JERUSALEM, Israel – An important day has begun in the Middle East as the 60-day U.S. ceasefire with Iran expires, and U.S. envoy Jared Kushner meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Kushner is in Israel hoping to persuade the prime minister that the Trump-commissioned Board of Peace has a good plan for Israel after holding rare talks in Egypt with a Hamas chief and regional mediators.
Hamas claims it will disarm under the plan, but only if Israel commits to the agreement. Netanyahu insists that Israel will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas disarms.
The dispute is also putting Israel at odds with regional partners. Foreign ministers from eight Muslim countries are accusing Netanyahu of obstructing the peace process. The prime minister is also under fire for recently calling Britain “the Islamic Republic of Britain.”
Meanwhile, another diplomatic clock is running out, as the 60-day U.S.-Iranian Memorandum of Understanding expires with no talks underway to extend it. The Wall Street Journal reports that both Tehran and Washington are using the pause to buy time for larger attacks.
As diplomacy stalls, Tehran is increasing its rhetoric. The Iranian army chief is reportedly offering a $30,000 bounty for the killing or capture of an American soldier, and double that amount if it’s carried out by an Iranian woman.
The president declared, “And after we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon, I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States. Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”
He added that the oil prices, driven up by the conflict, will eventually come down. He’s asking Americans to accept the higher cost for now, in exchange for national security.
“So, for you to pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline; just remember, you’re doing it so that a very evil country cannot have a country, really. It’s the number one state sponsor of terror in the world. We don’t want to have them have a nuclear weapon.”
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Retired Army General Jack Keane believes that Trump is being cautious with Iran as the midterms approach, but prefers a more direct strategy.
“I’m not the political guy here,” Keane remarked on Fox News, “But it seems to me just common sense that it would sort of help in the election to have Iran on its knees, truly.”
He added, “I’m not talking about economic peril here. I’m talking about taking away everything that they value.”
In the Arabian Sea, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Abraham Lincoln, now heading home after a nine-month deployment. The USS George Washington is sailing from the Western Pacific to take its place.
And in a first, The Jerusalem Post reports that Jewish men were allowed to pray from Jewish prayer books on Sunday at the Temple Mount.
The move marks another shift in the longstanding status quo, which prohibited Jewish prayer at the holy site.
