Israel with US fends off massive Iranian attack

Iran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israeli attacks that killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah last week.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Tuesday that the attack "appears to have been defeated and ineffective." 

"We do not know of any deaths in Israel," he said. "We do not know of any damage to aircraft or strategic military assets in Israel."

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing after the attack that Israel was able to intercept the majority of the incoming missiles and that there was minimal damage on the ground.

Ryder added that two US Navy destroyers helped shoot down the missiles, and fired around a dozen interceptors. 

The attack marked a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Iran, Ryder and Sullivan said.

Tehran previously attacked Israel in April in an attack defeated by the US and Israel, along with allied forces in the region.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said there were a "small number" of hits in central and southern Israel, but the "majority of the incoming missiles were intercepted."

"Iran's attack is a severe and dangerous escalation. There will be consequences," he said in a video address. "We will respond wherever, whenever, and however we choose."

Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters "I condemn this attack unequivocally."

"I'm clear eyed. Iran is a destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East, and today's attack on Israel only further demonstrates that fact," she said.

The Iranian attack comes after Israel began limited ground operations in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, which has been severely degraded by Israeli attacks in the past two months, including a strike last week that killed Nasrallah.

 

Israel has fought Hezbollah for nearly a year after the militant group began firing over the border following the October 07, 2023 attacks by Iranian-backed militant group Hamas, which sparked war in the Gaza Strip.

While the war in Gaza is still raging, Hamas's presence has been reduced over the past year, freeing up resources for Israel to move north and try to push Hezbollah back from the border to return some 60,000 residents displaced by the fighting there.

The US has pushed for a diplomatic agreement to resolve the Lebanon crisis, but Ryder indicated the Pentagon supported limited Israeli border attacks, saying the US "fully understands" the need to protect civilians, though Washington is asking questions about the operation.

Before the Tuesday attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday appealed directly to Iranians, saying in a video message he supported efforts for regime change in Iran.

After the attack, Netanyahu said at a Security Cabinet meeting that Israel has the momentum and the axis of evil is in retreat, referring to Iran.

"This evening, " he said, "Iran made a big mistake – and it will pay for it."

The world must help Israel stop Iran and its proxies, not appease them

President elect of Iran, has outlined his policy in an open letter to the world leaders. Pressure is building on Israel to stop genocide in Gaza and the United States is also openly asked to stop supply of lethal arms to Israel. Under the prevailing circumstances Israel’s daily The Jerusalem Post has written an anti-Iran editorial prove that Iran and its proxies are real threat for Israel and the world.

Following is the text of the Editorial:

As the war against Hamas rages on and attempts are made to reach a new hostage deal, we should never forget who the primary sponsor of terror against Israel is – Iran. Its proxies include “the 3H” – Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

We should also not turn a blind eye to the fact that Iran is edging closer and closer to becoming a nuclear power, which could pose an existential threat to Israel. This cannot be allowed.

After the latest NATO Summit in Washington, Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted Thursday on X that one of the main topics discussed by the foreign ministers attending the summit – including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – was the need to increase pressure on Tehran.

“Israel, NATO, and the entire world share a common enemy – the Iranian regime,” Katz wrote. “We must stop Iran now before it’s too late.”

No one seems to know the status of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, including the United States. On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham wrote a letter to Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, accusing the administration of being in violation of the law by failing to report to Congress, as required by legislation Graham himself drafted every six months about Iran’s nuclear progress.

In the letter, Graham notes that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently censured Iran for failing to cooperate with it and escalating its uranium enrichment up to 60% purity in May. This, he says, is only “a small technical step away from weapons-grade 90% purity” and brings Iran that much closer to building a nuclear bomb.

In response, White House national security spokesperson James Kirby said on Thursday that President Joe Biden remained committed to making sure that Tehran would never develop nuclear weapons but denied a claim by Iran’s acting foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, that the US and Iran were holding indirect nuclear negotiations mediated by Oman.

“No active negotiations are going on right now with respect to Iran’s nuclear ambitions,’ Kirby said. “I won’t speak or can’t speak to channels of communication with Iran one way or the other, but there are no active negotiations going to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.”

Kirby made it clear last Monday that the US would not resume nuclear talks with new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, citing Tehran’s support of terrorism as a significant obstacle.

According to IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi, Iran has exceeded uranium enrichment limits and is now “weeks, not months,” away from having enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

Iran's looming threat

Stopping a nuclear Iran, which has always been a top priority for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will surely be high on the agenda of his visit to Washington later this month when he is due to address a special joint session of Congress.

But Israel and the US cannot deal with the Islamic Republic alone. An international alliance is necessary to curb the Iranian regime’s nuclear program, led by the United Nations via bodies such as the IAEA and NATO. It must also enlist the support of the European Union and key players in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia.

Besides closer supervision of Iran’s nuclear program, the international community must enforce tighter economic sanctions against Tehran.

Ways must be found to stop it from funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. And its funding of anti-Israel protests in the US, as Haines warned last week, must be thwarted. But this is not enough. Only decisive action will show Iran that it cannot get away with terrorism.

“Candidate objectives to be attacked should include Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps installations, Iranian naval assets, critical energy infrastructure, and even nuclear weapons development facilities with strike packages that are more destructive than any launched by Iran’s proxies,” he said. “Iran’s religious leaders must feel the ground shake under their own feet, both politically and militarily. If this threat is not made manifest in their minds, they will continue to feel free to attack American interests wherever and whenever they wish.”

