sharon, and Israel Tal, Israel vanquished three armies in six days.

This was a decisive victory. Even in 1973, when Israel suffered an initial setback, the country quickly defeated the Egyptian and Syrian armies in two weeks of tough combat. When Israel launched the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon, the IDF covered more ground in 48 hours than it had covered in 982 days of fighting since 2023.

Trump likely remembers all these conflicts, and although he is not seen as a deep student of history in terms of being a major consumer of books, Trump has a keen memory for formative events. He is also a supporter of Israel.

However, Trump believes support of Israel also means doing what is in Israel’s interests, not just praising Israel and never telling its leaders “no.”

Trump has said that he suggested that Syria take care of Hezbollah. He knows that the Syrian rebel group HTS defeated the Assad regime in a week in 2024. He wonders why it has taken Israel so long to defeat Hezbollah.

Trump can listen to Israeli media and statements by Israeli leaders vowing to “crush” Hezbollah. These kinds of statements are made every month. Yet Hezbollah remains.

Trump said, according to Yingst’s post, that he doesn’t like the recent Israeli strikes on Beirut.

‘Syria can do Israel’s job,’ Trump says

“If Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, he’ll do the job, Syria will do the job…Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon. I’m not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon, and with Hezbollah. Israel would have been blown up a long time ago, had I not gotten involved.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has appeared to tire of Israel’s long wars. He also got tired of the war in Gaza. When he came to office, a hostage deal was agreed. Israeli officials vowed not to go to phase two of the deal and instead cut off aid to Gaza in March 2025.

The Trump administration watched and listened to more boasts in Jerusalem about how Hamas would be defeated. By May, though, the IDF had only retaken areas it had already held before in Gaza.

The US became frustrated with the aid cut-off and backed the new GHF initiative. Still, throughout the summer, the IDF’s new offensive didn’t achieve a victory over Hamas.

By September, Israeli leaders were vowing to attack Gaza City, and a million people were evacuated, and Israel’s Defense Minister boasted about destroying high-rise buildings in Gaza. But Hamas remained.

Trump, frustrated by the lack of progress in Gaza, secured a hostage deal by working with the Arab countries and countries such as Turkey. The deal brought all the hostages home. In October, days after the deal came into effect, Jerusalem vowed to cut off aid again to Gaza in response to claims that Hamas was violating the ceasefire.

The White House made it clear that aid would not be cut off. Aid would not be used as a weapon anymore. This was an example of how the Trump administration didn’t appear keen on civilian suffering in Gaza. If Israel couldn’t win the war quickly with Hamas, then the war should stop.

The administration appeared to have the same view of the 12 Day War with Iran in June 2025. It helped end that conflict as well, with a ceasefire. This was the kind of short campaign Trump liked. It likely fueled a sense that a new round in February 2026 might also achieve quick results.

After the success the US had with removing president Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela, Trump was inclined to think that Israeli arguments in favor of a new conflict with Iran would pan out.

The whole story of the lead-up to the February attacks is not known, and many leaks have tried to portray different sides as being at fault for ideas such as pushing Kurds to launch an offensive. What is clear is that the White House is tired of the war dragging on and has wanted a deal.

The same thing has happened in Lebanon. The White House supported Israel’s striking at Hezbollah.

However, fighting for the sake of fighting without a strategy doesn’t make sense to the Trump administration. It is known for asking “what are we doing and why are we doing it?” This is a key element of the Trump doctrine.

As such, there are questions about what Israel is doing in Lebanon. What is the point of more bombing of Beirut? What does it accomplish that 981 days of conflict didn’t accomplish?

Reports that Trump also pressured Israel not to carry out more strikes on Iran are part of the same pattern. What would a planned new strike have accomplished?

Trump is in Europe at Evian, France, where he is attending the G7 summit. Trump appears to want Israel to tone down strikes in Lebanon and also not rock the boat of a potential Iran deal.

Some assume that Iran won’t actually do a deal or that the IRGC in Iran will sabotage the deal anyway, making Israel’s pessimism appear correct. Then more strikes may follow.

Israeli policy that channels the 1967 generation 

However, Trump appears to want an Israeli policy that channels more of the 1967 generation and less of the long war concept that has taken hold since October 7. Trump’s language has become more critical of Israel, saying a recent attack was “vicious,” according to CBS.

Trump has often been attuned to civilian suffering in war. He and members of the administration didn’t like to see the suffering in Gaza, and they don’t like it in Lebanon. “Too many people are being killed, and you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody,” is an important point for the American president to make.

Israel has precision weapons capable of destroying individual apartments. Trump knows this. He has appeared to become more critical of the current Israeli policy of razing whole areas and also attacking high-rises.

The attacks on buildings didn’t defeat Hamas or Hezbollah. Trump appears to think that rapid wars, such as the 1967 war, where one goes around civilian urban areas rather than destroying them, are a more effective method of war.

Israeli politicians also want a return to the era when Israel won fast wars rather than wars dragging on for years, with the enemy still holding on in Gaza and Lebanon.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett recently vowed “a return to the security concept of fast, strong, and decisive wars.” Rather than wars that drag on, he says that Israel can do better. Trump appears to agree.

While Israel is considered a dominant player in the cybersecurity field, and part of that means using artificial intelligence (AI) in smart ways in that arena, in the broader AI context, Jerusalem is behind and now trying to play catch-up.

On Tuesday, the government approved a new, wide-ranging series of AI policies that could spark a rally and change the lives of all Israelis in the workplace, in education, and eventually in every area of life as the world accelerates in this rapidly advancing field.

This decision is the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointing ex-9900 intelligence chief, Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez Askal on October 12, 2025, to be the country’s first AI Chief, to work alongside Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD) Chief Yossi Karadi.

Since then, Askal has worked hard to identify the many fronts on which Israel must move forward in its use and understanding of AI, as well as to determine how best to leverage Israel’s strengths over the course of a multi-year campaign on the issue.

The Jerusalem Post understands that the new AI bureau’s efforts have revealed that Israel’s greatest strengths regarding AI are 1) Integrating and combining cyber security and artificial intelligence to “rub off” well on each other; and 2) Edge solutions – coming up with practical new ideas for solving problems in the field, and in war, on the frontlines.

It is also considered a plus that Askal and INCD Chief Karadi have known each other for years from their days in Israeli intelligence, so they can work together without ego and without missing a beat.

What will the IDF’s AI bureau do?

The AI bureau expects that it will help: 1) Israel implement home-developed solutions and programs as opposed to requiring foreign solutions; 2) Israeli companies have products to physically manufacture from which they can make profits; 3) Pursue regulations to create order in this new area, while avoiding over regulation which stifles innovation; and 4) Mix big data and machine learning capabilities with addressing real world problems in powerful new ways.

Following the government decision, Netanyahu said, “The purpose is clear: to establish Israel as a world leader in the area of AI because AI is not just another technology – it is a revolution. It will impact the economy, security, science, industry, health, education, and the State of Israel’s international status.”

Askal stated, “This decision ensures the power and achievements of Israel for the upcoming decades. In the coming years, it will become clear which countries succeed in establishing their place at the forefront of the world during the age of AI, and which will be forced to rely on the technology, infrastructure, and capabilities which others will develop.”  

At a conference on June 2, Askal made a major public performance, declaring, “While the great powers in the world are preoccupied with a crazy-paced arms race regarding the major layers of AI: research and development, energy, and modeling, the entire world is stuck in the embarrassing situation asking: what do we do with this tomorrow morning?”

“This is exactly where Israel’s comparative advantage exists: when the giant blue Ocean of AI meets [people’s] real lives. The ability to inject AI into the physical world and onto [solving] life’s problems, to take an aircraft or drip irrigation and to make them ‘smarter’ – is a critical growth engine for us.”

Why is Israel behind on AI?

One thing Askal cannot say in public, given the sensitivity of his position, is that Israel initially fell behind in AI for a number of obvious reasons.

These include that Israel: has less space to build data centers, it has less natural resources to cover the immense energy needs of such data centers, and its success in cyber security was driven in many ways by the private sector, with the government only following, whereas big AI projects need heavy government investment and interventions, which Israel’s government is slower at for new projects, the Post understands.

All of this means that the AI bureau will be trying to take on a new coordinator role to facilitate the private sector working together toward clearer, more specific national AI goals, rather than only their own narrow business interests.

So the government may not build large new infrastructure projects for AI on its own, but may encourage and facilitate tens of thousands of projects, including some large ones, as well as serve as a “plumber” of sorts, trying to scrap red tape that might slow down new projects.

One project is in education, where Israeli universities, in coordination with Askal, will roll out a brand-new AI degree in October.

Computer science as a degree may not be gone, but this AI degree may start to supplant it as more relevant for the next stage of the job market.

That is at the entry level.

For Israelis already in the workplace, one million, and for some issues, possibly up to four million, are likely to need partial or complete reskilling and retraining, either to keep their current roles or to take on new ones.

Another massive project is building enormously powerful and expensive data centers throughout Israel, especially in the Negev desert of the Israeli South.

The government decision on Tuesday commits to building around 100,000 GPUs dedicated to AI data centers.

Already in mid-May, the Wall Street Journal reported, and the Post can confirm, that the US is examining the possibility of establishing a secure AI base in the Negev as part of a broader effort to protect advanced technology from China and cement American dominance in the AI race.

American and Israeli officials have been working on a joint initiative known in Israel as Project Spire. The proposed facility would combine the security standards of a US military installation with the research and engineering culture of a major technology hub.

The plan has centered on three Israeli-proposed sites in the western Negev.

Israel would provide the land through a long-term lease for American use, while the facility itself would be designed to host research and development, major server infrastructure, dedicated energy systems, chip design, AI model training, and potentially advanced semiconductor production.

Further, Askal will pursue international cooperation on AI with a host of countries.

This is only one part of efforts by Askal’s agency and the Israeli government in general to build up a series of new IA data centers in the Negev and elsewhere.

Until now, a variety of substantive and procedural hurdles have slowed approvals for starting to build such data centers for years, whereas some other locations, such as in Texas, have reduced their approvals process to a period of months.

Askal hopes to streamline approvals and also to attract more Israeli investors into this arena, while some already have been seeking to enter since late 2026, and even more in 2026.

Last week, Calcalist reported on meetings of Israel’s representatives in a major AI and data center conference in Cannes by Shelly Landsmann, the former CEO of Microsoft Israel and today a founding partner of data center company NED and chair of its advisory board.

Also last week, Kardan Israel announced the establishment of a subsidiary that will consolidate its activity in data centers, with stakes in server farms in Kfar Saba and Shoham.

Another prominent figure in the new trend is Ofer Yanai, the controlling shareholder of Nofar Energy, who last week purchased land in Shoham for NIS 361 million to construct a new data center, Calcalist reported.

Companies such as MedOne, which operates four facilities in Israel; Bynet, which operates sites in Shoham, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv; and Bezeq International, which operates a communications facility in Petah Tikva, have been in this market for a long time but are now seeking to significantly up their game.

The government decision includes additional investment in building Israeli quantum computers. That effort had started in recent years, but prior funding allocated for it had run out and needed to be renewed.

According to the government decision, new institutions, such as an institute dedicated to identifying and exploiting key accelerators for how AI can be used in various industries and areas of life, and a special focus on advancing physical AI, including identifying and combating DEEP FAKE AI, will be established. 

State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned Tuesday that local authorities are falling short on basic systems that shape daily life in Israel, from traffic cameras to social workers carrying wartime caseloads to buildings that still may not be safe years after the state identified them as dangerous.

In his annual report on local government, Englman found that municipalities and government ministries often know what needs fixing but have not completed the work to fix it. He called for clearer limits on enforcement cameras, capped social workers’ caseloads, a national urban renewal plan, faster business licensing reform, local climate plans, cyber monitoring, and renewed supervision of Pal-Kal buildings.

The report is less about one dramatic failure and more about a pattern: local government is on the front line, but too often without the rules, budgets, data, or follow-up needed to work properly.

On traffic enforcement cameras, Englman said local authorities’ use of cameras to enforce parking and public transportation lane rules “makes enforcement more efficient,” but warned that it “may harm the privacy of passersby, and therefore requires careful examination and proportionate and limited use.”

The audit found that only six of 38 local authorities with public transportation lanes had published on their websites that they enforced bus-lane offenses using cameras.

In the four authorities examined – Herzliya, Hadera, Ramat Gan, and Binyamina-Givat Ada – 189 cameras were used, around 121,000 tickets were issued in 2024, and the fines were worth around NIS 44 million.

The problem, Englman found, was not only how many tickets were issued, but how the cameras were managed.

Some authorities kept images in sufficient quality for inspectors to identify passersby. Binyamina-Givat Ada kept filming with four enforcement cameras even after it stopped using them for parking enforcement in March 2024 and shifted them to security use.

The problem goes beyond local authorities

The Transportation Ministry, meanwhile, had not advanced the process of approaching local authorities that do not enforce bus-lane offenses and asking them to begin, even though it received that authority at the end of 2022.

“Local authorities must use enforcement cameras in a proportionate and fair manner, and for the purpose of achieving the goal of enforcing traffic laws, while protecting the right to privacy of passersby,” Englman said.

He recommended that authorities periodically ask a simple question: Does this camera still serve the reason it was put here? If not, he said, they should stop filming or move it.

The war also runs through the report. Englman said the events of Oct. 7 and the war that followed “demonstrated the importance of the role of social workers in social services departments.”

But the audit found that those departments were already struggling, and the war made the strain worse.

The war has made the issue greater

In 2024, there were 1,155 unfilled social worker positions in municipal social services departments nationwide, equal to 16% of positions. In the authorities examined, the share of unfilled positions ranged from 1% in Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut to 34% in Kiryat Motzkin.

The Welfare Ministry still had not set the maximum number of cases that may be assigned to each social worker, even though more than two decades had passed since the relevant allocation formula was set.

