The Iranians truly believe that they have won. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created a global energy crisis, and President Trump doesn’t have any easy options for reopening it. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are pleading with Trump to bring the war to an end because the midterm elections are coming up. The Iranians understand how much leverage they currently have with Trump, and so they are making all sorts of maximalist demands. But the same is not true with Israel. The Israelis are not concerned about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz because they don’t really use it. In addition, the approaching election in Israel means that it is very important for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to look tough on Iran. As a result, Trump and Netanyahu find themselves moving in two very different directions right now.
While the Trump administration develops an exit strategy, Israel is reportedly getting ready to go it alone against Iran if necessary…
Israel is preparing for the possibility of launching unilateral strikes on Iran if the US-Iran war ends, Israel’s Channel 13 reported on Saturday.
The Israeli military continued to keep the option of striking Iran without US involvement on the table, it said.
The report followed a CNN report that US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine had told senior Trump administration officials that further military escalation could backfire and that victory through airstrikes alone was unlikely.
Just think about what that would mean.
Israel would be attacking Iran with no U.S. help, and the Iranians hate Israel with a passion that runs so deep that it is truly difficult for most westerners to understand it.
The Iranians have already threatened to fire ballistic missiles at Tel Aviv and other major Israeli cities if something happens.
The potential for escalation would be off the charts.
One of Iran’s chief negotiators, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, apparently believes that Israel could launch a surprise attack at any time…
Israeli leaders are fully convinced that once Iran is capable of producing nuclear weapons it will be just a matter of time before they are used against Israel.
So they feel like they are in the midst of an existential struggle for the future of their people.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again pledged that he will do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons, a goal he has long alleged Tehran is pursuing, regardless of the course of diplomacy with Washington and Arab states.
“I want to emphasise once again: with an agreement or without an agreement, as long as I am prime minister, Iran will not have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.
Just think through the implications of what he is saying.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is heading.
I am convinced that Iran’s nuclear program is far more advanced than most of the experts think, and I am also convinced that Israel is quite serious about taking action.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is telling us that President Trump has been “laying the groundwork to declare victory” if he can just get the Iranians to reopen the Strait of Hormuz…
For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.
Unfortunately for Trump, there is just one huge problem.
The Iranians are not going to open the Strait of Hormuz unless they get everything that they want.
The Iranians have told us this over and over again, and I have explained this in my articles over and over again.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has released a list of the demands that the Trump administration must meet in order for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened…
- End threats and insults: The U.S. must never threaten Iran “in any language” or insult what the Iranian people consider sacred.
- Permanently end military action: Washington must end warfare and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq.
- Lift the naval blockade and withdraw forces: The U.S. must end its naval blockade and remove its naval and air forces from the area surrounding Iran.
- Pay compensation for two wars: Washington must fully compensate Iran for the damage caused by what Zolghadr characterized as two imposed wars of aggression.
- Remove sanctions: The U.S. must lift what Zolghadr called “unjust and illegal” sanctions imposed on the Iranian people.
- Release frozen Iranian assets: Washington must unconditionally release assets belonging to the Iranian people that have been frozen or seized.
The Trump administration can never possibly agree to all of this.
But even if the Trump administration did agree to all of this, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would not return to the status quo that we witnessed before the war.
Instead, the Strait of Hormuz would “reopen” under Iran’s new management system.
Vessels from certain nations would still be banned, and the Iranians would extract very high fees from other nations.
The Iranians are literally holding the global economy hostage, and they are openly admitting that they are using the Strait as a weapon of war…
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday said they would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts all of Tehran’s demands.
“Our current strategy is to maintain this strait until the enemy accepts all our conditions,” said Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi, as quoted by state TV, adding that “the strait is now actually a theatre of war for us and not just a waterway”.
And even though the U.S. has paused military action, the Iranians just keep attacking more tankers.
In fact, over the weekend yet another tanker from the United Arab Emirates was hit by an Iranian missile…
The statement came shortly after Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company (ADNOC) said one of its vessels was targeted by a missile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the day. ADNOC said in a statement that the incident “resulted in no injuries, and the situation has been brought under control.”
The United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, said in a post on X that it “condemns in the strongest terms the targeting of an ADNOC-affiliated tanker while it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Houthis have also been regularly striking Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, and they just hit Aramco’s $21 billion Jazan refinery with a drone…
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s $21 billion Jazan refinery, located on Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Red Sea coast, roughly 44 miles from the Yemeni border. The facility is strategically important because it allows Aramco to export refined products through the Red Sea without transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The attack also signals the growing vulnerability of Saudi energy assets in the region, where Houthi forces have repeatedly targeted them in recent weeks.
A Bloomberg report cites Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry, which said a fire broke out early Sunday at the 400,000-barrel-a-day Jazan refinery before being extinguished.
Trump may want a way out, but the war is still very much on.
And if Israel decides to start conducting airstrikes in Iranian territory, this conflict could rapidly go to an entirely new level.
In the event of a surprise attack, the Iranians would be severely tempted to respond by using unconventional weapons.
If the Iranians use a single unconventional weapon against Israel, it is likely that the Israelis would respond by hitting Iran with dozens of nukes.
According to a very old estimate, Israel has more than enough nuclear warheads for such a scenario…
Most estimates posit that Israel possesses about 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads and has produced enough plutonium for 100-200 weapons. These estimates have been fairly consistent for decades, which points to a nuclear posture defined by Israel’s deterrence needs. Israel appears focused strictly on survival and does not seek to threaten other nuclear-armed states.
We have reached such a dangerous moment in human history.
And just moments ago it was being reported that Iran has just attacked another oil tanker…
The Iranians do not want to be reasonable.
They want to win.
Decisions that global leaders will make this month will have enormous implication for all of us.
If Israel conducts a surprise attack on Iran or if Iran conducts a surprise attack on Israel, it could spark an uncontrollable spiral of escalation.
A single move could cause the entire Middle East to erupt in flames, and the world is simply not prepared for what is about to happen next.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.