On the other hand, as Haines concludes, if the US – and the rest of the world – continue to appease the ayatollahs, “there will be no peace.”

 

 

Biden pressurized to focus on deterring Iran

The spate of attacks from Iranian-backed groups across the region, which broke out nearly two months ago on October 17 amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, are not letting up and have spurred growing anger on Capitol Hill.

Republicans are pushing the Biden administration to project more strength against the Iranian-backed groups. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor Wednesday that Biden must focus on the task at hand — deterring Iran. 

These Iranian-backed groups are not deterred, they believe they can try to kill Americans with impunity, McConnell said, calling for Biden to get serious about the threats we face. 

Republican presidential candidates also called out Biden on the debate stage. Ron DeSantis, a Navy veteran said American troops are sitting ducks in the Middle East.

Nikki Haley, former UN ambassador, accused Biden of appeasing Iran.“They only respond to strength,” Haley said of Iran. “You’ve got to punch them, you’ve got to punch them hard and let them know that.” 

Since October 17, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have attacked US bases and troops 92 times, according to the Pentagon’s latest estimate. 

The US has also engaged the Houthi rebels in Yemen several times. The Houthis, who are also backed by Iran, have shot drones at American ships and attacked merchant vessels, including the successful hijacking of one commercial boat last month.  

Those attacks are in the Red Sea, where about 10% of the world’s commerce flows through every year. 

With the attacks stacking up and stirring criticism, defense officials argue the main objective is to contain the Israel-Hamas war and prevent a wider regional conflict, with Washington taking proportional measures against Iranian-backed militias. 

The dangerous tit for tat is spurring concerns the US is playing with fire — and creating fears that a misstep could spark an even greater surge of violence. 

“We’re in a really terrible, unstable and vulnerable condition,” said Thanassis Cambanis, the director of Century International, a progressive think tank. “Even if Iran and the US don’t want a wider war, it’s easy for miscalculation to produce one.” 

The militants waging war in the Middle East against the US have been doing so for years — there were some 70 attacks on US forces between 2021 and early 2023, many by Iran-backed groups in Iraq and elsewhere.

But the breakout of the Israel-Hamas war sparked an unprecedented number of attacks in a short time frame.

Analysts say the militia groups — and Iran — want to send a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people, while they are also bristling against increased US military presence, including American aircraft carrier ships and nuclear-powered submarines in the region.

The US is struggling with two major wars in Gaza and Ukraine. With those hot conflicts stretching Washington thin, the Biden administration’s main goal is to ensure there is not a wider regional war in the Middle East. 

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Thursday the US is succeeding in deterring Iranian-backed militia groups.  

“That’s not to say that the challenges associated with Iranian proxies attacking US forces in Iraq and Syria or the rebels firing missiles at international shipping are not something we shouldn’t take serious,” Ryder said.

“But we will address those problems in the way that we’ve been doing. And we will continue to stay very focused on not only deterring, but also protecting our force.” 

Michael Knights, an expert in Iraq and Iran at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the US has managed to keep the fighting at a proportional level, and while that doesn’t look good in a headline, in reality there is no real threat. 

Knights noted that no American service members have died in the recent attacks, and the militia groups appear to be designing the rocket and drone attacks to avoid fatalities

“They have a pretty limited chance of hitting Americans, and sometimes [the strikes] are quite aimed off, because large salvos haven’t even landed within the bases,” Knights said. “There’s been a lot of bangs, but they’ve all fallen into what we call the polite category, which means we’re largely looking at single drone attacks that the US can just eat for breakfast.” 

But Knights said the deterrence of the Houthis near Yemen has failed, and the US may deliberately be holding back from carrying out more destructive strikes.

One reason for the restraint could be to prevent the unraveling of peace talks in a years-long war between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, both of which are in a fragile cease-fire, he added. 

“The US doesn’t want to disrupt that peace process … and the Houthis are taking full advantage of that because they know right now they can do whatever they want,” Knights said. “They are the part of the deterrence puzzles where the US is doing the least well.” 

The Houthis, like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, are a prominent Iranian-backed faction and have earned their stripes in the war with Yemen’s government. That has molded them into a more formidable fighting force compared with other militia groups in Iran’s sphere. 

Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed Biden for failing to stop the Houthi attacks and urged greater action against the group, including a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designation.  

“By prioritizing politics over security, this administration emboldened the Houthis, enabling them to develop more advanced weapons, deepen ties with Iran, and further entrench their control over millions of innocent Yemenis,” McCaul said in a statement.

“It is clear that the Houthis are a threat to Yemen, our partners across the Middle East, US service members and citizens in the region, and freedom of navigation and global commerce.” 

Jason Blazakis, director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said the FTO designation would help the US and likely would not endanger Houthi-Yemen peace talks. 

“It would be a signal of US displeasure with Iranian action,” he said. “There needs to be a response to the Houthis because of their untoward activities. They’ve become increasingly belligerent. That can’t be ignored.” 

The US is also considering a maritime task force, which would be made up of attack ships from several countries, to defend ships against Houthi threats in the Red Sea.

Tensions are likely to remain high as long as Israel’s war to defeat Hamas rages in Gaza, with devastating consequences for civilians there. On Thursday, Israel’s defense minister said the war in Gaza could last months.  

Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired U.S. colonel who previously served under former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said Biden should bring the war in Gaza to a resolution if he wants to stop the Middle East conflict from ballooning out of control. 

 “Until we decide to essentially cut down our power a bit and let things settle,” he said, “they aren’t going to.”