In a questionnaire conducted for the audit, 74% of responding social workers said the workload in their department had increased to a large or very large extent since the outbreak of the war. Another 54% said they had experienced burnout to a large or very large extent because of the war.

Englman recommended that the Welfare Ministry work with local authorities to retain social workers and quickly finalize the maximum caseload, especially because demand for welfare services is expected to grow.

On urban renewal, Englman described the policy as “a strategic tool” for planning and construction, particularly because Israel needs more housing and older buildings must be protected against earthquakes, rockets, and missiles.

But the audit found that the projects most likely to move forward are the ones that make financial sense for developers. That leaves many peripheral cities, where the need may be urgent, but the economics are weaker.

Some 58% of urban renewal projects are being promoted or implemented in the Central and Tel Aviv districts. In 23 evacuation-and-construction projects promoted in Beit She’an, Tiberias, Safed, and Kiryat Shmona between 2017 and 2025 – all highly exposed to earthquakes and war risks – no building permits had been issued.

“The need to reinforce buildings against earthquakes is not receiving a sufficient response,” Englman said, adding that communities exposed to these dangers do not have enough projects to renew the built environment.

Despite previous recommendations, Israel still has no national policy document or unified national plan for urban renewal, Englman said. He recommended that the Prime Minister’s Office, Israel Land Authority, Planning Administration, and Government Authority for Urban Renewal encourage projects in areas where there is not enough economic incentive.

Many businesses are operating without proper licensing

The report also found major gaps in the business licensing reform, meant to make it easier and faster to open and operate businesses legally.

Despite the reform, 20.5% of businesses requiring licensing were operating without approval to open in 2024, amounting to 28,351 businesses. Forty-two local authorities did not provide the Interior Ministry with information on the licensing status of businesses in their jurisdiction that year.

Englman said the problems affect existing business owners, people who want to open new businesses, and the public. He recommended that all bodies involved work together to remove barriers to full implementation, noting that business licenses help protect public health and safety and ensure compliance with the law.

The report also found that most local authorities have not prepared for climate change. As of October 2025, 154 local authorities, around 60%, had not prepared a local climate adaptation plan and were not in the process of doing so. Among authorities that responded to a comptroller questionnaire, 87% had not prepared a climate risk map or survey.

Of the 259 local authorities, only 45 had completed joining the government cyber monitoring service by November 2025. Another 138 had not yet joined the process.

One of the starkest sections concerned Pal-Kal buildings, a construction method whose dangers became a national issue after the 2001 Versailles wedding hall disaster.

The report found that the dedicated Pal-Kal headquarters had not met for around six years and had not maintained a reliable, updated national database. Around 300 privately owned buildings, including event halls and commercial centers, had still not undergone initial identification checks.

None of the local authorities examined had submitted annual reports to the Pal-Kal headquarters as required since at least 2018. They also did not conduct the required annual engineering monitoring for Pal-Kal buildings under their responsibility, including school buildings.

Throughout the report, Englman’s message was clear: local authorities are the bodies residents first meet when the road is blocked, the social worker is overloaded, the business cannot get licensed, the building is unsafe, or the next storm hits.

The gaps, he found, are not abstract. They affect privacy, safety, welfare services, public transportation, housing, business owners, and the ability of local government to withstand the next emergency.

Israelis expressed dismay on Monday and Tuesday following the US and Iran’s confirmation that they had completed talks on a memorandum of understanding to end the conflict, saying that the Iranian regime was untrustworthy, and with it still intact, it would continue to pose an ongoing existential threat to the Jewish State.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Jaffa Street in central Jerusalem, some Israelis indicated that, with the MoU, which is set to be officially signed in Switzerland on Friday, they saw an emerging rift between the US and Israel.

One man, who holds both American and Israeli citizenship, said he was confused by US President Donald Trump’s decision to come to a deal with the Iranians.

“For us, it’s horrible. I don’t know what Trump is thinking. I’m also American, so I’m assuming he has Americans’ interests in mind,” he said, adding that although he saw no reason to trust the Iranians, he assumed that Trump had his own reasons, even if they were incongruent with Israel’s needs.

“It sucks, he added. “It just means that we are going to be in this s**t a lot longer. I don’t trust it at all. You can’t negotiate with the IRGC like you negotiate with Western countries. It’s not the same. They’re motivated by religious extremist ideals.”

One woman who spoke to the Post had a similar message, speculating that it was possible the MoU could be good for the US, but left Israel in a dangerous position.

“Maybe for the US it’s a good deal, but not for Israel. If the regime is still there, Israel will still be in danger, because the regime wants to eliminate Israel. It would have been good, at least, if Iran is staying as it is, that Hezbollah would be out, and Hamas would be out. At least around Israel, there would be peace.”

Israelis dismayed at Trump deal with Iran, say that it’s meaningless

Another man said that in his view, the agreement won’t create any meaningful change in the region.”

“It’s political theater,” he said. “There is no end to this conflict. The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) shows that any agreement with Iran is not worth the paper its written on.” 

He continued, saying that what agreement may actually do is indicate that the US-Israel relationship may deteriorate in the future.

“This is basically a holding pattern for Israel,” he said. “I’m trying to understand exactly what this means. Did the US really abandon Israel just to make this deal? It’s going to raise a lot of questions about US support for Israel, and if it’s really got a future.”

Another young man expressed frustration with the deal and lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for engaging Israel in a war that ultimately ended with an agreement that left Tehran’s regime rooted.

“I don’t know all the details, but I would say that I am frustrated with it. I feel like Benjamin Netanyahu started a war that he couldn’t finish on his own terms. If you want to do a war, you should have a way to end it with terms that are on your side. If you are not capable of taking down the Ayatollah regime, then don’t drag us through 40 days of alarms.”

Israelis frusturated with Trump’s Iran 

He also went on to express frustration that Israel, which was not a party to the MoU, was still implicated in it through its agreement that the ceasefire would include Lebanon.

“Israel can’t vote for the United States of America’s elections, but apparently, if Trump says something, then we all have to do as he says.”

Similarly, another man who spoke to the Post said that he saw the MoU as a betrayal because it involved Israel without any Israeli input.

Still, he said, he thought it would ultimately be positive, speculating that it would advance closer ties between Israel and other regional powers.

“It’s betrayal, but it will be very good for Israel still,” he said. “There will be new connections with Saudi (Arabia) and the Emirates, and everything. So, they will have to manage themselves without America.”

Two students were expelled from Amirkabir University of Technology after the pair was accused of burning the flag of the Islamic regime, according to the university’s student newspaper.

Amir-Mohammad Karimi and Mahyar Eghtesadi, who both studied engineering at the Tehran Polytechnic, were expelled in absentia by the university’s disciplinary committee after reports surfaced that they burned the regime flag, with some sources also reporting that they waved the Lion and Sun flag from pre-Islamic revolution Iran.

The student newspaper claimed the pair were expelled following reports by members of the Basij voluntary paramilitary force, an arm of the IRGC, who study at the institution.

Students were expelled for ‘creating chaos’

The students were expelled under the “fabricated charge” of creating chaos and disrupting the educational process,” according to the Persian diaspora site Kayhan London, and comes as universities have begun expelling students in mass.

Eight other students were reportedly issued expulsion notices at the Sharif University of Technology, 16 from the University of Science and Technology of Iran, and four from Soureh University.

A large number of students have also received temporary, but significant, suspensions from their educational institutions.

Last week, Reza Dalman, a master’s student in computer engineering at Sharif University of Technology, was sentenced to expulsion and a four-year ban from studying at all universities in the country after he hung a stuffed mouse from a tree in what was said to be an action insulting to then-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Iran International

I have not seen Sydney Sweeney in any of her films, but I am aware that her boyfriend is the Jewish Scott ‘Scooter’ Braun, a very successful businessman and record executive. And he is not fearful of identifying with Israel.

He spoke in December 2023 at a rally in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square and also featured the mother of an Israeli hostage in a video posted to his Instagram calling for the music industry to spread awareness on the issue. I did see a picture of Sweeney together with Avinatan Or and his then partner, Noa Argamani, when the pair had visited America in mid-January this year.

Sweeney was interviewed by Rebecca Ford, which was uploaded on June 9 at the Vanity Fair website, and was asked if there was a narrative she had “wanted to correct or is it even worth doing that as an actor?”

She was aware that “I’m spoken for through journalists,” by which she meant that people really do not have any clue as to who she actually is or what she thinks.

Moreover, she is fully aware that anything she says can be rewritten or modified before publication. 

Sweeney also noted that people like headlines as they are easier to consume and attract more attention. “People,” she continued, “often form opinions based on those excerpts rather than the complete conversation, leading to rumors.”

Reflecting on her situation, she agreed that correcting everyone would be exhausting, but as she is content with her life and her career is going very well, these narratives do not bother her much.

That attitude resonated with my thinking on Israel’s situation as reflected in the media – that of the newspapers and periodicals as well as the social media platforms of Facebook, X/Twitter, TikTok and the rest.

Political commentator Cenk Uygur is an outstanding example of the blatant lying campaign on X. With 885,000 followers, he is extremely visible and generates second-tier views, especially if his appearances on Piers Morgan’s show are included.

A few examples of his: “Hezbollah is defending Lebanon from an invading army…They are clearly the aggressors”; “When Israel did their first ethnic cleansing in 1948, our media lied to us and said the Palestinians attacked the Israelis’; or “Israel stole almost all our top secrets, our nuclear secrets, our nuclear triggers and over 300 pounds of uranium.”

And here is an X post last week – from someone/thing called Ounka with 227,000 followers on – Gwyneth Paltrow promoting a Herzliya apartment complex: “Imagine advertising luxury villas in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. That’s the level of tone-deaf we’re witnessing.”

If you add to that the posts, videos, podcasts and TikTok clips of some two dozen anti-Zionists and antisemites, a powerful wall of ignorance is standing in the way not only of truth but simply any ability to argue with or counter their falsifications.

Political commentator Candace Owens, on her first broadcast returning from Russia, announced, “Zionism rots the brain,” echoing Tucker Carlson’s whine that Christian Zionists suffer a “brain virus.

It is not about the facts, nor the details, nor even the context. The claims are phrased so as to be non-debatable or even arguable. The overall narrative is negative, and it is portrayed as threatening. In other words, a classic antisemitic framework construct.

Sam Harris, in a recent Free Press piece asserting it is futile to even debate enemies of Israel, noted what need be the core elements of a hasbara – public opinion – attitude.

‘Ethical difference between Israel and her enemies’

They are that there is an “ethical difference between Israel and her enemies [that] remains vast” and “global preoccupation with the Jewish state, as though it were the worst villain among nations, is contemptible, being the product of perennial lies and delusions.”

If I may rephrase that, it is not such much a matter of what battles to pick or even how to fight them. We must realize that championing Israel and justifying Zionism is in another place, totally. A rather disturbing transformation has occurred.

The idea of Palestine has colonized their minds. Matthew Schmitz, in an op-ed on the Democratic Party’s rising anti-Zionism in the Washington Post on May 29, wrote: “Anti-Zionism has bled into antisemitism.” Woke liberalism that graded up to progressivism has arrived at the stage of irrationalism.

In such an approach to geopolitics, this framework will tolerate the slaughter and rape of Yazidis and Sudanese and will ‘understand’ beheadings in France and Ireland no less than it will minimize the massacres of October 7 as well as ignore the everyday terror in Judea and Samaria.

Iran is to be championed. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s renewed Ottoman Empire revitalization campaign is ignored. Arrests and detentions of Gaza Flotilla activists in Libya are downplayed while believing their rape in Israel is accepted truth.

The pro-Palestine/anti-Zionist global collective has finally arrived at the place they want to be in confronting the Jewish national liberation movement. The campaign for a ‘liberated Palestine’, having reached a top-of-the-charts scale of media attention, is now at the pre-pogrom stage of its development.

Proactive virulent antisemitism is back and primed. A tipping-point has been reached.

There is less an ability amongst those uneasy with or opposed to Zionism and Israel to grasp the difference between those two terms. Indeed, there is much less a willingness to do so.

Proof? Humanities professors at the University of California, Berkeley are assigning fewer pages for reading as students increasingly struggle to keep up with the required knowledge needed.

The attitude of Sweeney, to realize that filtered truth now forms opinions, that wasting time on what cannot be changed is nigh useless, but that the focus should be on promoting what Israel does best and what it accomplishes for good, should be adopted.

Instead of fighting those that will not change their minds, identify those that can be persuaded and strengthen the support of those who incline our way.

The writer is a researcher, analyst, and commentator on political, cultural, and media issues.

Lebanon failed to contact famous Lebanese journalist Maria Maalouf before sentencing her to 15 years in absentia last week for comments made five years ago, the US-based Christian-Maronite writer told The Jerusalem Post late on Monday night.
 
Maalouf was sentenced for speaking to KAN News in 2021, where she complained, “Hassan Nasrallah and Iran’s party in Lebanon have taken the state hostage and returned it to the stone age.

The recent crisis with Saudi Arabia demonstrates that Hezbollah has alienated Lebanon from its Arab surroundings… I’ve told Nasrallah that he is a murderer, that he has killed the children of Yemen, Syria, and Iraq… and our citizens in the port of Beirut.”

Maalouf became the first Lebanese journalist to ever be hosted by an Israeli network, and her comments were widely condemned in the Arab world.

Despite having previously interviewed world leaders, including former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel, on her television program Lel-Rouwad Faqat, and receiving three consecutive awards as the “Boldest Journalist” by the Lebanese Press Syndicate in addition to recognition from across the Arab world, her interview with an Israeli media site led many to brand her a traitor.
 
“Fifteen years, for sitting in a studio and answering a journalist’s questions. I want people to sit with that for a moment, because once you do, the absurdity of it becomes the whole story,” she commented, explaining how the conviction has deeply affected her family and those closest to her.

