JERUSALEM, Israel – The war in Iran and the Middle East continues as the Tehran regime and its proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis, launch attacks on Israel and the Gulf States, while the U.S. and Israel strike targets in Iran and Lebanon. The Gulf allies don’t want the war to stop until the military goals are accomplished.
Officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain, speaking on condition of anonymity, say their countries do not want the war to end until the Iranian leadership is significantly changed or their behavior shifts dramatically.
President Trump posted on Truth Social, writing, “Great progress is being made” in talks with Iran. Still, if a deal is not reached “shortly” and the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating” power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and possibly, even desalination plants.
Still, The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump told aides he’s willing to end the fighting against Iran without opening the Strait of Hormuz because that complex operation would push the war beyond his timeline.
The president’s threats followed an Iranian missile strike on an oil refinery in the northern Israeli city of Haifa and a key power and water desalination plant in Kuwait.
Iran continued its missile barrage on Tuesday, including several attacks in central Israel that caused damage to buildings and cars, and lightly wounded at least six people, including children.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, emphasized that it’s important to remember the war’s objectives.
“We are destroying Iran’s navy. We are destroying their ability, their missile launchers, by a significant percentage. We’re going to wipe out their defense industrial base,” he stated.
He added that achieving the goals will happen relatively quickly, noting, “There is a way forward here to achieve our objectives. We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter of weeks, not months.”
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Newsmax that Israel has achieved beyond the goals it set for the war. However, he wouldn’t put a time frame on when the conflict would end.
The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that in 24 hours, it had struck 170 targets belonging to the Iranian regime. Since the beginning of the war, Israel has dropped more than 13,000 bombs on the regime’s governmental and military sites.
The Netanyahu government has not ordered the IDF to strike “economic” targets of the Islamic Republic, according to a report in The Times of Israel.
The war developments come as Israelis prepare for Passover and Christians commemorate Holy Week.
Israeli Police worked out a plan with religious leaders in the Old City to allow limited services in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed by many to be the site where Jesus was crucified.
Prayer is prohibited for security reasons at the Western Wall. The Priestly Blessing, during which tens of thousands of Jewish people normally pray at the Wall, will be conducted via video, with 50 people taking part in the blessing.
