(Times of Israel) Lazar Berman - Deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Nikzad told the Iranian Students News Agency that the Strait of Hormuz belongs to Iran and will not return to its previous status. "We consider the strait as an achievement of the recent imposed war and a divine gift to the great Iranian nation."

(CENTCOM) U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran on Wednesday in response to attempted missile attacks on U.S. forces. CENTCOM struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets, including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities. On Tuesday, IRGC forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted.

(CENTCOM) U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted precision strikes in Iraq on Tuesday against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure. U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours. The attacks against U.S. forces were not successful. From February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq.

(Turkiye Today) At least 20 fighters from Iraq's Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were killed and 32 others wounded in overnight U.S.-Saudi airstrikes that targeted the group's headquarters and facilities across several provinces, the militia announced Wednesday. The PMF said the strikes hit its sites in Baghdad, Wasit, Nineveh, Basra, Kirkuk, Karbala and Diyala, causing extensive damage to headquarters, military vehicles and equipment.

(ABC News) Mariam Khan - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that President Donald Trump is calling the shots in the Iran war and denied that he is trying to persuade Trump to continue attacking Iran amid U.S. negotiations. "The truth is, we're partners. We're allies. He's the senior partner. It's the United States of America, let's not forget. And I'm a junior partner. But I'm the prime minister of Israel, and when I have to stand up for the interest of my country and the security of my country, I do so. But I always do so with a deep appreciation of the role that the United States under President Trump has played in joining forces with us against our common enemy that wants to destroy us both." Netanyahu denied attempting to persuade Trump to resume attacks on Iran during their Oval Office meeting on Tuesday. "Actually, not. That's the caricature, the cartoon picture. That is not true," Netanyahu said. He added that he and Trump discussed various options to resolve the Iran conflict. "We actually analyzed all three possibilities, and I thought we did it in an open way between friends and allies, and it's his decision." Netanyahu rejected the notion that he misled Trump into getting involved in the conflict and that regime change could be easily accomplished. "No, I didn't mislead anything....Nobody tells President Trump what to do....Everybody in the world today understands what a grave danger Iran poses to the peace of the world."

(Jerusalem Post) Idan Kweller - There is no U.S. pressure on Israel to withdraw from Gaza or Lebanon, Head of the Israeli Public Diplomacy Directorate Tzipi Hotovely said following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday. "There is an understanding of how Israel should operate in Gaza. Israel will remain on the Yellow Line, and reconstruction will not begin before full demilitarization." Regarding Iran, "There is full coordination. There is complete understanding that our shared objective is to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

(Jerusalem Post) Idan Kweller - During a background briefing following Prime Minister Netanyahu's meeting with President Trump on Tuesday, a senior Israeli diplomatic official said the meeting was a strategic exchange between two leaders who know each other well. Netanyahu wanted to make sure Trump fully understood Israel's position on Syria. Netanyahu brought maps showing that Israel controls 0.1% of Syrian territory, while Turkey controls about 5%, arguing that Israel's limited presence is intended solely to prevent Iran, Hizbullah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations from establishing themselves along its border.

(Jerusalem Post) James Genn - U.S. Air Force fighter jets and bombers took off from Israeli air bases to carry out strikes on Iran in recent weeks, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel's Channel 14 on Tuesday. "The Iranians know" that the jets have taken off from Israel, Katz said.

(Israel Hayom) Danny Zaken - The U.S. and Israel are planning to establish four additional concrete plants in the Gaza border area to meet growing demand for sealing Hamas tunnels in territory under IDF control and constructing a military base to serve the International Stabilization Force (ISF). While in some cases, the tunnels and their openings are blown up, for deeper and more heavily reinforced tunnels, pumping in concrete is far more effective.