A vocal critic of Hezbollah, an exile in danger

“A verdict like this doesn’t stay confined to a courtroom; it follows you into every phone call home, every plan to visit relatives, every conversation about whether it’s safe to attend a wedding or a funeral,” she continued.

While right now there is no urgent need for her to return to her homeland, Maalouf said the sentence was designed to “sit there, indefinitely, as a reminder that the file is open and the door can close at any time.”

“There’s a difference between living abroad because you were forced to leave because of safety issues, and living abroad with a fifteen-year sentence on the books with your name on it. One is a decision. The other is a cage with very long walls,” she explained.

As a vocal critic of the Iran-backed terrorist group, Maalouf’s life has long been in danger, and she has received death threats, including threats from individuals closely tied to the former Assad regime in Syria.
 
In 2006, she told the Post she received a call plainly telling her she was a “dead woman,” a call she attributes to Hezbollah. The call came after she recorded an episode of her show criticizing the group, and more calls would soon follow.

“One of the most disturbing came not from Hezbollah directly but from the Assad camp – one of the sons of the regime publicly threatened to hang me in Sahat al-Umawiyyin, Damascus’s great central square, the Umayyad Square.

“To be threatened with a public execution, in public, by name, and to understand that no authority in either Syria or Lebanon would treat it as a crime – that tells you everything you need to know about the environment I was operating in,” she recalled.

“The social media dimension has been relentless. My lawyer eventually compiled and filed a formal lawsuit with Lebanon’s Information Department documenting over 500 threat messages sent to my accounts – calls and written messages from unknown numbers and accounts, saying things I won’t repeat in full here, but the category was consistent: threats of rape, execution, disappearance. Not one of those cases was ever prosecuted. Five hundred documented threats, filed with the authorities, and nothing. Meanwhile, I’m the one who ended up with a fifteen-year sentence.”

These threats got worse after she wrote a tweet questioning why Israel wouldn’t just rid Lebanon of former Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.

“If Israel really wants peace, then it should go ahead and prove it by signing an agreement with Hezbollah. To this day, we have yet to rid ourselves of Hassan Nasrallah, who had led us awry in his war against it,” she wrote in the 2017 tweet. “If Israel considers Hassan Nasrallah an enemy, then why hasn’t it carried out an airstrike to relieve us of this burden?”

“I said something blunt and, I’ll admit, raw – that if Israel genuinely considered Nasrallah an enemy, it should act like it instead of letting him keep dragging our region into other people’s wars,” she explained.

“It came from anger, not strategy. Anger at watching Hezbollah fight in Syria, in Yemen, everywhere except in defense of Lebanon itself, while ordinary Lebanese paid the price in isolation, sanctions, and eventually war on our own soil.

“That single statement got a group of lawyers to file an incitement case against me, and by 2018, there was an arrest warrant with my name on it – for words, said in anger, about a man whose actual record includes the assassination of Lebanese officials and a foreign war record most Lebanese never voted for and never wanted.”

Beirut First Investigative Judge, Ghassan Oueidat, issued an arrest warrant in absentia against Maalouf for the slander and defamation of Nasrallah, which notably came after Maalouf filed her own lawsuit against Nasrallah for kidnapping, rape, and murder.
 
In supporting legal documents, Maalouf also listed “any person who appears to be an active, interfering, partner or instigator” who helped Hezbollah in “incitement and participation of murder and committing acts of kidnapping, torture, rape, displacement, committing war crimes, crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Iraq.”

Maalouf was particularly suspicious of why the sentence, after years of legal battles, came now and hinted that it was part of a wider campaign against those who speak out abroad.
 
“The interviews were in 2021. The sentence lands in 2026. Draw your own conclusions about timing. I have mine,” she said.

“This verdict didn’t arrive in a vacuum. It came down within days of two other Lebanese citizens living abroad, Ahmad Yassine and Joumana Gebara, receiving the same sentence – fifteen years, in absentia, for the same broad category of ‘collaboration with Israel.”

Yassine, a professor in Paris, was accused of “inciting the Israeli army to bomb the historic Baalbek Citadel by disseminating information claiming that the citadel housed Hezbollah weapons depots,” while Gebara was said to have praised IDF Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee and thanked him for striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, in addition to calling for normalization.

“That’s not a coincidence, it’s a pattern, and it’s a pattern that happens to be emerging at the exact moment Hezbollah is under real pressure over its weapons for the first time in decades,” she said.
 
In March, Beirut banned military activities by Hezbollah after it opened fire on Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader. The Shiite Muslim group, established by Iran’s IRGC in 1982, said its attack was to avenge “the pure blood” of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “in defense of Lebanon.”

Maalouf said she was given no opportunity to defend herself against the charges of espionage, treason, and incitement after Military Court Investigative Judge Najat Abu Chacra issued her arrest warrant in 2022.

“As for notification or a chance to defend myself – there wasn’t one. No summons ever reached me, no court date I could have appeared for even if I’d wanted to, no lawyer appointed who could meaningfully test the case,” Maalouf complained.

“That’s how these in-absentia military proceedings against exiled critics work by design: they are built to produce a verdict, not to hear a defense. I found out the way most people did – through the news.”

Maalouf admitted that she expected some kind of legal response to her interview, having seen the response to a single Tweet, but hadn’t anticipated that both could “eventually be folded into the same ’collaboration with the enemy framework, years apart, as if the state had been keeping a running tally.”

The heavy sentence comes as Beirut has sought ways to alleviate the burden of overcrowding in prisons, seeking to employ a general amnesty law which would reduce sentences and potentially see thousands of prisoners released.

As of 2023, 80% of those detained in Lebanese prisons were awaiting trial, according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry. At the time, detention centers across Lebanon had a capacity of 4,760, but they held 8,502 prisoners, including 1,094 who actually had been sentenced, Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces reported.

Despite seeking to resolve the burden by reducing sentencing, the courts have handed down long sentences to individuals based on words alone.

“Here is the part I want your readers to really absorb,” Maalouf said. “ While I was being handed fifteen years for giving interviews, the same military court system has, in recent months, processed Hezbollah operatives caught transporting weapons in direct violation of the new state ban on the group’s arms – and handed down sentences amounting to time served and a token fine.”

Further highlighting the inequality in Lebanon’s legal systems, a pro-Hezbollah media figure threatened to execute Maalouf on camera while she was visiting the United Arab Emirates. The violent comments, Maalouf said, were treated as a political commentary rather than an actual threat, and authorities did nothing to protect her.

“Words versus weapons. Speech versus smuggled rockets. And speech gets the harsher penalty. Now, layered on top of that, the general amnesty law is working its way through parliament right now – the largest amnesty Lebanon has considered since the civil war ended.”

Admitting there were “good-faith arguments” for the potential legislation, Maalouf asserted that “when you put the amnesty debate next to my verdict and Yassine and Gebara’s, the message becomes unmistakable: the legal system isn’t grading offenses by harm. It’s grading them by whether you embarrassed Hezbollah. That’s not a justice system prioritizing crimes – it’s a justice system prioritizing loyalties.”

Addressing recent hopes that discussions of direct talks between Beirut and Jerusalem could be a sign that the countries may be inching toward normalization, Maalouf dashed the possibility as not within the realm of possibility, arguing that her case highlighted that the divide was still too great.

“You cannot have a serious national conversation about your relationship with a neighboring state when simply appearing on that state’s television is classified, by your own courts, as treason,” she stressed. “Normalization, even the quiet, unofficial kind, requires a society that’s allowed to debate it. Right now, Lebanon’s legal architecture doesn’t permit the debate to exist. It pre-empts it by criminalizing the people who might start it.”

Maalouf said Hezbollah didn’t need to be in power to decide what laws Beirut gets to write; there only needed to be a collective understanding on “which laws will and won’t be enforced, and against whom.”

“That’s the real architecture of fear here: not a single explicit rule, but a thousand unwritten ones that every Lebanese journalist, politician, and ordinary citizen carries around in their head before they open their mouth,” she described. “The government’s recent moves against Hezbollah’s weapons are real, and I don’t want to minimize them – they matter, and they took courage.

“But the balance of power on the ground, and especially inside parts of the judiciary and security establishment, hasn’t caught up to the rhetoric yet. Verdicts like mine are the proof. The state can ban Hezbollah’s arms in a cabinet decision; it apparently still can’t protect a journalist’s right to give an interview.”

While what is being said may be heavily controlled by a system of norms and laws, what is thought by the “vast majority of Lebanese” who “never asked for and had no say in starting or stopping,” has been decided based on Hezbollah’s actions, she said, hinting that the Iranian proxy had unintentionally created a hostile environment for itself outside of the government institutions it influences.

“People watched their towns get hit, their economy collapse further, their sons sent to fight someone else’s war for someone else’s regional project,” Maalouf said. “I said in 2017 what a lot of people now say quietly at their own dinner tables. The difference is I said it on camera, and that’s precisely why I’m answering your questions from outside the country instead of inside it.”

Framing much of those discussions is the sectarian divisions Lebanon has long tried to suppress mention of since the end of its deadly civil war.
 
For Christians, Maalouf said their ability to live in Lebanon safely depends on their ability to “accommodate and “stay quiet” about “Hezbollah’s arms, nod along with the ‘resistance’ narrative, don’t make too much noise about Iran’s role in your country’s politics.

For many, the choice is a simple one. However, for voices like Maalouf and Hanin Ghaddar, who previously spoke to The Post about her own judicial struggles in Lebanon, the issue of sovereignty is too important to trade a quiet life for.

“If you’re a Christian who insists on the other version of Lebanese identity – sovereign, pluralistic, answerable to Beirut and not to Tehran – the space to exist in that identity narrows very quickly,” Maalouf said.

“Not because anyone passes a law against being a proud, independent-minded Lebanese Christian. They don’t have to. The pressure isn’t always written into legislation. Sometimes it’s a court file. Sometimes it’s a sentence that arrives five years after the fact, attached to your name, hanging over the people you love.”

“I don’t experience this as a sectarian grievance in the narrow sense – plenty of Sunni and Shia Lebanese feel exactly the same squeeze when they criticize Hezbollah. But as a Christian, my case has become part of a larger argument this country still hasn’t resolved: whether Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese, on Lebanese terms, or whether it belongs to whoever controls the weapons,” she continued.

Concluding her talk with The Post, Maalouf asserted that while “a military court can write whatever number it wants on a piece of paper,” it didn’t make her guilty of anything, and it  “doesn’t make Hezbollah’s record any less documented. What it does is tell you, with total clarity, who that court is actually protecting, and it isn’t Lebanon.”

Yisrael Beytenu Leader MK Avigdor Liberman warned that the agreement between the US and Iran will cause Tehran to become a nuclear power in a Tuesday interview with 103FM.

“This agreement definitely turns Iran into a nuclear power,” Liberman said.

However, he did not directly complain about the Trump administration’s goal of seeking a deal, saying they are simply acting in their own interests.

“We have different interests. The US president is interested first and foremost in fuel prices. For us, this is a matter of existing or ceasing to exist, and therefore we need to act accordingly,” he said.

“We need to live with this. I have no complaints against the Americans. There are people here who expect the US to act according to Israeli interests, but no. I thank the US for what they have done,” he added.

Instead, he laid blame on Israeli officials. “For three years, this entire impotent government dealt only with talk and declarations, with their political agenda. For three years, there has been no decisive outcome. They should only complain about themselves,” Liberman stated.

Israel, however, should stand for its own interests even when it may cause confrontation with the US, he continued.

“Of course, they can tell Trump ‘no,'” he said.

He also noted how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial causes harm to his judgment and credibility.

“I have never seen a press conference where a prime minister speaks for many minutes and does not say a single word of truth – a frightened, alarmed man who tried to save himself. He lied to the entire people of Israel,” Liberman said.

Netanyahu used to know “how to say ‘no’ and stand up to [former president Barack] Obama, and also to [former secretary of state Hillary] Clinton,” and “not to subordinate the entire Israeli people to a private agenda,” he added.

Liberman served as the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office during the period when Clinton was secretary of state.

The current situation is “simply complete submission” by Netanyahu, he said. “All that interests Netanyahu is canceling his trial and international arrest warrant – nothing else.”

“The tone and language [US President Donald] Trump uses against Israel is unprecedented. Netanyahu has turned us into a banana republic,” he continued.

“Can you imagine Trump speaking in the same language toward Turkey and [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan?” he added.

Israel will destroy Kharg Island, bomb Bandar Abbas next time Iran attacks, Liberman threatens

Liberman also threatened intensified strikes on Iran during the next wave of intensified conflict.

“We need to make clear to the Americans that there is also a new paradigm – the next time Iran launches missiles at Israel, we will destroy Kharg Island and Bandar Abbas Port,” he said.

“This is the [regime’s] bottleneck. Two points that if you destroy them, Iran falls apart. These are two points – we are no longer firing at sand dunes – these are their most sensitive points,” he added.

Liberman: Mossad should move towards a sole mission – topple the Islamic regime

Liberman discussed the significance of the agreement and how he would act following the lessons that Israel must learn.

“First of all, I would give a directive to Mossad. The agency must move to one mission – toppling the [Iranian Islamic] Regime,” he said.

This goal should be at the top of the security establishment’s priority list, he argued.

“If I were prime minister, I would summon the Mossad director and tell him: ‘Don’t deal with anything else anymore, except toppling the Iranian regime,'” he continued.

“I know that [toppling the regime] was attempted, but it was a weak attempt. This was not systematic, deep work with the required resources, and lacked an orderly work plan,” he said.

IDF needs a Missile Corps, ballistic missiles that could strike anywhere in Iran within 12 minutes, Liberman claims

Liberman also discussed how the IDF should establish a Missile Corps.

“We must reach a completely different paradigm, where our arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles is at least 20,000 strong,” he said.

