JERUSALEM, Israel – Iran is trying to outmaneuver the U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. cautions that it may not be possible to reach a nuclear agreement with Tehran. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces train for potential future October 7th-style attacks from multiple fronts.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council announced plans to declare a maritime “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz, targeting vessels attempting to transit without Tehran’s permission.
The move is intended as a countermeasure to the U.S. blockade. American forces struck three Iranian oil tankers, permanently disabling them, in response to Iran’s launch of a missile at a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Earlier, President Trump had indicated that many people were not calling the current situation a war.
“I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing, ” the president stated. “And you know what we did in five months? They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. That’s what we did. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon because if they did, you probably wouldn’t be standing here very long.”
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-New York) disagrees that the war is “small potatoes.”
“Anytime you are at war or a military escalation, it’s certainly not small potatoes. It is serious,” he said.
Lawler added, “I think we all recognize that. Ensuring Iran does not possess a nuclear weapon, stopping them from continuing to finance terrorism – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other terror proxies, stopping them from mass-producing ballistic missiles, drones which are being used by Russia against Ukraine – is critical.”
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright cautions that a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal may not happen.
In an interview with ABC News This Week, Wright said, “There may not be a nuclear agreement. It may be simply destroying their capabilities to do it. An agreement may await a next administration in Iran. We simply don’t know that.”
On the Arabian Peninsula, fighting between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen flared up. Houthi attacks on several oil facilities and other targets started fires and wounded more than 70 people. The escalation threatens shipping through a crucial strait.
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Elsewhere, The New York Times reports that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham is preparing to impose a complete trade embargo on Jewish communities in biblical Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
The move comes as a response to an Israeli plan to expand the Jewish community of Ma’ale Adumim, just outside Jerusalem. It would block territorial contiguity between Palestinian population centers.
Following a weekend stabbing attack against a Jewish resident in Samaria, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for “all-out war” against the Palestinian Authority security mechanisms and terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.
Also this weekend, security forces held large-scale drills to test Israel’s readiness to combat surprise attacks such as the one carried out by Hamas on October 7th, 2023. The drills, involving air, naval, and ground forces, took place just one month before the Hamas massacre’s third anniversary.