(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - Wednesday's U.S. airstrikes on Iran following its missile attack on Jordan were confined to the Persian Gulf region, as Trump appears intent on avoiding a major escalation. According to assessments by officials in Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, Trump does not want a broad confrontation before the U.S. midterm elections in early November. The three months remaining would allow the U.S. to accelerate production of munitions, particularly interceptors, and make other preparations for a wider confrontation that is expected to resume later. Washington has concluded that diplomatic efforts with Iran's new regime will not succeed or produce results, either with regard to reopening the Strait of Hormuz or preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The conclusion is that another significant military confrontation will be required, with Israel participating. While the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command assess that airstrikes in their present form have exhausted their ability to pressure the Iranian regime and produce results, the maritime and economic blockade is viewed as effective and as a threat to the regime's ability to govern. According to U.S. intelligence officials, Iran's military and Revolutionary Guards have been unable to pay salaries for several months because of the loss of oil revenue. U.S. officials have concluded that intense military action would only allow the Iranian regime to divert public attention from domestic hardship. Their preferred course is to maintain and possibly expand the economic blockade.

(Washington Times) Clifford D. May - President Trump has stated repeatedly that Iran's rulers must never be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons. But he hasn't clearly explained why, so let me put it bluntly: They would use them. Iran's rulers are self-proclaimed Islamic revolutionaries and the world's leading sponsors of terrorism. For 47 years, they've vowed "Death to America!" If they were to obtain nuclear warheads and missiles that could deliver them to American cities, why would they refrain? These are jihadis who, for decades, have been murdering their own people. Under a nuclear umbrella, Iran's rulers could subjugate their neighbors, attack American assets, and insist that all Americans retreat from the Middle East. Maybe they'd champion the "right" of American Muslims to live according to Sharia - Islamic law. Before last year's Twelve-Day War and this year's Operation Epic Fury, Iran's rulers were making steady progress toward the development of nuclear weapons in subterranean fortresses while simultaneously amassing an enormous arsenal of missiles and drones. The regime's nuclear weapons program has been set back from just a few weeks to as much as three years. That's progress. But it's not mission accomplished. Military experts I've consulted suggest this strategy: Maintain the blockade which denies the regime revenue, dries up supply lines and will soon force the regime's troops to battle pro bono. Continue airstrikes against military targets, especially weapons depots and factories. Airports, government buildings, banks, and communications facilities used by Iran's military should be added to the target list, as should the military commanders and government officials responsible for the mass murders of innocent Iranians. None of the above requires "boots on the ground." The writer is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

(Israel Hayom) Dr. Yossi Mansharof - Beneath the regime's shell of regional threats, the Iranian economy continues to bleed. The damages of war and the naval blockade, the sanctions, alongside structural corruption and the massive investment of state resources into funding regional terrorism, are pushing the regime against the wall. These consequences trickle directly into the pocket of the average Iranian citizen, who is daily losing purchasing power and trust in the system. The regime is planning a sharp hike in fuel prices, a move it tried to avoid for years due to its immense public sensitivity. Raising fuel prices will also translate into price increases for transportation, basic commodities, and services. In November 2019, a sudden and drastic fuel price hike led to a nationwide wave of protests that was brutally suppressed through the killing of hundreds of citizens. Applying heightened economic pressure and tightening sanctions are not merely punitive measures, but a primary strategic lever. The deeper the economic distress grows, the greater the internal pressure will be that forces regime leaders to turn their attention inward instead of exporting terror and regional subversion. The writer is a senior researcher at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy.

(Ynet News) Sever Plocker - The commentary accompanying each round of fighting between the U.S. and Iran has produced a familiar narrative: Iran has far greater economic and social staying power than the U.S., while the American public is supposedly united against the war. How much of this is supported by the facts? The war has so far cost between 0.2% and 0.3% of the United States' $32 trillion annual GDP, a negligible burden on the U.S. economy. The price of a barrel of oil is also nowhere close to creating global economic chaos. The U.S. is now a major energy exporter, and its oil and gas sector is earning enormous profits from higher prices. Iran cannot survive more than several additional weeks of fighting. Outside the wealthy neighborhoods on Tehran's outskirts, the Islamic Republic is rapidly collapsing. Even subsidized basic goods are rising in price at an annual rate of 180%. In closed briefings, Trump and his closest advisers argue that Iran's leaders are the ones trapped in illusion. Their military has been defeated and largely dismantled, their economy is on its knees, and their society is beginning to fracture, yet they continue to portray themselves as the victors. Those illusions will eventually collapse. For America, the most effective strategy is a controlled war of attrition combined with diplomatic patience.