“You need to understand the difference between a Missile Corps and Air Force. We have the best pilots in the world, but when the Israel Air Force carries out a strike on Iran, it takes hours – preparing crews, armaments, you need to pass through other countries, coordinate with the US military, aircraft, refuelers, a satellite system, and all sorts of additional steps,” the former defense minister said.

“With a ballistic missile, you press a button, and within 12 minutes at most, it explodes at any point in Iran,” he claimed.

Additionally, Israel needs a stockpile of interceptors and maritime drones, he said.

“The [government] froze the decision I made as defense minister, and now we are paying the price. They also froze my decision to fortify the North – we could have been in a completely different situation,” he added.

Liberman: ‘Entire security establishment knows Hezbollah heading towards force buildup project’

Israel needs to change strategy vis-à-vis Hezbollah and Lebanon, Liberman said.

“In the last 24 hours in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fired at our soldiers, and here we have returned to that October 7 conception of containment,” he stated.

“This is not a mistake – it is simply Netanyahu’s decision to turn Israel and all of us into hostages of his personal and private interests. The entire country is subordinated to this, and it must be stopped,” he added.

“We have the ability to act now. The entire security establishment knows Hezbollah is heading towards a force buildup project. We must prevent this,” he continued.

“Trump moved the embassy to Jerusalem, recognized the Golan Heights, freed [Gaza] hostages – for three years, this impotent, all-talk, government that is full of empty promises dealt only with declarations, and advancing its private agenda ahead of primaries and elections,” he added.

“For three years, there has been no decisive outcome – not against Hamas, not against Hezbollah, not against Iran, and not against the Houthis,” he stated.

Liberman believes opposition will oust Netanyahu at upcoming Knesset elections

Liberman also discussed the upcoming Knesset elections slated for later this year and expressed confidence in the opposition’s ability to oust Netanyahu’s coalition from power.

“There will be a much bigger victory in the elections. There will be a scenario like in Hungary. We will reach a Zionist, statesmanlike coalition, with 63-64 seats,” he said.

“I have a clear order of priorities in these elections. First of all, we will replace the government, and afterward become the prime minister. Without the Arab or haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, we will reach at least 63 seats,” he added.

The Knesset has 120 seats.

Liberman also noted that he is holding talks with various opposition figures, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot.

Iran and the US have signed a preliminary deal. However, the actual deal is heading for a “second phase,” the Guardian noted. In fact, most of the reports this week leave a lot of questions about the actual Memorandum that has been signed electronically. In addition, it appears that there are also questions about what the extension of a sixty-day ceasefire will mean.

All these variables appear to be what Iran prefers. Tehran has always preferred slow processes and talk. Tehran believes it benefits from drawing out the process and having more complexity enter the picture. The more complex the deal-making process, the harder it is for the US to walk away. The more variables that exist, the more different points can be discussed in the future. Even if Iran is perceived as violating some part of the process or some variables, Tehran can always point to the fact that it has adhered to other parts of the deal as an example of how it is doing what is expected.

This has been the usual Iranian method of dealmaking. It did this back when it was in talks about the 2015 deal. Iran has always believed that time is on its side. It also knows that it has a number of countries in the region that prefer to see diplomacy over more conflict. As such, Iran knows that Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Oman, and other countries will help raise Iran’s case in Washington or in other places. The widespread praise that the potential US-Iran deal has been greeted with around the world is evidence of how the international community prefers talks to conflict.

The agreement that is taking shape with the US is supposed to soon see an end to the blockades of the Strait of Hormuz. This would help set in motion economic growth and increased trade. Once this is accomplished, it will be hard to go back to war because countries will not want more trade chaos in the region. It is for this reason that Iran seeks to draw out the process. Tehran hopes to set in motion a number of shifts in the region that will help cement in place the diplomatic track. Once that has happened, there will be a lot of inertia against a new conflict.

The White House also appears to feel that diplomacy is better than war. It has preferred low-level proportional strikes since the April ceasefire, to a return to war. This is also what Iran prefers. Iran believes that it is better to have small “tit-for-tat” exchanges of fire than have a large conflict.

Iran prefers ‘incidents’ to war

Iran has done this before. It has used proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen to spread conflict. It has also directly attacked the Gulf states in the past, such as a large attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq in 2019, and also attacks on vessels off the coast of the UAE’s Fujairah in the past. Iran prefers “incidents” to war. It then uses these as pressure points for more concessions. Iran is not alone in doing this. For instance, the UK carried out a raid on the Iranian-linked vessel Grace 1 in 2019. Iran then retaliated by sending vessels and choppers to try to stop vessels linked to the UK.

Iran and Israel also appeared to trade tit-for-tat attacks on ships in the past. Much of this conflict occurs in the shadows. Iran has preferred low-level shadow wars while also engaging in talks. It has continued this process since the April ceasefire. 

State Comptroller-elect Michael Rabello told the High Court of Justice on Tuesday that there was no legal basis to cancel the Knesset vote in which he was elected, rejecting claims that his selection was tainted by political dependence, conflicts of interest, or the controversy over coalition MKs allegedly documenting their ballots behind the curtain.

Rabello, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal attorney, was elected on June 3 as Israel’s next state comptroller after a dramatic and disputed Knesset vote. In the first round, retired Supreme Court justice Yosef Elron received 60 votes, and Rabello received 57, leaving both candidates short of the required 61. A second round was then held, during which opposition MKs alleged that coalition lawmakers had been instructed to photograph their ballots despite the legal requirement that the state comptroller be elected by secret vote.

After the vote was restarted, Rabello defeated Elron 61-57.

The result prompted a series of High Court petitions seeking to cancel the election and hold a new vote.

Rabello’s preliminary response, filed through attorney Ofek Bruck, presents two main arguments: that there is no personal disqualification preventing him from serving as state comptroller, and that the voting procedure, even if controversial, was not unlawful in a way that justifies judicial intervention.

“At the outset,” Rabello wrote, he “accepts the role to which he was elected with a deep sense of responsibility and full commitment to all citizens of Israel.” He rejected “any claim of political or other dependence” and any attempt to attribute wrongdoing to his agreement to stand as a candidate and accept “the important role of state audit.”

Rabello argues petitions trying to turn criticism into legal bar

Rabello argued that the petitions were wrongly trying to turn criticism of his professional background into a legal bar to his appointment. The law, he said, gives the discretion to choose the state comptroller to members of Knesset, not to petitioners, and most MKs chose him while his professional background was “open and known” to them.

He emphasized that he had never been a member of any political party, had worked for more than three decades as a professional attorney in the private sector, and had represented a range of clients. He said he left a “comfortable and quiet” private life in order to try to contribute to the state and its citizens.

“It should be presumed that the respondent will act for all citizens of the state in the role of state comptroller to which he was lawfully elected,” the response said, adding that he would act with “integrity, fairness, and backbone.”

Rabello acknowledged that the state comptroller must be independent and free of dependence, but argued that the law already provides safeguards to ensure that independence. The state comptroller is elected by the Knesset rather than appointed by the government, swears allegiance before the Knesset, works in connection with the Knesset State Control Committee, and is subject to strict limits on political activity and outside work during the term.

He also argued that Israeli law does not disqualify people from public office merely because they had prior ties to appointing or auditing bodies. The response noted that eligibility rules for the state comptroller do not even bar political figures or serving MKs from being candidates, provided they leave the Knesset when entering the role. Rabello argued that if such candidates are not automatically disqualified, then there is no basis to disqualify a private attorney who served as one of the prime minister’s lawyers.

Rabello accepted that there may be conflicts of interest in certain matters, but said the proper solution was a standard conflict-of-interest arrangement, not blanket cancellation of his election. Such an arrangement, he said, would be prepared when he enters office, would prevent him from handling specific matters in which he has a direct personal connection, and would be published to the public.

On the vote itself, Rabello said he was not present in the Knesset election process and did not watch all stages of it. His position, he said, relied on the Knesset legal adviser’s account of the events.

Law requires comptroller be elected by secret ballot

According to Rabello, the law requires that the state comptroller be elected by secret ballot, but does not include an explicit ban on an MK voluntarily photographing his or her own ballot. He argued that the secrecy belongs to the voter, and that no petition had pointed to a binding legal source prohibiting a person voting behind a curtain from documenting his own vote.

Rabello’s response cited Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana’s remarks during the vote, after consultation with the Knesset legal adviser, Knesset secretary, coalition chairman, opposition representative, and the ballot committee. Ohana said that if there had been an instruction to photograph ballots, it was “not valid and not legal,” but added that “the secrecy is the voter’s” and that if an MK wanted “to vote and photograph himself,” that was his right.

Ohana then ordered the ballot box emptied and the second round restarted “so that there would be no doubts about integrity.” According to the Knesset protocol cited by Rabello, Yesh Atid MK Merav Ben-Ari, serving as an opposition representative, then said the opposition wanted to proceed with the vote.

He argued that this cross-party understanding, or at least the absence of objection at the time, undercut the petitions’ claim that the procedure was unlawful. He said that to overturn the election, petitioners would need “substantial evidentiary material” showing that MKs were coerced or unlawfully pressured into voting a certain way through an instruction to document their ballots.

The petitions, he argued, lacked that factual basis. He also noted that the Knesset legal adviser had been told by coalition officials that no such instruction had been given to any MK.

Rabello further argued that canceling the result would amount to changing the rules after the vote had already taken place. Election rules, he said, must be “stable, consistent, certain, and clear” before a vote begins, and it would be improper for the court to retroactively impose a new legal rule on actions that were lawful when completed.

Rabello ended by warning that a rerun would create practical and constitutional difficulties because the Knesset’s composition has changed since the vote. He also noted that the legal deadline requiring the state comptroller to be elected before the end of the current comptroller’s term has already passed.

The High Court is expected to hear the petitions against Rabello’s election this week. The petitions also seek interim relief preventing him from pledging allegiance before the Knesset and entering office before the court rules.

The Trump administration is considering establishing a $300 billion investment fund for Iran if Tehran adheres to a ceasefire agreement that includes a nuclear deal, according to a Monday Financial Times report. 

The financial incentives would be tied to Iran’s adherence to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to be signed by Washington and Tehran in Switzerland on Friday, the report said. 

Fund tied to nuclear agreement

The establishment fund would be contingent on a final settlement that includes a 60-day extension of the ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and further nuclear negotiations, said the FT, citing a person briefed on the talks.

The fund would be created to attract investment in Iran’s abundant energy resources. “There is interest from a lot of businesses in Europe, a lot in Asia, South Korea, Japan, etc., and American companies and businesses as well,” the person said. “If the sanctions are lifted, this fund would be a significant amount, and it will be huge.”

US Vice President JD Vance told CBS News that the fund would be “the sort of thing [Iran] could have access to . . . so long as they honor their end of the obligation.”

Trump was highly critical of former US President Barack Obama’s signing of a 2015 nuclear accord that provided Tehran with sanctions relief, accusing his administration of sending “pallets of cash,” according to the FT. Critics of the MoU said the funds under discussion would amount to “far more” than those under Obama’s administration, it added. 

Trump allies push back

Alex Bruesewitz, a political consultant and one of Trump’s advisors, clarified that the fund is not an “unconditional handout” but rather a “conditional incentive or, in simpler terms, a ‘carrot’” in a post on X/Twitter on Tuesday.

The narrative about a supposed $300 billion “Iran investment fund” is being deliberately distorted by grifters to generate clicks and controversy. In reality, this is not an unconditional handout. It is a conditional incentive or, in simpler terms, a “carrot.”

Under this…

— Alex Bruesewitz 🇺🇸 (@alexbruesewitz) June 15, 2026

“The aim [of the fund] would be to create deep economic ties and mutual interdependence that make future conflict far more costly for all sides and demonstrate that choosing peace delivers greater long-term benefits than continuing to back terrorism,” he said. 

“The story that the US is paying Iran 300 million dollars is fake news,” said Trump in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, claiming that the “fake news” was created by the democrats. 

A US senior official told reporters on Monday that “zero” dollars have flowed to Iran, according to the FT report.

Any sanctions relief would be phased and dependent on nuclear talks and the final settlement, it added. 

Trump administration officials have previously said that the US would offer “small gestures” of financial relief in order to build trust throughout negotiations.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe warned senior American officials that US intelligence agencies had gathered evidence that raises doubts about Iran’s willingness to make concessions regarding its nuclear program, according to an Axios report citing three sources familiar with the matter on Tuesday.

According to Axios, US President Donald Trump was among the officials warned in a series of meetings leading up to Trump’s announcement of a deal between Washington and Tehran.

Trump and his advisors discussed the gathered intelligence, which reportedly shows that internal discussions among Iranian officials regarding the agreement were inconsistent with what Tehran had told the US and mediators, two of the sources told Axios.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared Ratcliffe’s concerns and raised questions about the memorandum of understanding during the meetings. 

Ratcliff and Rubio, according to the sources, said that based on the intelligence, they doubted Iran would agree to the US’s nuclear demands.

One source told Axios that “the intelligence reflects that the Iranian intentions are not in line with their commitments under the deal.”

US Vice President JD Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, on the other hand, reportedly advocated for the deal.

White House official says deal meets all US redlines

One White House official assured that the deal “meets all of the redlines that the administration has long articulated by ensuring that Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon,” when Axios reached out to ask questions regarding the report.

The official stated that Trump listened to all opinions, but noted that “everyone understands he is the final decision-maker” on the matter.

While the full text of the 14-point agreement has not been published yet, a source familiar with the terms told Axios that Iran will get more out of the memorandum than what they give up, unless they sign a nuclear deal that fully meets US demands.

According to the source, the text details that Tehran and Washington will commit to “resolve the disposition of stockpiled enriched material” in addition to discussing future enrichment and “other mutually agreed matters related to Iran’s nuclear needs based on a satisfactory framework being agreed upon in the final deal.”

The source also told Axios that if a final nuclear deal is reached, the US will withdraw all military personnel mobilized during US operations against Iran in the region within 30 days and remove all sanctions against Tehran on an agreed-upon schedule.

