TEL AVIV: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, still trying to form a new government, said Israel must increase its defense spending by “many billions immediately and then many billions every year” as the threat from Iran “has intensified in recent weeks. Israel, he said yesterday, faces a significantly growing threat from Iran. The Israeli military recently attacked… Keep reading →

Despite decades of de facto alliance, the US does not have a formal collective defense treaty that would legally require it to come to the defense of Israel.

TEL AVIV: Even as Mideast tensions escalate, with new Israeli strikes on Syria over the weekend and Iran exceeding international limits on enriched uranium, no less a figure than the director of Mossad sees a historic opportunity for peace. Why? Because Iran’s escalating aggression — especially attacks on its neighbors’ economic lifeline, oil exports —… Keep reading →

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wants to establish a 20-country coalition to protect commercial shipping in the Middle East. But the US already leads a 33-country coalition doing just that.

Both sides are claiming they stepped back from the edge over the past 24 hours, unwilling to see the loss of life. Tensions in the Gulf haven’t diminished however.

It’s the second time this year Republicans and Democrats have come together to oppose President Trump’s policy towards Riyadh.

The Global Hawk was downed after two earlier shots at US drones in the region, and attacks on commercial shipping.

Israeli experts fear that the Iranian attacks aim to drive a wedge between the US and Europe.

“Getting alongside a vessel under the cover of darkness to attach a mine underway is not an insignificant effort,” Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs said today.

Israeli sources expressed alarm that neither Israel, the US, nor allied Arab nations picked up any advance warning of what appear to have been well-planned, well-executed, and increasingly destructive attacks by Iranian and proxy forces.