(Gatestone Institute) Amir Taheri - The Islamic Republic founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was supposed to last until the return of the Mahdi at the end of time. However, a year after the current phase of the 47-year war between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. started, regime change is openly evoked inside Iran and in the 8-million-strong diaspora. Last week, in an interview on Iranian state television, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi claimed that last December a nationwide uprising had pushed the nation to the edge of regime change. He noted that several cities, among them Mash'had, the second most populous in Iran, had been on the verge of falling under the control of protesters. At the time, other towns and cities, notably Bushehr in the south and Qazvin in the north, had also appeared on the edge of being taken over by protesters. The writer was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979.

(Jewish News-UK) Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib - Hamas has been in control of Gaza for almost two decades. With 2/3 of Gaza's residents under the age of 30, few have any real memory of life before Hamas. I left Gaza in 2005 as a 15-year-old high school student on a U.S. cultural exchange program. I was supposed to return a year later. While I was in Egypt preparing to cross back in, Hamas abducted an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, triggering a mini war that prevented me from returning home. A year later, at 17, I interviewed for political asylum in the U.S. on the day that Hamas seized control of Gaza and violently ejected the Palestinian Authority. I became the first Palestinian from Gaza to receive U.S. asylum as a consequence of Hamas's takeover. I have been ferociously anti-Hamas, and so I have firmly opposed vocal elements of the Western-based pro-Palestinian camp that often justifies violence, promotes hate and refuses to endorse any rational discourse or pragmatic solution that could actually help the people of Gaza. I have chosen to engage in work that advocates for reconciliation, tolerance and common ground as the only way forward for Palestinians and Israelis. A Palestinian who challenges the conventional wisdom and speaks out against Hamas, who renounces its narrative of armed resistance, is perceived as a heretic. Since Oct. 7 it has been horrifying to see Hamas apologists, presenting themselves as pro-Palestinian, celebrate the group as a legitimate entity that supposedly represents the Palestinian people's best interests. Since its inception, Hamas has been deeply detrimental to Palestinian interests. Hamas is a moral stain on the Palestinian cause; those who genuinely support our national aspirations should have found it entirely unproblematic to condemn the group's murders and rapes, its firing of rockets at civilians, and its Islamist ideology. The failure to call out Hamas weakened genuine pro-Palestinian advocacy, which by default became associated with celebrations of Oct. 7, finding excuses for Hamas's heinous acts of terror. Instead, a form of mass psychosis took hold of activists, academics, journalists, advocates, politicians and average individuals, all blinded to Hamas's criminality against both Gazans and Israelis. I experienced the tragedy of seeing a group of Jihadi fascists destroy the Palestinian national project. This is why I focus on speaking out against Hamas. The writer is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

(X-Prime Minister of Israel) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Washington with U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) on Wednesday. Netanyahu: "Senator, it's good to see you again. You've been a stellar patriot, talking about what is good for America, what is good for our alliance, of which you've been a champion, and you've been telling it like it is, with no fear, and just an indefatigable and courageous commitment to the truth, and I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Israel." Fetterman: "Mr. Prime Minister, it was a supreme honor of my time here in the Senate, proud to stand with and for the vision and what Israel is, the miracle that Israel is....It's been disappointing, as a Democratic politician, how our party continues to behave....I'm proud to stand with Israel through everything." Netanyahu: "We're doubly proud to have you as our friend, and I think history will record your contribution to truth and justice....We're very proud of your stance, it's one that will be recorded in history, for posterity." Fetterman: "I'm proud to remain the conscience of the Democratic Party in Congress....I've always supported things like last year, Midnight Hammer, or what you were confronting in Gaza, and how necessary it was to destroy Hamas and Hizbullah, and also go after the Iranians with their capabilities. It's always been a just war for me."