Israeli media figures and commentators turned sharply against Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff this week, accusing two of US President Donald Trump’s closest Middle East envoys of helping push an Iran deal that many in Israel view as dangerous and incomplete.

The criticism came amid mounting Israeli concern over the emerging US-Iran memorandum of understanding, which critics say prioritizes regional calm and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz while leaving Iran’s nuclear program, missile program, and support for regional proxies for later negotiations.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would continue to act to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, regardless of the agreement. Israeli officials also told Ynet that Netanyahu had made clear to Trump that Israel did not view itself as bound by the Lebanon clause in the agreement and would keep operating against Hezbollah threats.

But while Netanyahu avoided a direct public attack on Trump’s envoys, some Israeli commentators did not.

Channel 14, a right-wing Israeli television channel often described as Israel’s answer to Newsmax because of its strongly conservative, pro-Netanyahu editorial line and influence among right-wing viewers, carried some of the sharpest criticism.

Channel 14 anchor Tal Meir used her Monday morning program to criticize Kushner and Witkoff, accusing them of turning their backs on Israel “at the moment of truth.”

“They got a little confused in this event,” Meir said, according to Channel 14. “You are part of these people.”

Meir argued that Israel was defending the Jewish people as a whole, including Jews living outside the country.

“We are here, among other things, to defend you too,” she said. “In the end, this is your real home, and we are guarding it for you and for your future generations. And you turn your backs on us like this? Simply losers.”

Kushner and Witkoff painted as sell-outs

The comments reflected a broader emotional tone in parts of the Israeli right, where Kushner and Witkoff are being judged as American negotiators and as Jewish figures with a perceived obligation toward Israel.

Channel 14 also reported that Yinon Magal, host of The Patriots, attacked Kushner and Witkoff on X, writing that Trump had come out of the agreement looking like a “loser.” According to the report, Magal accused the two envoys of acting under Qatari pressure and “selling their brothers in Israel.”

The anger toward Kushner and Witkoff has intensified because the two men had previously been praised in Israel for their role in hostage negotiations and Trump’s broader Middle East policy. Their current role in the Iran track has now made them targets for Israeli frustration over what many see as a rushed diplomatic process that does not meet Jerusalem’s security demands.

Ynet reported that the memorandum appears to fall short of four demands Netanyahu had set out only days earlier: removing Iran’s enriched uranium, dismantling enrichment infrastructure, limiting missile production, and ending support for terrorist proxies. According to the report, those goals are currently “not on the horizon.”

The media believes the US-Iran agreement falls short

The Israeli backlash is also linked to the structure of the agreement itself. Critics argue that the deal addresses the immediate crisis around Hormuz while pushing the hardest questions about Iran’s nuclear and regional military capabilities into a later stage

Channel 14 cited Israeli security officials warning that the agreement was based on a fragile structure, signed in American haste, and left the core of the nuclear threat without a real answer.

For now, the strongest public criticism of Kushner and Witkoff is coming from Israeli right-wing media rather than from official Israeli government statements. But the tone marks a significant shift from the praise the two envoys received in Israel only months ago.

Kushner and Witkoff, once viewed by many Israelis as trusted channels into Trump’s inner circle, are now becoming symbols of what critics describe as Washington’s willingness to prioritize a regional diplomatic win over Israel’s strategic concerns.

Sen. Rick Scott continued his crusade against Kanye West’s upcoming Tampa concerts with a fiery press conference at the Florida Holocaust Museum on Monday morning.

Joined by Holocaust survivors, Jewish leaders, fellow Sen. Ashley Moody, and former Republican governor turned Democratic St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Charlie Crist, Scott stood behind a lectern bearing the slogan “Don’t. Fund. Antisemitism.” He gestured to the boxcar on his right, which once transported humans to death camps during the Holocaust.

“Many suffocated in boxcars like these before they even made it,” Scott said. “It all started with questions like the one before us today: Are we going to tolerate this?”

Kanye West’s schedule in Florida

West, who now goes by Ye, has Raymond James Stadium concerts scheduled on June 26 and 28, prompting an outcry from the Tampa Jewish Federation and the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women. Last week, the Florida Holocaust Museum announced it would offer free admission that weekend.

On June 4, Scott wrote a scathing open letter to the Tampa Sports Authority, which operates Raymond James Stadium. He argued that taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to fund events for West, who sold swastika merchandise and posted a song titled “Heil Hitler” last year.

“People say, ‘Oh, it’s just a concert. Oh, the Tampa Bay Sports Authority is going to make some money, let people have their fun,’” he said. “Some of the worst sins in human history begin with the words, ‘I was just’: ‘I was just going to a concert with my friends,’ ‘I was just trying to make money,’ ‘I was just following orders.’ No, you can’t do that. None of us should be let off the hook for hatred and antisemitism.”

In a new statement following Monday’s press conference, the Tampa Sports Authority pushed back against Scott’s claims.

“We condemn antisemitism from any source. However, we also respect free speech rights guaranteed under the US Constitution, even when we disagree with that speech,” it said. “In addition, no taxpayer money is being used for staging the Ye concerts. To suggest otherwise is false.”

Ye has a long history of antisemitism

This spring, Ye published an apology for his antisemitism in the Wall Street Journal, attributing his behavior to his bipolar disorder and brain damage caused by a car accident. Despite this, his behavior prompted European officials to block him from entering the UK, effectively canceling some concerts there.

“Why is it that other countries can tell him no, and we don’t do that? We’ve accepted him,” said Toni Rinde, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor who traveled from Clearwater to speak at the press conference. “Why? Why is this person being so hateful, trying to destroy people?”

Janet Hammer, a volunteer at the Jewish Federation of Florida’s Gulf Coast, spoke out against the concerts at last week’s Tampa City Council meeting and sent letters to her elected officials.

“There are people who have not been educated to understand what Nazis represent. He is glamorizing hatred,” she said. “We should have a ticket buyback program. Because to me, it’s not just the profit that’s going to be made. It’s how many individuals are going to be hearing this person, and who knows what the messaging is that he’s going to share?”

After the press conference, Hammer said she is still looking for ways to fight back against the concert.

“It’s like a done deal. That’s unacceptable in my eyes,” she said. “I left there asking, ’What more can I do?’”

Prominent Lebanese Shi’ite cleric Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Qabalan insisted that following the “Iranian victory” in forming a deal with the United States, Lebanon must “change the government” and form a “strong partnership” with Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, Lebanese media reported on Monday.

While the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding have not yet been published, Iranian media reported that the terms included an immediate release of $12 billion in frozen assets, with a further $12 billion to be released at a later date, the end of Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Hezbollah, and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli experts who spoke with The Jerusalem Post on Monday largely discredited the Iranian reports, arguing the Tehran-funded reports were little more than an unrealistic “wish list.”

“Because the factors that brought the pro-Washington camp to power have ended with this war, the current government must be changed calmly and within national balances,” the Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Shi’ite Council said.

“Aoun must also withdraw from direct negotiations with Israel, which lost the war of the century,” Qabalan added.

Lebanese president increasingly frustrated with Hezbollah

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has grown increasingly vocal in his frustration with Hezbollah and its backer, Iran, for dragging the country into another war with Israel and continuing to violate the law in March, which attempted to ban Hezbollah’s military and security activities.

Aoun accused the Islamic Republic of using Lebanon “for the sake of your [Iran’s] own interest” in an interview with CNN last week, and there has been mounting pressure for the Lebanese president to withdraw from talks with Israel on a security agreement.

Hezbollah first dragged Lebanon into war on October 8, 2023, a day after its Hamas allies murdered 1200 people during its invasion of southern Israel, and then returned Lebanon to conflict after a brief period of calm in response to the assassination of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  

The resulting talks between Israel and Lebanon, through Washington, has led many experts to view Hezbollah’s actions over the past three years as a sequence of costly failures, experts previously explained to the Post.

“With the historic Washington–Tehran agreement, we are now facing a Middle East shaped by Iranian conditions,” Qabalan said, adding that the “notion that ‘no one negotiates on behalf of Lebanon’ has collapsed.”

Iran’s goal of exporting Islamic revolution

Speaking to the Post on Tuesday, Lieutenant-Colonel (res.) Dr. Moran Levanoni, a researcher with the Institute for National Security Studies, noted that the Islamic Republic’s goal since the 1979 takeover of Iran has been to export its Islamic revolution, threatening the sovereignty of countries with a Shi’ite minority population.

“The struggle now in Lebanon is between the implementation of its own sovereignty over Lebanon, and Hezbollah trying to build a large influence of Iran in Lebanon,” Levanoni explained. “I think that if the agreement between the United States and Iran is as it is now published in the news, it is a big setback for the pro-sovereignty groups in Lebanon, a big blow for them, and encouragement for deeper and deeper involvement of Iran within Lebanon.”

Levanoni urged that Jerusalem continue pursuing dialogue with Beirut, claiming that only such talks could strengthen Lebanon’s sovereignty, which is in Israel’s best interest, given that the alternative is potentially a new Iran as a neighbor. 

Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar blamed Washington on Tuesday for the Iranian regime’s survival, saying the United States chose against sending troops into Iran to topple the government in Tehran.

“The US decided not to send its soldiers into Iranian territory to topple the current regime,” Zohar told Army Radio. “Had they wanted the regime to fall, it would have fallen.”

At the same time, Zohar praised Israel’s conduct of the war, saying the campaign had been managed “close to perfect” so far.

“Until this moment, the management of the war has been close to perfect,” he said. “We set Iran back by decades; their entire leadership is gone.”

Zohar’s comments came as coalition ministers continued to criticize the emerging US-Iran agreement and stressed that Israel must retain freedom of action even if Washington moves forward with understandings with Tehran.

Ben-Gvir claims Israel not bound by US agreement

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Trump’s agreement “does not bind us,” adding that Israel is a sovereign state and “not a banana republic.” He said Israel should accept nothing less than the dismantling of Hezbollah and should not remain silent in the face of fire toward Israeli territory.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called the agreement “bad for Israel and the entire free world,” and said Israel would have to continue the campaign against the Iranian regime “by ourselves and in creative ways.” He added that Israel must ensure Iran never obtains nuclear weapons.

Energy Minister Eli Cohen said Israel would feel free to act “anywhere in Lebanon” and also in Iran itself. “With the United States or without the United States, we will act and will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons,” he said.

“If Israel can’t do the job without killing everyone else, Syria should do the job,” said US President Donald Trump in a bilateral meeting with the Emir of the State of Qatar on Tuesday.

Trump says he considers the Lebanon war a minor one, and an arena in which Syria can take on Hezbollah in partnership with the United States if Israel under Netanyahu cannot be reigned in.

“Israel’s fighting Hezbollah for too long, and too many people are being killed. You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody because there’s a lot of people in those apartment houses and they’re not all Hezbollah, that I can tell you,” the president said. 

“I suggested to Israel to let Syria take care of Hezbollah, because to be honest with you, I think they’d do a better job of doing it.”

Trump then praised the President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, saying, “he has pulled that country together very quickly, he’s very capable, and he’s very good for me. He’s protected everything that I’ve asked for.”

‘Without the US there would be no Israel – Bibi has to be more responsible in Lebanon’

When asked if he was frustrated with Netanyahu, he responded, “No, we have a great relationship.”

The president continued, saying, “I didn’t like that he did an attack [over] a very minor little thing with some drones. I saw that attack, I saw where that bomb went. That was a vicious… that was too much. You can do too much also. But we’ve had a very effective relationship.

“Without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel – because no other president was willing to do what I did. I had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.”

Gynecologist Prof. Menachem Elkalay was convicted of multiple offenses of rape by fraud in the Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday.

Judges ruled in their decision that the crimes were carried out by exploiting the trust placed in him by his patients and by creating a false impression that the sexual assaults were part of a medical examination or treatment. 

In August of 2024, a serious indictment was filed against Elkalay, who previously served as the director of the urogynecology unit at Sheba Medical Center and Tzafon Medical Center.

The indictment followed testimony from more than 35 women in 2021, who alleged that they were sexually assaulted during medical examinations he performed.

He was charged with a series of sexual offenses, including multiple counts of rape by fraud regarding the nature of the act and sodomy by fraud against patients. 

Elkalay exploited patients during medical examinations, treatment

The indictment detailed that between 2013 and 2021, in nine separate cases and in different clinics, Elkalay exploited his position, the trust placed in him, and the physical condition of the complainants while they were being examined.

According to the indictment, during gynecological examinations or medical treatments, he inserted his fingers into the complainants’ vaginas and simultaneously massaged their clitorises, in a manner that appeared to be part of the examination or medical treatment.

According to the verdict, it was determined that the acts were carried out with consent obtained by deception regarding their nature.

During the investigation, 20 complaints were filed against Elkalay with the police. Women who testified to investigators said they were sexually assaulted by him while being examined at his clinic.

After the case came to light, he was initially suspended from Sheba Medical Center, but he continued to see patients in his private practice.

The verdict issued on Tuesday concludes a lengthy criminal proceeding that began following a wave of testimony that emerged about four years ago, centered on claims by patients that the acts performed on them were presented as an integral part of the medical procedure, while, according to the court’s ruling, they constituted sexual offenses carried out fraudulently.

Iran will connect its electrical grid with Qatar in the near future, Tehran’s Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Tuesday, according to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.

“The connection between Iran and Qatar will begin soon – studies are in the final stage, and we are beginning the implementation phase,” Aliabadi was cited as saying.

Iran is also “studying” the connection of its grid to other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Aliabadi reportedly said.

اتصال شبکه برق ایران به قطر در آینده نزدیک

وزیر نیرو:

به زودی اتصال الکتریکی ایران با کشور قطر آغاز خواهد شد، مطالعات در مرحله پایانی است و در ابتدای کار اجرایی هستیم

با دیگر کشورهای حاشیه خلیج فارس هم در حال مطالعه برای اتصال شبکه برق هستیم pic.twitter.com/hw1Dwmd4w7

— خبرگزاری تسنیم (@Tasnimnews_Fa) June 16, 2026

This follows a Friday report in The Washington Post, which stated that Qatar offered Iran a “secret deal” before operations Roaring Lion and Epic Fury began on February 28, in exchange for a promise that Iran would not strike Qatar’s energy infrastructure.

