The Rabbinical Beis Din was badly damaged in the Iranian missile attack on the northern city of Haifa on Friday. For now, Beis Din operations have been transferred to another city. A video of the scene shows that amid the destruction, a photo of HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef and bookshelves lined with sifrei kodesh remained untouched. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The morning after the United States launched a surprise air campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, top American officials hailed the mission as a decisive success — and delivered stern warnings to Tehran against further escalation. Vice President J.D. Vance praised the operation, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, declaring: “We destroyed the Iranian nuclear program… and we did it without endangering the lives of American pilots. That’s an incredible thing.” Vance emphasized that the mission was not a prelude to war but rather a bold act of prevention. “We do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace — but we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program. And that’s exactly what the President accomplished last night.” In unusually blunt language, Vance added, “We’re prepared in the event that the Iranians do retaliate, but… if the Iranians want to enlarge this by attacking American troops, I think that would be a catastrophic mistake.” Despite growing speculation, Vance insisted that “we don’t want to achieve regime change, we want to achieve the end of the Iranian nuclear program.” Asked whether potential Iranian disruptions to oil shipping in the Strait of Hormuz would trigger another U.S. response, Vance replied, “If they want to destroy their own economy and cause disruptions in the world, that would be their decision. But why would they do that?” Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the warnings, saying, “If Iran retaliates, it’ll be the worst mistake they ever made.” He added that the U.S. now has the ability to “fly in and out of Iran at will,” thanks to the Israeli Air Force’s relentless nine-day bombardment of Iranian air defenses, involving over 1,200 precision strikes. Rubio said Iran had miscalculated. “They thought they could do with President Trump what they’ve done with presidents in the past and get away with it — and they found out last night that they can’t. This is a president who tells you what he’s going to do, and then he does it.” Rubio added: “Why does Hamas exist? Because of Iran… Who built the IEDs that maimed and killed American soldiers in Iraq? Iran. They’re behind every problem in this region… Imagine those people having a nuclear weapon… That is unacceptable.” In Israel, President Yitzchak Herzog pushed back against accusations that Israel was driving the U.S. toward broader conflict. “We’re not dragging America into a war,” Herzog said in an interview with CNN. “This was a joint effort to eliminate an existential threat. As for regime change — that’s not any of the official goals of this war. But it would be a very blessed side effect.” Herzog acknowledged that while Iran’s nuclear program may not be fully dismantled, “it’s been hit very hard — both by the Israeli attacks and absolutely by the American attacks overnight.” Former National Security Advisor John Bolton weighed in, suggesting that the shock of the coordinated U.S.-Israeli assault may push the Iranian regime to the brink. “We’re on the verge of potentially seeing regime change in Iran,” Bolton said. “I think Trump made the right decision for America.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Day 10 of Operation “Am K’Lavi – Rising Lion”: Magen David Adom teams continue their critical work on the front lines: – 1,213 total casualties treated 24 fatalities – 16 in serious condition – 27 moderately injured – 682 with mild injuries – 207 suffering from anxiety – 257 treated at the scene without transport
NBC Reporter: “If Iran disrupts shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, would that be a red line?” VP Vance: “If they want to destroy their own economy and cause disruptions in the world, that would be their decision. But why would they do that?”
Sec. of State Marco Rubio: “Why does Hamas exist? Because of Iran… Who built the IEDs that maimed and killed American soldiers in Iraq? Iran. They’re behind every problem in this region… Imagine those people having a nuclear weapon… That is unacceptable.”
US airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility appear to have left at least six large craters, pointing to the use of bunker busting bombs, a CNN analysis of satellite imagery found. The images captured by satellite company Maxar showed six visible, separate impact craters in two nearby locations at Fordow — a highly secretive site buried deep in the mountains. The craters can be seen along a ridge running over the underground complex. Earlier Sunday, a US official confirmed to CNN the US had used B-2 bomber planes to drop more than a dozen massive “bunker buster” bombs as part of the attack on Fordow and two other nuclear sites. These weapons can penetrate deep underground before detonating and are seen as essential for targeting the facility, much of which is buried beneath the ground. Satellite imagery also showed significant changes to the color of the mountainside where the site is housed, indicating a vast area was covered with a layer of grey ash in the aftermath of the strikes. As of yet, the level of damage to the underground facility is unclear.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar revealed on Motzei Shabos that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attempted to murder Israelis in Cyprus. Ynet reported that Cypriot police thwarted the plan by arresting a man suspected of planning an imminent terror attack against Israelis on the island. “Thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in cooperation with Israeli security services, the terror attack was thwarted,” Sa’ar wrote on X. Israel’s Channel 12 reported last week that Israeli intelligence officials received information indicating that Iran is attempting to attack Israeli targets abroad, including the locations where Israeli airplanes were evacuated. The Shin Bet increased forces in Europe in order to thwart potential attacks. The suspect also allegedly gathered intelligence on British military bases on the island. Ynet reported last week that intelligence officials of an unnamed country had information indicating that Iran may fire missiles at British bases in Cyprus. Iran has accused the UK of aiding Israel with gathering intelligence and intercepting Iranian missiles. According to Cypriot media, the suspect is a UK citizen of Azerbaijani origin with ties to the IRGC who arrived in Cyprus in April and began spying on foreign military forces on the island country. In recent days, Cypriot police have increased security patrols in areas where Israeli tourists are staying out of fears they will be targeted for an attack. Tens of thousands of Israelis who were stranded abroad when the war with Iran began traveled to the island to await rescue flights or ships to bring them home. Security has been bolstered in shuls and hotels, mainly in Larnaca and Paphos, and at international airports, Ynet reported. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Iran has spent decades building multi-tiered military capabilities at home and across the region that were at least partly aimed at deterring the United States from attacking it. By entering Israel’s war, the U.S. may have removed the last rationale for holding them in reserve. That could mean a wave of attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, an attempt to close a key bottleneck for global oil supplies or a dash to develop a nuclear weapon with what remains of Iran’s disputed program after American strikes on three key sites. A decision to retaliate against the U.S. and its regional allies would give Iran a far larger target bank and one that is much closer than Israel, allowing it to potentially use its missiles and drones to greater effect. The U.S. and Israel have far superior capabilities, but those haven’t always proven decisive in America’s recent history of military interventions in the region. Ever since Israel launched the war with a surprise bombardment of Iran’s military and nuclear sites on June 13, Iranian officials from the supreme leader on down have warned the U.S. to stay out, saying it would have dire consequences for the entire region. Here’s a look at what Iran’s next move might be. Targeting the Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which some 20% of all oil traded globally passes, and at its narrowest point it is just 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide. Any disruption there could send oil prices soaring worldwide and hit American pocketbooks. Iran boasts a fleet of fast-attack boats and thousands of naval mines that could potentially make the strait impassable, at least for a time. It could also fire missiles from its long Persian Gulf shore, as its allies, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, have done in the Red Sea. The U.S., with its 5th Fleet stationed in nearby Bahrain, has long pledged to uphold freedom of navigation in the strait and would respond with far superior forces. But even a relatively brief firefight could paralyze shipping traffic and spook investors, causing oil prices to spike and generating international pressure for a ceasefire. Attacking US bases and allies in the region The U.S. has tens of thousands of troops stationed in the region, including at permanent bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Arab Gulf countries just across the Persian Gulf from Iran — and much closer than Israel. Those bases boast the same kinds of sophisticated air defenses as Israel, but would have much less warning time before waves of missiles or swarms of armed drones. And even Israel, which is several hundred kilometers (miles) further away, has been unable to stop all of the incoming fire. Iran could also choose to attack key oil and gas facilities in those countries with the goal of exacting a higher price for U.S. involvement in the war. A drone attack on two major oil sites in Saudi Arabia in 2019 — claimed by the Houthis but widely blamed on Iran — briefly cut the kingdom’s oil production in half. Activating regional allies Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance — a network of militant groups across the Middle East, is a shadow of what it was before the war ignited by […]