(Jerusalem Post) Tzvi Jasper - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for his unwavering support for Israel during a meeting in Washington on Wednesday. Netanyahu said, "You've been a great, great friend of Israel, none better. And I know you're a champion of the Israel-American alliance, which enhances the security of both our countries." Cotton called Israel "the best ally we've had since Great Britain in World War II....I will always stand up for and support the United States-Israel alliance because it makes both of our nations safer."

(JTA) William C. Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn - Violence rarely begins with violence. It begins with words. Before people are attacked, they are vilified. Before they are excluded, they are portrayed as dangerous or uniquely evil. Language prepares the ground. That is why New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's video accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of genocide demands a clear response. Genocide is not a synonym for a brutal war or civilian suffering. It requires the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The accusation therefore turns not simply on the tragic consequences of war, but on an intent to destroy a people. Presenting genocide as established truth is not serious analysis; it is a defamatory libel, false and dangerous. By stripping away Hamas, the hostages, Israel's military objectives and the extraordinary difficulties of fighting terrorists embedded among civilians, Mayor Mamdani transforms a complex war into a morality play in which Israel represents absolute evil. Those with whom the mayor disagrees are not merely mistaken. They are portrayed as monstrous, sinister or complicit in history's gravest crime. Jewish New Yorkers are living amid persistent antisemitic threats and violence. In such an atmosphere, repeatedly portraying Israel and its supporters as beyond the bounds of moral legitimacy contributes to a climate in which hostility toward Jews is normalized and those already inclined toward hatred feel emboldened. Israel is stripped of context, subjected to standards applied to no other country, and cast as uniquely illegitimate. The Jewish people are again told that their collective existence stands outside the ordinary protections afforded to others. In effect, Israel is treated the way Jews have so often been treated: singled out, demonized and denied the benefit of the doubt. William C. Daroff is CEO and Betsy Berns Korn is chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

(Spiked-UK) Brendan O'Neill - Boy George, the lead singer of the old Culture Club, has released a song called "We Will Dance Again," which has the haunting refrain: "If you're ever confused, I stand with the Jews." The digital mob has gone nuts. He committed the cardinal sin in the eyes of the keffiyeh cult - he's mentioned 7 October - the day that a 6,000-strong army of Islamofascists invaded the Jewish state by air, sea and land to slaughter more Jews in one day than anyone else had since the Nazis. Boy George knows who the real genocidal maniacs in the Middle East are: Hamas. It takes a near-Herculean spine for a pop star to defy the cultural establishment's Stepford-like demand that everyone bow down to the dogma that the Jewish state is a uniquely monstrous entity. In resisting the siren-like lure of the genocide lie, that libelous mantra that might grant one access to cultural high society but which destroys one's soul in the process, he has struck a blow for truth.

(Jerusalem Post) Editorial - Why should anyone care what someone who sings on stage says about the Mideast? We live in a world where celebrities are idolized and - thanks to social media - have an enormous pulpit. What they say about the issues echoes loudly, and regarding Israel, that echo has, since the Oct. 7 massacre, been overwhelmingly negative. Which is why the song that Boy George dropped on X on Sunday was so refreshing as his powerful lyrics pushed against the tide. His words resonate not only because they ring true, but because they remind Israelis they are not alone - that there are non-Jews who see us, hear us, and are not taken in by lies repeated ad infinitum, even when amplified by powerful figures. On X, where the song garnered millions of clicks, there were plenty of hostile comments. But there were also thousands of supportive ones. One stood out: a photo of a Nazi rally where everyone is giving the Heil Hitler salute except for one man standing with his arms folded. "Thank you so much for being this man," wrote the user.

(Jerusalem Post) Alex Carson - 2025 was the deadliest year for antisemitic violence in the Jewish diaspora since the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, according to a new report released Wednesday by the J7 Large Communities' Task Force Against Antisemitism. The J7 task force, which unites major Jewish organizations representing over 90% of the Jewish diaspora in Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, and the U.S., tracked over 23,000 antisemitic incidents in 2025. 20 lives were lost to targeted antisemitic attacks, including the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney that left 15 dead, shootings at the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, two killed at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., and one killed in Boulder, Colorado. In the U.S. in 2025, 6,274 incidents were recorded in 2025, averaging 17 per day. At least 300 were physically assaulted. "Antisemitism in our seven countries is no longer a surge; it is our new normal," the task force said. "Governments must stop reacting after Jews are attacked and start acting before, with real security funding, stronger laws and social media platforms that enforce their own rules."