The Washington Post cited Middle Eastern and Western officials saying that Qatar was aiming to protect its Ras Laffan gas complex from Iran’s attacks.

However, the site was ultimately hit by an Iranian missile attack in March, causing significant damage to the plant.

Iran’s March strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan caused $20 billion lost annual revenue, Doha official says

QatarEnergy CEO and Energy Minister, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, was cited by Reuters at the time saying that the strikes caused an estimated $20b. in lost annual revenue, after the attacks knocked out 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity.

“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the region – ⁠in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” Kaabi said at the time.

Meanwhile, Qatar reportedly refused to facilitate negotiations between the US and Iran while under fire, but hosted an Iranian delegation in May to discuss the release of frozen funds, according to Agence-France Presse on Monday.

A diplomat told AFP that Qatari negotiators were involved in “17 hours of intensive negotiations” in Tehran ahead of the deal being announced.

During these negotiations, Qatar “played a role trying to secure Gulf interests,” AFP cited International Forum Director Dania Thafer as saying.

Iranian energy minister discusses electricity, water supply concerns over coming summer months

Earlier this week, Aliabadi spoke on the state broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), discussing the effects of electricity consumption and water supply across the country over the coming summer months.

He pledged that his ministry would prioritize the supply of electricity to industries with established power plants.

He also commented that Iran, during the war, was producing electricity at over 1,000 locations across the country.

Meanwhile, Qatar is planning to boost its liquified natural gas production once the Strait of Hormuz reopens, according to people familiar with the matter speaking to Bloomberg on Tuesday.

Jerusalem Post Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

Yeros Kasau, 19, received the National Service Excellence Award for her service with Ha’aguda L’hitndavut (The Volunteer Association) in a ceremony held in the presence of President Isaac Herzog at the President’s Residence on Monday, nearly two-and-a-half years after her sister Haymanut Kasau went missing in Safed.

Yeros contributed to the organization and to Israeli society through volunteer work, “despite her family’s unimaginable situation, enduring a nerve-wracking wait for any information regarding the whereabouts of her little sister,” the Volunteer Association said in a press release that marked her as one of the 29 outstanding presidential volunteers of 2026.

The family members met privately with the President, who expressed his support and appreciation for Yeros and her family during the ongoing case.

A Knesset-backed awareness campaign, cash reward of over 850,000 shekels

The Aliyah, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee, headed by MK Gilad Kariv, convened on Monday to discuss raising awareness about the Haymanut’s disappearance, the Knesset announced in a press statement.

Following the committee’s request, an advertising campaign was launched, with billboards being placed across the country to raise awareness of Haymanut. 

“We will not stop the operations until we find Haymanut,” said Kariv. “We will hold a follow-up discussion here in July.”

Danny Adeno Abba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, said, “The billboard campaign will begin today and will focus mainly on the north of the country in the Safed area… We will also see billboards in other major cities across the country,” adding that “A digital campaign will be implemented” later this month.

The Jewish Agency offered a cash reward of 150,000 shekels, while the family has pledged an additional reward of 850,000 shekels for anyone who provides information leading to Haymanut’s location, who was last seen in a Safed absorption center office almost 850 days ago.

“It’s been two and a half years since my daughter disappeared, but I am very grateful to all the partners who are leading the publicity campaign. There needs to be a combination of all the relevant government bodies and security agencies, including the Shin Bet, in order to succeed and find my daughter. We want to return to the normality of our lives. We’ve run out of words; we just want to see our girl back home,” said Hatmanot’s father, Tesfai Kasau.

Israeli Police investigating links to Ethiopia, unsatisfactory progress

Israeli Police are considering possible links in the investigation to Ethiopia, according to a report by Reshet 13.

MK Kariv asked the legal advisor of the International Investigations Unit under Lahav 433, Chief Inspector Sarit Elisha Al-Ami, to reclassify the case from “missing person” status to “abduction,” to which Al-Ami responded that “the classification of the case has no impact on the operations being carried out,” a consideration which the father, Tesfaye, rejected. 

Tesfaye threatened to sue the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, claiming “you are doing nothing,” Reshet 13 reported.

In response to the police announcing a “development in the investigation,” Haymanut’s family released a statement denying any real progress and stating that they had heard of no such progress from the police; instead, they learned of the allegedly fabricated progress only through the media.

“This is a cynical and outrageous exploitation of the family’s pain. It is astonishing to discover time and again that the police operate with creativity and efficiency when dealing with the media, but when faced with a lead in the disappearance of a 9-year-old girl, they hit a total dead end. If there is a real development, why is the family hearing about it from the media?”

“This conduct proves definitively that Israeli police have thrown up their hands and are managing a media damage-control battle instead of a real investigation. We demand an immediate end to these PR stunts,” the family said.

“The only way to achieve a breakthrough is the immediate establishment of a joint Special Investigative Team (SIT) that includes Shin Bet elements. Only a combination of the technological and intelligence capabilities of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) can solve this mystery and bring Haymanut home,” the statement concluded.

Iran and the US will start a new round of negotiations on Friday in Switzerland to reach a final agreement after the official start of an interim agreement, Iran’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Araqchi also warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon or continued presence on Lebanese territory from now on constituted a violation of the interim agreement with the United States.

“In our view, the two parties to this memorandum are the US and Israel on one side, and Iran and Hezbollah on the other,” he said.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Takht-Ravanchi says nuclear issues will be discussed in the next phase of talks, including enrichment, stockpiling, and Iran’s nuclear needs, according to Iran’s Student News Network.

Two other issues that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify the war – ending Iran’s support for regional armed proxies and curbing its missile program – are not thought to be on the agenda for these negotiations. 

The deal is the most significant step yet to resolve the conflict, which has killed at least 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, and upended global energy markets.

Israeli satellites photographed Iran a jaw-dropping over 50,000 times during the around 40-day Operation Roaring Lion, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

This statistic would mean that Israeli satellites were taking well over 1,000 photos per day of the Islamic Republic during the war.

It also dwarfs the around 12,000 satellite photos that Israel took of Iran during the June 2025 war, according to the Defense Ministry.

Even those 12,000 photos captured tens of millions of square kilometers of Iranian territory through both day and night.

This means that Israel likely captured more than a hundred million square kilometers, if not hundreds of millions, during the recent war.

50,000 satellite images, 18,000 bombs, 4,000 targets

On April 9, the IDF revealed many of its other final statistics to date from the Iran war, including dropping 18,000 bombs.

That number over 38 days represents around five times the number of bombs that the IDF dropped on Iran over 12 days during the June 2025 war.

These bombs were dropped as part of 1,000 waves of aircraft, with those aircraft flying 8,5000 separate sorties.

During those sorties, there were around 10,800 attacks, which focused on around 4,000 different targets, which collectively had around 6,700 different components to them.

For example, one target might be an entire base with several different buildings or threat items to strike.

The pace of the bombing, as massive as it was, mostly dropped on a steady basis starting from mid-March.
 
In the early days of the war, both Israel and the US were dropping around 1,000 bombs or striking around 1,000 targets daily.

On April 6, the US CENTCOM said that it had struck over 13,000 targets within Iran.

However, the size of Israeli and American targets is not entirely comparable.

At different times, both Israel and American officials have claimed that they bombed more targets than the other party, while always making sure to lavish praise on the counterpart air force.

For most of the war, the parties also divided up the country by region, with Israel mostly attacking in western, northern, and central Iran, including Tehran, and the US focused more on southern Iran as well as the various waterways.

Israel’s largest rehabilitation hospital will be built in Sde Rov, North Tel Aviv, thanks to a NIS 200 million donation anchored by the Judisman Family Charitable Foundation, according to an announcement on Monday. 

The Judisman Rehabilitation Hospital is set to open in 2032 and is one of the most ambitious social infrastructure projects in Tel Aviv’s history, with a total funding of NIS 1.1 billion. The facility, in partnership with the Tel Aviv Foundation and the Reuth Association, will include approximately 540 beds to serve 10,000 patients annually.

According to the Health Ministry‘s 2023 equity report, Israel averages 1.7 rehabilitation beds per 1,000 residents, with demand only intensifying since Oct. 7. This project aims to improve this situation and Israeli healthcare in general. 

“The establishment of the new Jusidman Rehabilitation Hospital is another significant step toward strengthening Israel’s rehabilitation healthcare system,” said Ron Huldai, mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo and chairman of the Tel Aviv Foundation. “Tel Aviv-Yafo, a leading city in public health, is mobilizing to address rehabilitation needs, which have become increasingly urgent for wounded soldiers, trauma victims, and others seeking a real opportunity to return to an independent and fulfilling life.”

New hospital will include innovative facilities

Once construction is complete, the Reuth Rehabilitation Hospital in Yad Eliyahu will relocate to this new campus, which will feature expanded innovative facilities, including stroke and traumatic brain injury recovery, a hydrotherapy pool, a research hub, and green spaces for patients and their families.

“In its 50th year, the Tel Aviv Foundation has chosen to place hope at the center of its work,” said Dr. Hila Oren, CEO of the Tel Aviv Foundation. “The generous donation from the Jusidman Family Charitable Foundation demonstrates how strategic philanthropy, led by the Tel Aviv Foundation, can turn an urban vision into a reality that changes lives and strengthens the resilience of Tel Aviv-Yafo and the State of Israel.”

The new hospital will also offer a PTSD clinic for IDF veterans to address the supply and demand gap for rehabilitation services in Israel. 

The remaining funding for this project will come from municipal, governmental, and private sources, the foundation’s statement explained. 

Somewhere over Gaza right now, a drone is making a decision. Not a soldier. Not a commander hunched over a screen in a bunker. The drone. That moment, replicated thousands of times a day across active conflict zones, is the clearest signal we have that warfare has entered a new era. The technology driving it has a name most people haven’t heard yet: physical AI.

Physical AI isn’t chatbots or recommendation algorithms. It’s intelligence embedded in machines that move, perceive, and act in the real world. Autonomous drones. Ground robots navigating urban terrain. Naval systems conducting persistent surveillance without crews. The output isn’t a report or a prediction. It’s motion, force, and presence. That distinction is what makes it a national security issue, not just a technology story.

Israel already has the proof of concept

Israel didn’t stumble into this. The IDF has been one of the world’s most demanding operational test environments for autonomous systems for years. Elbit’s Hermes drones have flown in contested airspace for over a decade. Rafael’s autonomous weapon stations guard Israel’s borders. Iron Dome’s targeting logic, operating under real engagement timelines with zero margin for error, is an early form of physical AI that has already saved Israeli lives.

These aren’t demonstration projects sitting in a lab waiting for a defense ministry tender. They’ve been used. Tested under fire. Iterated in real conditions.

What that history creates is something money can’t easily replicate: a generation of Israeli engineers who’ve built systems that had to work when it mattered. 

Unit 8200 and the broader intelligence community have produced AI and sensing talent that understands operational constraints most engineers in the world have never encountered. When those people leave the military and start companies, they carry that experience with them.

That pipeline is one of Israel’s most underappreciated strategic assets.

Ukraine changed the calculus for everyone

The war in Ukraine has been a live proving ground for physical AI at scale. Ukraine’s use of FPV drones, coordinated by AI-assisted targeting, demonstrated that autonomous systems can be battlefield-decisive even when deployed asymmetrically by a smaller, outgunned force. The lesson landed hard in every serious defense ministry.

Russia adapted. Iran-supplied Shahed drones pushed autonomous loitering munitions into mainstream military doctrine overnight. The question being asked in Tel Aviv, Washington, and Beijing isn’t whether autonomous systems matter. It’s how fast you can field them, how many, and how reliably.

Israel’s October 7 experience added another layer. While the failure wasn’t technology, the aftermath has driven an urgent rethinking of border sensing, autonomous alert systems, and the human-machine teaming required to respond faster than any purely manual system allows.

The American bet

The United States is moving with unusual urgency. The Pentagon’s Replicator initiative is explicit: thousands of autonomous platforms, attritable and expendable, deployed at scale. Not a future program. Funded and in production.

Companies like Anduril and Shield AI are building the integrating software that makes autonomous systems operationally viable. DARPA has been laying the scientific foundation for autonomous ground vehicles and collaborative combat aircraft for years. The money following these companies reflects a consensus that physical AI is where the next decade of military advantage gets decided.

For Israel, the US trajectory matters for two reasons. First, interoperability. Israeli systems need to work alongside American platforms in any serious conflict scenario. Second, competition. American companies are moving fast into markets where Israeli firms have historically had an edge.

What Israel needs to get right

The hardware exists. The talent exists. What’s still underdeveloped is the software stack that makes physical AI scalable and reliable: autonomy software that functions in GPS-denied environments, simulation platforms for testing before deployment, and sensor fusion systems that work in degraded conditions.

That’s where the next layer of Israeli defense-tech companies needs to emerge. Not more drones; smarter drones; systems that can operate in communications blackouts, make sound decisions at the edge, and be validated to the standards that both the IDF and NATO partners will require.

The countries that solve reliable autonomous systems first will have a military advantage that traditional defense spending can’t easily offset. Israel has the operational history, the engineering talent, and the threat environment to be a genuine leader here.

The window to build that position is open. It won’t stay open indefinitely.

The writer is a founding partner at Aurelius Capital, a defense-led dual-use technology fund investing in Israeli founders across cybersecurity, autonomous systems, drones, and communications.

A pro-Israel pastor who inveighs against “sharia law” and wants Jews to accept Jesus is the favored candidate in a crowded congressional primary in Oklahoma on Tuesday.