U.S. forces have attacked three Iranian nuclear and military sites, further upping the stakes in the Israel-Iran war. President Donald Trump said the strikes, which he described as “very successful,” had hit the Natanz, Fordo and Isfahan sites, with Fordo being the primary target. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran confirmed there were attacks early Sunday at all three nuclear sites. Israel launched a surprise barrage of attacks on sites in Iran on June 13, which Israeli officials said was necessary to head off what they claimed was an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs. The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s war aimed at decapitating the country’s nuclear program. The U.S. and Iran had been in talks that could have resulted in the U.S. lifting some of its crushing economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran drastically limiting or ending its enrichment of uranium. Until Saturday, Washington had helped shoot down Iranian strikes on Israel but had not launched direct attacks on Iran. Here’s a look at the sites Trump said the U.S. struck and their importance to Iran’s nuclear program. Natanz enrichment facility Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz, located some 220 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Tehran, is the country’s main enrichment site and had already been targeted by Israeli airstrikes. Uranium had been enriched to up to 60% purity at the site — a mildly radioactive level but a short step away from weapons grade — before Israel destroyed the aboveground part of the facility, according to the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Another part of the facility on Iran’s Central Plateau is underground to defend against potential airstrikes. It operates multiple cascades, or groups of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium. The IAEA has said it believes that most if not all of these centrifuges were destroyed by an Israeli strike that cut off power to the site. The IAEA said those strikes caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area. Iran also is burrowing into the Kūh-e Kolang Gaz Lā, or Pickax Mountain, which is just beyond Natanz’s southern fencing. Natanz has been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges. Two separate attacks, attributed to Israel, also have struck the facility. Fordo enrichment facility Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo is located some 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tehran. It also hosts centrifuge cascades, but isn’t as big as Natanz. Its construction began at least in 2007, according to the IAEA, although Iran only informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog about the facility in 2009 after the U.S. and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence. Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordo appears designed to withstand airstrikes. Military experts have said it could likely only be targeted by “bunker buster” bombs — a term for bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding — such as the latest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal. The roughly 30,000 pound (13,600 kilogram) precision-guided bomb is designed to attack deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels. The U.S. has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver […]
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The IAF conducted strikes on missile and drone sites across Isfahan, Bushehr, Ahvaz, and Yazd in Iran, with 30 fighter jets dropping 60 munitions to hit dozens of targets, including missile launchers, air defense production sites, a drone regiment headquarters, and a drone storage facility, while an IDF drone eliminated Iranian soldiers arming missile launchers, the IDF reported.
CNN: “Do you assess that the nuclear program has been eliminated?” President of Israel Isaac Herzog: “I can’t say it’s been eliminated. I can say it’s been hit very hard, both by the Israeli attacks and absolutely by the American attacks overnight.”
CNN: “Is Israel seeking regime change?” President of Israel Isaac Herzog: “It’s not any of the official goals of this war. On the contrary, we leave it to the Iranian people. But it would be a very blessed side, a major side effect.”
VP VANCE: “We’re prepared in the event the that the Iranians do retaliate, but … if the Iranians want to enlarge this by attacking American troops, I think that would be a catastrophic mistake.”
VP VANCE: “We do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace, but we want peace in the context of them not having a nuclear weapons program — and that’s exactly what the President accomplished last night.”
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: “We destroyed the Iranian nuclear program … and we did it without endangering the lives of American pilots. That’s an incredible thing.”
President Trump gave the final go-ahead to strike Iran on Saturday afternoon at his private club in New Jersey, the Wall Street Journal reported. His order came after he said he would make a decision on the matter in two weeks. “The goal was to create a situation when everyone wasn’t expecting it,” said a senior administration official. The decision was made after direct coordination with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the report said. A U.S. official said that the Trump administration conveyed to Iran that the strikes were a one-time attack, not the start of a war. Last Tuesday, Trump approved plans to strike Iran but withheld a final order. “There was real debate earlier in the week about what we should do,” said the senior official. “But Trump signaled on Tuesday he was leaning toward going forward, so that changed everything.” According to the report, Trump made the decision to proceed with the operation after Iran continued to spurn his demands to drop its uranium enrichment program. Iran has vowed revenge on the US. Trump warned that he will carry out additional strikes on Iran if retaliatory strikes are carried out against US forces in the region. “Future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,” he warned. “There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.” (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Post-strike images of the Fordow fuel enrichment facility in Iran show large craters caused by the US strikes on the ridge above the underground complex. A layer of grey-blue ash can also be seen covering the area around the site.
