Israeli Officials Believe U.S. Strike on Iran Still Possible • Jewish Breaking News

U.S. officials said on Sunday that “all options are now on the table,” and Israeli officials believe that a “U.S. strike on Iran is still an option.” Developments on the ground supports these statements, as the U.S. has engaged in the following moves:

• In the past 24 hours, a dozen F-15 fighter jets have landed in Jordan.
• The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, along with the destroyers USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy, has reached the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia and will reach the United States Central Command (Centcom) area of responsibility in the Middle East, where the U.S. has command authority.
• Multiple cargo planes have arrived at Diego Garcia, a U.S. military base.
• Additional aircraft, such as fighter jets, are reportedly heading to the Middle East.

Trump had backed down from waging a military campaign against Iran, reportedly due to its decreased presence in the Middle East, following its engagement with Iran during the 12-day war in June, when many assets were redeployed. Now the U.S. is increasing its military presence with various types of assets to give the president the broadest possible range of options if he decides to strike.

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Complicating matters further, several Arab countries warned Trump that they would close their airspace to the U.S. if it follows through with a strike. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also requested a delay to give Israel time to shore up its own defenses in preparation for retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro implied that Trump may be looking to save face after appearing to back down from his promise to help the people of Iran. He may do this by employing a “dramatic” military option.

“Trump called for the Iranian people to go to the streets, promising he would be with them,” Shapiro said. “But when the regime killed thousands, no price was paid because the U.S. lacked the necessary forces in the region at the time.”

But now, with U.S. military assets deployed to the region, conditions on the ground are improving in favor of the U.S. With Trump’s preference for a “one-and-done” strike — he prefers lightning campaigns — Shapiro believes Trump will try to take out Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

“What would be big and dramatic and allow him to say he fulfilled his promise? It would be to eliminate the supreme leader,” he said.

But Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that such an attack would provoke all-out war.

“Any aggression against the Supreme Leader of our country is tantamount to all-out war against the Iranian nation,” he wrote in an X post.

The brutal crackdown on protesters appears to have worked, but experts say that it may be the quiet before the storm and that a U.S. strike might embolden the people to rise up again.

“At first glance, it looks like there is a very wide deployment of security forces, mass arrests and citizens who are quite afraid to leave their homes,” said Raz Zimmt, an Iran expert and director of the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel. “While the suppression might contribute to fear in the immediate term, it deepens the hostility and hatred toward the regime.”

He also spoke about memorial services for those slain as flashpoints that could ignite further protests.

“Each funeral, each memorial service has the potential to escalate,” he said. “We saw in 2022 how these dates can bring thousands back to the streets. The potential for friction is growing, and this level of suppression cannot be maintained indefinitely.”

He sounded a note of caution about the potential for a U.S. strike to embolden the people.

“It’s far from certain,” he said. “The fact that there is an attack does not mean the chances of toppling the regime have increased. It depends on the type of strike.”

He also warned that a strike aimed at assassinating the supreme leader might not dismantle the regime. Instead, other members of the governing elite could simply take over.