Jackson Lahmeyer, the founder of Pastors for Trump and a political activist from the Tulsa area, secured the president’s endorsement ahead of Tuesday’s primary for the state’s solidly Republican 1st District House seat. Other big GOP endorsements soon followed, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, helping to pull Lahmeyer away from the other nine candidates vying for the nomination.

Much of Lahmeyer’s national profile has been defined by his regular invocations of “sharia law,” traditional Muslim doctrine often used as a right-wing shock tactic. One of his campaign platforms is “Ensuring That Sharia Law Never Takes Root In Our Nation.”

On Sunday, Lahmeyer also responded to allegations published by the Daily Mail that he had cheated on his wife, writing in a post on X that “this matter was already dealt with privately between me and my wife, Kendra, through counsel and prayer with God and spiritual advisors.”

Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District is home to a thriving Jewish community, one that has recently urged Jews from Canada to take up residence, as well as multiple large Jewish organizations, including Schusterman Family Philanthropies.

Lahmeyer preaches about a Jewish Antichrist

Multiple representatives of the Jewish Federation of Tulsa declined to comment on Lahmeyer’s candidacy. But it’s clear that if elected, he will bring to Congress some specific ideas about Jews.

“The Antichrist will be a political leader of Jewish descent,” he told a livestream of his church on Oct. 8, 2024, a day after the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. “That is how the Jews will worship him.”

During his sermon, Lahmeyer based the claim on his reading of biblical prophecy, arguing that the Antichrist will “speak great blasphemy” and will “have no regard for the gods of his fathers.”

Lahmeyer’s preaching about the Jewish Antichrist has also sparked concern among some Jewish voters.

“Jackson, I am appalled at this post. I’m Jewish. I supported you[r] run for office at every turn. I have children and grandchildren. Antisemitism is at an all-time high. I’m scared for them. This is abhorrent,” one X user wrote in response to a February 2023 post on X by Lahmeyer claiming the Antichrist will be “Jewish” and a “homosexual.”

Lahmeyer pushed back on the response, replying to the user that “This is not anti-Semitic AT ALL. The Christ is Jewish. Scripture indicates that the Antichrist will also be Jewish.”

Despite those apocalyptic beliefs, Lahmeyer has repeatedly framed support for Israel as a key tenet of his faith, reflecting a Christian Zionist worldview that sees Jewish return to Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

“I stand with the Jewish people because God almighty stands with the Jewish people,” Lahmeyer said in an Oct. 9, 2025 post dismissing claims he had been paid by the Israeli government to post pro-Israel content. “So those of you who are out there saying I’m getting $7,000 a post, I wish that were true, but you’re an idiot and you’re wrong.”

Matthew Taylor, a scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Lahmeyer’s statements about Jews and Israel reflect a typical strain of Christian Zionism.

“He’s pro-Israel in this very particular sense of he has a strong attachment to a theological conception of Israel,” Taylor said. “When it comes to questions about the Antichrist and whether the Antichrist is Jewish or not, that’s all pretty standard speculation within modern evangelicalism.”

Trump gives Lahmeyer the thumbs up

Those views, once largely confined to Lahmeyer’s reach as a storefront pastor, have followed him into a larger political arena as he has transformed from a fringe activist into a political contender with presidential backing.

“It is my Great Honor to endorse MAGA Warrior, Jackson Lahmeyer, who is running to represent the fantastic people of Oklahoma’s 1st Congressional District, and has been with me from the very beginning of our Movement to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Monday, reaffirming his endorsement of Lahmeyer.

Trump praised Lahmeyer’s role in founding “Pastors for Trump,” which he launched in 2022 to organize evangelical pastors around getting Trump reelected. The same year, Lahmeyer lost his Republican primary bid to unseat Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, whom he called a “coward” for not backing Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Lahmeyer, who did not return a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for an interview, is a member of the White House Faith Office and Trump’s National Faith Advisory Board.

He has been cultivating relationships with the Trumps for years. In addition to backing the president’s election claims, Lahmeyer has hosted the president’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., as well as FBI Director Kash Patel at his church and on podcast episodes.

Many conservatives are now leaning anti-Israel, Lahmeyer disapproves

Lahmeyer’s rise coincides with a growing movement of conservative Christians and right-wing influencers who have been increasingly critical of Israel and the US-Israel alliance.

During an event marking the second anniversary of Oct. 7 titled “The Case for Israel,” Lahmeyer addressed the growing prominence of anti-Israel figures on the Christian right, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.

“Both Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, they’re Roman Catholics, so to them the church has replaced the Jewish people, the state of Israel, and that is why they can make these claims,” Lahmeyer said.

But Lahmeyer has stopped short of condemning Carlson’s rhetoric, despite criticism from Trump and evangelical members of his administration, including US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

“Some very influential leaders, all of whom I like, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene, have taken a very controversial stance in regards to the nation of Israel,” Lahmeyer told NPR in November.

Taylor said the fallout over Israel within the MAGA coalition between Christian antisemites, such as Carlson and Owens, and Christian philosemites, such as Huckabee, placed Lahmeyer in a precarious position as he seeks office.

White evangelicals show widespread support for Israel, with 72% reporting a positive opinion of the Jewish state according to an April 2025 poll by the Pew Research Center, but among Republicans under 50, positive sentiments about Israel have dropped in recent years, falling from 63% reporting a positive view in 2022 to 48% in 2025.

“A lot of young evangelicals are moving away from Zionism, and becoming less sympathetic with the state of Israel, both theologically and just in terms of world events, and the war in Gaza,” Taylor said. “So I think it’s a very complicated place that he’s in, trying to kind of run as a politician in this moment where MAGA is fracturing over some of the things he could be very publicly identified with.”

Archaeologists working in a 14th-century monastery in Barcelona have analyzed the remains of 25 individuals buried in eight different graves, including the tomb of the medieval Queen Elisenda de Montcada. 

Elisenda’s tomb was opened as part of a project conducted by the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria Pedralbes to learn more about her life and the living conditions of women in the 14th century, according to a late May statement from the Culture Institute of Barcelona. 

Elisenda married King James II of Aragon and Valencia (in what is now modern eastern Spain) at the age of 30, a month after the death of his third wife. During James’ absence between 1324 and 1327, she served as regent of Aragon, and after his death in 1327, she lived adjacent to the monastery for the remaining 37 years of her life.

The work, which includes genetic analyses, dating, and material studies, began in 2024 and will continue until May 2027 as part of the monastery’s 700th anniversary celebrations.

Analysis of Elisenda’s tomb confirmed that the remains buried within the medieval wooden box belonged to the queen. 

Elisenda’s remains, aged at 70-years-old, were found to have been buried in what is now traces of austere clothing, believed to be similar to a monastic habit.

Additional fabrics, including a fragment made of tinsel and silk, were discovered alongside the remains.

Majority of remains identified as adult women

Out of the other 14th-century graves that were unearthed, the statement explained, analysis of the remains found within has led to the revision of historical attribution to the tombs. 

In the grave attributed to the Aragonese knight Artau de Foces, archaeologists discovered the remains of two women and three children – but none belonging to a man. 

Similarly, the remains of at least nine individuals from different time periods were discovered within the tomb of Francesca Saportella, the monastery’s second abbess and Elisanda’s niece.

A majority of the 25 individuals identified were adult women, some of a more advanced age than that expected for women living in medieval times. Several children and adolescents were also buried in the eight graves.

Researchers also identified the presence of osteoarticular pathologies, indicative of either metabolic diseases or traumatic injuries, which may provide insight into the living conditions and health status of the high-status female community in the 14th century.

According to the ministry’s statement, researchers are also conducting DNA analysis of bone and dental samples taken from the individuals in an attempt to confirm their identities, determine their original places of burial, and discover if any have living kin.

Additionally, the exhumation of the remains allowed the researchers a glimpse into little-known funerary practices belonging to the medieval monastery. 

Burials in textile bundles and burial sacks have been identified alongside traces of ritualistic elements, such as candles and cords, as well as evidence of reorganization and reburial over time.

Over 200 traces of floral and aromatic offerings commonly associated with funeral rites, medicinal, and symbolic usage were also found within the eight graves.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett heavily criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war with Iran on Tuesday on the “Hazman Hazeh” program on Kan News, saying that the Prime Minister’s interests have affected Israel’s standing on the world stage.

“The current government is no longer capable of advancing Israel,” Bennett said. “He is saying something terrible. He says that as long as he is the prime minister, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. In other words, the second he is no longer prime minister, Israel will be destroyed.”

He emphasized that October 7 happened under Netanyahu’s watch, before calling Netanyahu’s statements an example of “anti-leadership.”

“A good parent raises their children so they won’t be dependent on them,” Bennett said. “And a good leader builds a nation that won’t be dependent on [himself]…”

“We can do things differently. The current government is no longer capable of advancing Israel in any dimension, but with a different leadership, it is possible. The moment you are not enslaved to countless personal interests, and you are free to act, you can achieve very, very great things,” he added.

Bennett: ‘I’ll do whatever it takes… I am the only one who can defeat him’

Asked whether he would have succeeded as prime minister in resisting US pressure over the Iranian ceasefire agreement, Bennet stressed that he would have done everything differently and wouldn’t have gotten into the situation in the first place. 

Regarding the US-Iran ceasefire deal and the nuclear issue, Bennett said, “Iran’s nuclear program has not been dismantled.”

On elections, Bennett said he would do “whatever it takes” to defeat his rival, Netanyahu.

According to him, it will require a right-wing candidate to replace Netanyahu because Israel itself has moved to the right.

Using the example of Hungary, where Victor Orban was only defeated after a right-wing candidate challenged him after 16 years of failed challenges by the center and left, Bennett said, “I am the only one who can defeat him. I know how to stare Netanyahu down and defeat him. I’ve done it before, and I know how to do it again.”

In 2018, as former US president Barack Obama struck a deal with Iran to constrain its nuclear production, American Jewish groups were divided: Those on the right excoriated the deal, saying it left Iran a major threat to Israel, while those on the left were more supportive.

This time around, as US President Donald Trump has announced a new deal with Iran after months of war that the United States fought jointly with Israel, American Jewish groups are more unified: They aren’t happy.

On the right and the left, Jewish groups are expressing concerns about the deal that Trump and Iran announced on Sunday night, even as its terms have not yet officially come into focus.

Trump has emphasized that the deal reopens the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed after the war began on Febuary 28.  US Vice President JD Vance also told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the deal would include significant sanctions relief in exchange for Iran’s agreement that it would give up its nuclear weapons program.

But it’s not clear what concessions Iran has made on the nuclear front, while there are no indications other issues key to Israeli security, including Tehran’s ballistic missile program and proxy network, have been addressed. Though Israel and the US undertook the war jointly in February, Israel was not a party to the negotiations and has come under repeated criticism from Trump for jeopardizing talks with Iran.

‘An admission of defeat by the US’

“At worst, it’s an admission of defeat by the United States,” said Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, in a statement on Monday about the deal. The group was founded in 2017 as a successor to the National Jewish Democratic Council, which supported the Obama-era deal, called the JCPOA.

Soifer added, “Donald Trump was so desperate to get a deal with Iran that he was unabashedly willing to push Israel aside, demonstrating – yet again – that Trump has no loyalty or commitment to anyone other than himself.”

The right-wing Zionist Organization of America, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to Trump for taking on Iran but reacted to the deal as it had to the JCPOA, with great concern.

“We call on the administration to disclose the terms as soon as possible,” President Morton Klein said in a statement. “However, the little that we know is deeply problematic.”

Klein’s statement outlined a host of qualms based on reporting about the deal’s possible conditions, including about signs that Trump had agreed to a deal that omitted terms that Trump previously said repeatedly were essential for a US agreement.

“It makes no sense for the US to immediately give up its pressure on the Iranian regime – the blockade that was strangulating Iran economically – without obtaining immediate removal of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, decommissioning of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and destruction of Iran’s deadly missile stockpile,” Klein said.

The progressive group J Street opposed the war from the start and said it welcomed its conclusion. 

“At the same time,” it said in a statement, “it is important to acknowledge a basic reality: This costly and illegal war achieved none of the sweeping objectives that were repeatedly invoked to justify it. … The tragedy is that diplomacy had already produced a workable framework. The JCPOA was effectively constraining Iran’s nuclear program until President Trump chose to abandon it.”

AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby that was one of the strongest opponents of the JCPOA, has not issued a statement about the new deal. But it retweeted a comment from Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott listing a set of objectives that it’s not clear the agreement achieves.

“Any deal we make with Iran needs to permanently end their nuclear program, end their missile program, and stop their decades-long terror funding,” Scott said.

Some concerned Iran’s view on agreement differs from US

Scott’s fellow Republican senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, was among those on both sides of the aisle expressing qualms. “I am somewhat concerned that Iran’s view of the agreement seems different than what the American negotiating team is claiming,” Graham tweeted on Sunday, saying that he thought it was “imperative” that Vance present the terms of the deal to Congress for approval.

Vance said on Monday that the deal had been “digitally” signed already despite “technical things” that still needed to be worked out ahead of a ceremony planned for Switzerland on Friday. Speaking to US media, he said he believed the terms were being mischaracterized and that the deal would result in an Iran without nuclear ambitions.

“If the Iranians are willing to give a long-term commitment, along with proper verification, to giving up that nuclear weapon, we’re willing to welcome them into the world economy to lift some sanctions and to turn over a new leaf in that relationship,” Vance said on “Good Morning America.”

Some Jewish groups have been more circumspect in their initial responses.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has not issued a statement on the deal, though it has retweeted Trump’s social media posts promoting it. The coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The Democratic Majority for Israel, meanwhile, urged Trump in a statement from its president, Brian Romick, to “bring in serious and experienced negotiators and technical experts to get this deal over the finish line, rather than relying on friends, family, and donors.” Romick also criticized Trump for cutting Israel out of negotiations – but he left some room for optimism.

