JERUSALEM, Israel – The U.S. continues to build pressure on Iran as new military strikes signal what could be a major expansion of the conflict. And in Washington, the political battle over Israel is heating up.
For the fifth straight day, U.S. Central Command launched strikes, including rare daytime raids, targeting Iranian military infrastructure.
President Trump noted, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is not happy right now. It should have been done 47 years ago.”
The attacks come as the U.S. continues its naval blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. In turn, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is threatening to block Middle East energy exports, a move that could shake global oil markets. Now, Trump is reportedly leaning toward expanding U.S. military operations in Iran.
“We’ll have Iran defeated soon,” he said on Wednesday. “They’ll be defeated very soon.”
Options under consideration include additional airstrikes, seizing Iranian islands near the Strait, and targeting a fortified site suspected of supporting covert nuclear activities, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
The president said of Iran, “And they do want it settled. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them or we just finish it off.”
At the same time, Vice President JD Vance made it clear what is “not on the table” when he appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast. “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
He stated, “We’re not gonna send 150,000 ground troops in it in order to accomplish a change in a regime unless the people on the ground themselves want to accomplish that outcome, and we’re not gonna send troops in regardless.”
He continued, “But to propose sending the troops, you’re basically saying that the U.S. military should do the job for the Iranian people, and we’re not in that business anymore. We’re just not.”
In Iran, the threat to assassinate Trump is on full display on a new billboard showing the president lying in a casket.
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Meanwhile, Israel’s Knesset paused for a moment of silence on Wednesday to honor the late Senator Lindsey Graham, calling him one of the greatest friends Israel ever had.
“May his memory be a blessings,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana intoned.
In Washington, a growing number of House Democrats have broken with Israel, backing legislation that would strip U.S. military aid.
At the same time, a bipartisan bill is gaining momentum that would permanently dismantle UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and replace it.
CBN News spoke with a U.N. Watchdog group which believes the move is long overdue.
Hillel Neuer of U.N. Watch told us, “UNRWA exists only to perpetuate war, grievance, and terrorism, has received billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers and other countries, hasn’t resettled a single Palestinian in seven decades.”
Neuer added, “They’re not there for solutions. They’re there to make war. UNRWA has to be dismantled if we want peace with Israel and Palestinians
Neuer also praised a rare United Nations rebuke of Hamas for hijacking humanitarian aid.
“They would commandeer the trucks. They would sell it on the market…so this is something we knew; and now even the UN is acknowledging it,” he said.