(Los Angeles Jewish Journal) David Suissa - The typical American college goes out of its way to protect minorities from the tiniest microaggression that might offend them. But when Jewish students face venomous macroaggressions like being called "baby killers," suddenly it becomes an issue of free speech. I would call the world's surreal infatuation with the Jews creepy. Creepy is a word I use for anything that's gone so far it weirds me out. It makes my skin crawl. The world's obsession with a group that is less that 0.2% of the world's population has crossed the boundaries of moral vocabulary and into creepiness. Accusing Israel of "genocide" against Palestinians - when the Palestinian population has grown from 1.3 million to 2.1 million in Gaza and 2.4 million to 3.4 million in the West Bank since 2005 - is not just sinister and libelous. It means you're accusing the people who suffered through a genocide of committing their own. As George Orwell wrote, "One of the marks of antisemitism is an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true." Dr. Orli Peter, a clinical and neuropsychologist, writes: "The power of the genocide libel is that it doesn't just persuade people, it changes the moral rules. Once you've convinced the public that Jews are the ultimate moral evil, a 'genocidaire' or a 'baby killer,' you've handed millions a psychological permission slip to conduct acts that would normally be unthinkable....By the time the evidence catches up, the damage has already been done."

(Unherd) Edward Luttwak - The Revolutionary Guards, who now run Tehran very much as the SS did once Hitler died, have no plan other than to keep fighting, and a readiness to hang anyone who disagrees. This latest bout of warfare started with June's botched "Memorandum of Understanding," which was so loosely worded that it could be read as surrendering the Persian Gulf to Iran - as well as its direct opposite. It was also inevitable that the surviving Revolutionary Guard officers who now rule Iran would go for the maximum; all along they have boasted about their glorious victories, so they were hardly going to stand down and let America's Arab and Sunni friends ship out their oil, liquefied natural gas, and fertilizers undisturbed. So they made an unprecedented and plainly illegal claim of sovereignty over the whole Gulf, together with a demand for transit fees. When Iran started attacking ships to assert its claim, the Trump administration imposed a total embargo on the Islamic Republic's oil exports. Because Iran's usable foreign exchange reserves are very small, the oil export embargo had an immediate impact. It hampered Iran's ability to import rocket fuel, drone motors and other such urgent necessities from China. It also slowed its money transfers to Shi'a allies in Iraq, to Hizbullah in Lebanon, and to Yemen's Houthi militia. Meanwhile, in Iran the stop to oil exports has collapsed the rial. It now costs 1,900,000 rials to purchase one U.S. dollar in Tehran; a year ago it was 590,000 rials. The regime's paid inspirational orators spell out their victory plan: If the war is pursued vigorously enough, the Twelfth Imam (the Mahdi), who has remained hidden since the year 874, will return as the redeemer, to install Shi'a Islam as the world's only religion. They insist that Iran is on a path to certain victory. In the latest round of fighting, Iranian missiles and drones have targeted Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the UAE, but not Israel. The Revolutionary Guards could easily draw Israel in by launching missiles towards it, or ordering its Houthi auxiliaries to do so. They have chosen not to. The reason is no mystery. The bombing capacity of the U.S. is far greater, but only the Israelis have demonstrated a consistent ability to find and kill Iran's top leaders - and a willingness to do so. In Washington's foreign affairs and intelligence bureaucracies, by contrast, there is a dogmatic opposition to attacks against political leaders. But when a leadership is willing to impose unlimited sacrifices on its own population, it is no use inflicting more hardship on that same population - and the leaders are the only valid targets. American strategy continues to target the country's economy and infrastructure rather than the regime itself. But destroying bridges would only raise the cost of war; removing the Revolutionary Guard leadership could end it. It would immediately comfort the desperate, oppressed population, and might sooner or later bring to power new leaders less eager to enjoy the luxuries of Islamic martyrdom. The writer is a contractual strategic consultant for the U.S. government.