“We continue to stand with the Israeli people who have been at war for more than two years, the people of Iran who have endured too many decades under a brutal regime and bravely demanded an end to oppression, as well as the Lebanese people who have lived under Hezbollah’s Iran-backed occupation for decades,” Romick said. “We will await the final text of this deal and hopefully bring this war to an end.”

Iran twice came from behind to draw 2-2 with New Zealand in an exciting World Cup clash at Los Angeles Stadium on Monday, as protests against Tehran’s government and a tentative agreement to end the US-Iran war formed a charged backdrop to the match.

New Zealand took an early lead when Elijah Just volleyed home from inside the box after being set up by Chris Wood.

The goal was celebrated by some fans critical of the Iranian government, many of whom carried Iran’s pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flag. Some also booed Iran’s national anthem before kickoff.

But most of the crowd of more than 70,000 appeared firmly behind Team Melli, chanting “Ir-ran! Ir-ran!” and erupting when Ramin Rezaeian equalized shortly after the half-hour mark.

Rezaeian, one of several Iranian players who had not played club football since February after the domestic league was suspended amid US and Israeli airstrikes, reacted quickest to a shot blocked by a defender and poked the ball past the advancing goalkeeper.

Intense battle ends in 2-2 stalemate

Wood and Just combined again early in the second half, the New Zealand captain sliding a precise pass into the 26-year-old forward’s path before Just hammered home to restore the All Whites’ lead.

Iran responded 10 minutes later with a super goal from Mohammad Mohebbi, who headed Rezaeian’s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2.

Iran created better chances leading up to the final whistle, but were unable to find a winner as the sun set over Southern California.

The stalemate means all the teams in Group G have one point after Belgium drew 1-1 with Egypt earlier on Monday.

New Zealand, making their third appearance at the finals, remain without a win at a World Cup after seven matches. Iran is looking to reach the knockout round for the first time.

“We’re disappointed to not win,” New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley said.

“When you’re leading twice in a game, you come away with that what if. We were probably as close as we’ve ever been to winning a game at the World Cup, and we couldn’t quite do that today.

“But we’re in the World Cup, we didn’t lose, we stayed in the game, scored goals and created chances, so it was a really strong performance I’m really proud of.”

Protestors call out Iranian government

The match laid bare divisions among Iranian American fans, many of whom said they felt torn between pride at seeing Iran on the sport’s biggest stage, anger over Tehran’s crackdown on protesters, and concern over Washington’s bombing campaign.

Los Angeles is home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, and before kickoff, about 300 to 500 protesters gathered outside the stadium, waving anti-government signs and flags.

Some Iranian Americans said attending the match would imply support for Iran’s government, while others said they wanted to set politics aside and support the players.

Iran, which moved their base camp from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico, where they have been warmly received, will return to Los Angeles to face Belgium on Sunday, while New Zealand takes on Egypt in Vancouver.

Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas have all been significantly weakened since October 7, former strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer said Monday at United Hatzalah’s Annual New York Gala in Lower Manhattan, according to a Hebrew summary of his remarks.

Speaking at the Monday event, where he was honored with United Hatzalah’s Hero of Israel Award, Dermer addressed concerns over a possible Iran arrangement, the Hezbollah threat in Lebanon, US-Israel ties, and the Gaza hostage negotiations.

Dermer said that while he had heard “many fears and concerns” about a possible agreement with Iran, Israel should “take a step back” and assess the current strategic picture.

“Two and a half years ago, Iran posed an existential threat to Israel,” Dermer said. “Three years later, Iran’s nuclear capability has been destroyed.”

He said Iran’s remaining leverage was its enriched material, located in two deeply buried sites, while its ballistic capabilities had been set back by years. That, he said, gives Israel time to strengthen its defenses.

Dermer added that the current discussions should not be described as a nuclear deal, but rather as an effort to ease economic pressure internationally and, to some extent, on Iran.

“Within two or three weeks, we will know whether the Iranians are prepared to give up their nuclear program,” he said. “I doubt that will happen.”

Hezbollah no longer the force it was in 2023, Dermer says

Turning to Lebanon, Dermer said Hezbollah is no longer the force it was on October 7, though he warned that the organization still retains military capabilities.

“Hezbollah is maybe 25% of what it was before,” he said.

Dermer said defeating Hezbollah outright would require a force twice the size of the IDF, but stressed that Israel would not allow a terrorist organization to threaten its borders.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear that Israel will have to act to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding, Dermer said, adding that the Trump administration understands Israel’s position.

Dermer said the Middle East needs a power capable of projecting force, and that Israel is that power.

Israel a better ally for US than France, Britain

Responding to criticism from Tucker Carlson and others who argue that Israel acts against US interests, Dermer called the claim “absurd.”

“Israel is a better ally than France and Britain,” he said, adding that Israel is a major cyber power despite its small population.

Dermer said alliances ultimately rest on interests, not only values. Israel, he said, is important to American national security and national welfare.

On the Gaza hostage negotiations, Dermer said ministers had to balance the duty to bring hostages home with responsibility for the security of 10 million Israelis.

He said Hamas wanted negotiations to drag on for years, but that Israel’s decision to send forces into Gaza City was critical in securing the final phase of hostage releases, alongside diplomatic pressure from the Trump administration.

Dermer said Israel and the US had reached an unprecedented level of cooperation, bringing in regional actors including Qatar and Turkey.

“The war ended on Israel’s terms,” Dermer said. “The work is not over, and anyone who thinks Hamas will be allowed to keep leverage through hostages is fooling himself.”

Before rushing too easily into accusations against the American administration and its policy toward Iran, we must pause and ask what lesson Israel should draw when world headlines report US President Donald Trump’s dramatic declaration that “the deal with Iran is done” and that the naval blockade is being lifted.

To arrive at the right lesson, it is worth returning to a foundational principle of international relations, one that many on the Israeli right refused, and still refuse, to internalize: at the helm of the world’s greatest power stands a leader who has made “America First” his banner, said it, and genuinely means it. Trump has a clear compass; sometimes Israel falls on the same needle, and sometimes it may point elsewhere. That does not mean the compass should be discarded when there is no alignment and the goals diverge.

I recall the first Trump inauguration ceremony in January 2017. Around me was a phenomenal euphoria. People danced in the streets of Washington, drunk on hope, certain that a savior had arrived who would fulfill every political dream of the settlement movement and the State of Israel.

Today, those very same people are full of criticism, angry, and even rushing to delete old photos of themselves smiling alongside Trump from their social media accounts. The euphoria has given way to bitter disappointment.

This inconsistency on our part does a disservice, first and foremost, to historical truth: Donald Trump was and remains a president who granted Israel unprecedented support, perhaps the greatest we have ever known from any American president.

The transfer of the embassy to Jerusalem, the recognition of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and the signing of the historic Abraham Accords are all recorded in his name and have reshaped the Middle East in our favor.

But the mistake of those who danced then and those who are deleting photos today stems from a basic misunderstanding: Trump acted as he did not out of philanthropy or blind Zionism, but because, at that time, it aligned with the cool-headed national interest of the country he was entrusted to govern.

Trump’s actions aren’t based on Zionism, but on US calculations

Now, as Trump seeks to quickly end the regional war in order to present his voters at home with a swift diplomatic achievement, his priorities are shifting accordingly. And as we look toward a fog-shrouded future, Israel must prepare for three central scenarios.

The first scenario is that the agreement collapses or proves to be smoke and mirrors. Already, serious contradictions are emerging between the American and Iranian interpretations regarding the dismantling of nuclear materials and the flow of billions of dollars.

If mutual distrust prevails and the Washington understandings fall apart, we may find ourselves back in active combat, once again in a tight convergence of interests and an open alliance with the United States military against the Iranian octopus.

The second scenario is that the agreement, despite initial concerns in Jerusalem, proves to be good and satisfactory for Israel. It is possible that diplomatic pressure and high-level coordination will ultimately lead the American mechanisms to include close oversight, genuine dismantling of nuclear capabilities, and containment of the missile program and proxy networks. In such a case, the new regional architecture would grant Israel years of quiet and security.

But the third scenario, and the most sober of all, is the one in which the agreement is signed on Friday in Switzerland yet leaves Israel exposed and vulnerable, with our vital security interests pushed aside. In that case, exactly as we have done before the destruction of reactors in Iraq and Syria, we will be required to take independent and decisive action.

Israel has its own red line

We will need to make clear to our friends in Washington that we, too, have a red line, and that with all due respect to “America First,” Israel’s security and survival will always, for us, come first.

The truth is simple: the United States is our greatest friend, and Trump can be an enormous strategic partner, but we must free ourselves from the syndrome of the child waiting for parental approval. The conclusion from his recent moves should not be despair or anger, but sobriety: we must make use of America wherever possible, but never place our security and diplomatic fate on anyone’s shoulders but our own.

Oded Revivi is an Israeli public figure, attorney, and military officer who currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv. He is best known for his 16-year tenure as the Mayor of the Efrat local council from 2008 to 2024.

A 1,000-year-old monastery that symbolizes Ukraine’s spiritual and cultural heritage was badly damaged on Monday in a major attack by Russia that killed 10 people nationwide, hours after US President Donald Trump spoke to the leaders of both countries about ending the war.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he had discussed with Trump efforts to bring an end to the four-year-old conflict, ahead of a G7 meeting in France starting on Monday. The US president also told Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a call on Sunday that it was vital to end the war.

Zelensky offers Putin talks

Zelensky, speaking at the damaged monastery in Kyiv, said he had offered to meet Putin at the G7 summit in France this week or in the United States.

“We gave message that we are ready to meet with Putin during (the) G7, because Trump is there and Macron is there, so Europeans plus America. This is a good, I think, very good opportunity to meet all together,” Zelensky told reporters in English.

“Europe and the United States were agreed and Russia demonstrated again that…they are not ready to speak,” he said.

Writing later on Telegram, Zelensky said he had suggested to Trump in a telephone conversation on Sunday that he and the Russian president meet in the United States.

“Yesterday we discussed with President Trump that such a meeting could be organized in the US in a format that would make it much harder for Putin to refuse, at least to refuse President Trump,” he said.

“We will see what comes of this. If Russia rejects this chance too, more pressure will be needed.”

Monastery attack draws condemnation

The damage to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in 1051, drew international condemnation. France’s foreign minister said the attack was akin to bombing Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Zelensky, who visited the monastery to inspect the damage, said the attack was “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.”

“This is an attack on our history,” he told reporters at the monastery, where rescuers were assessing the impact on the building’s paintings and frescoes. “Of course, everything will be restored.”

The blaze caused extensive damage to the roof of the Dormition Cathedral, the main church at the monastery site, but its structure and walls remained standing and much of the interior appeared intact.

Russia denied striking the monastery, calling the allegations “a crude fake,” and said instead it had been damaged by a US-made Patriot air defense missile, which Ukraine uses to protect its cities.

However, Ukraine’s SBU security service said it had recovered fragments of a Geran-2 drone, a Russian kamikaze drone, at the attack site and posted images of the debris. Reuters could not verify the information independently.

Ukraine seeks more air defenses

At least 10 people were killed in Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Monday.

Four people were killed and 34 were injured in the overnight strikes on Kyiv, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later said a fifth person had died in hospital from injuries sustained in the attack.

A Russian strike on Kharkiv killed four emergency service rescuers and a municipal official and injured at least five people, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had launched 70 missiles and 611 drones overnight and that its air defenses had shot down 50 missiles and 582 drones of various types.

In recent months, Ukraine has appealed to Western allies to increase supplies of Patriot air defense missiles, which are its only effective means of stopping Russian ballistic missiles.

Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said Ukraine shot down only 15 of the 34 ballistic missiles launched by Russia overnight.

“Ballistic missiles remain a problem for us,” Ihnat said on national television.

Zelensky said that his priority at the G7 meeting would be securing more air defense systems to defend against Russian strikes.

“We will have a meeting with Europeans and also with President Trump; we will speak with him about how to push Putin to stop this war,” he said.

US Vice President JD Vance said that he is confident that Israel would join the agreement with Iran “further down the road,” when asked about Israeli involvement in the US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU) during a Monday night interview with CBS News.

“What we know,” he said,  “is that this agreement is going to make Israel safer, going to make the entire region safer. We feel quite confident that the Israelis are going to be brought in on this agreement once we get a little further down the road.”

He also added that he believes it’s normal for close allies to have disagreements.

Uranium stockpile at center of deal

“We want them [Iran] to behave like a normal country,” Vance said, and explained that if Tehran complies with the points outlined in the MoU, including giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium, stopping funding to terrorist organizations, and making the country investible, then “benefits will float to them.” 

According to Vance, the US’s focus is on the enriched uranium, which, according to the MoU, would be destroyed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the US. 

“We want them to have a successful country, but only if they do what’s necessary to commit long-term to not building a nuclear weapon,” Vance added. 

Vance rejects Obama comparison

In a video shown to Vance by the CBS interviewer, former US President Barack Obama is seen saying that any agreement that arises between the US and Iran is “not going to be significantly different, or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place and that we had worked for for a long stretch of time.” 

Vance responded that Obama’s claims are “fundamentally not right.” 

“If you go back to the Obama JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), what it did was it took an Iranian nuclear program that it accelerated. It basically bribed the Iranians to stop that program. 

The JCPOA was an Obama-led multilateral agreement between Iran and the US, UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany to limit Iran’s nuclear development. 

Vance argued that Trump’s administration is in a different position. “The Iranian nuclear program has been completely destroyed, and what we’re saying is: make the long-term commitment to not rebuild it, and you will get the benefits that come with that.” 

The vice president also noted that the Gulf States, whom he claims have been threatened by the Iranian regime for 47 years, “hated the JCPOA because they felt that it empowered Iran to be a bad regional actor.”

The same countries, argued Vance, have called Trump’s plan “amazing because it transforms the Middle East in a way that makes them more peaceful and more prosperous.”