Netanyahu Presses for Iran Strikes After October 10 Campaign Postponed, FT Reports
Key Facts
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pressing to resume large-scale strikes against Iran after an air campaign planned for the weekend of October 10 was postponed, according to the Financial Times. Investing, citing the newspaper's account based on people familiar with the matter, reported that Netanyahu's efforts concern resuming a broad military campaign. The report attributed the postponement of the operation scheduled for that weekend to U.S. President Donald Trump's opposition to renewed conflict before the U.S. midterm elections. U.S. opposition, according to the newspaper's account, includes the timing of a return to military confrontation before the vote. The White House told the Financial Times that the United States "will not attack Iran before the midterm elections." Discussion of the postponed campaign was thus accompanied by a public U.S. position specifying what Washington would not do in the period before the elections.
The planned target list included power plants, nuclear facilities and assets belonging to the Iranian regime, according to Investing's account of the Financial Times report. The report said the proposed attack was intended to exceed the intensity of the previous joint U.S.-Israeli campaign. It described the proposed targets as including "power plants, nuclear facilities and Iranian regime assets," combining energy infrastructure, nuclear targets and regime assets. Regarding Israeli concerns about the nuclear programme, Axios reported that Israel was particularly worried about the possibility of the Pickaxe Mountain site being brought into operation for uranium enrichment. Axios attributed Israeli concerns to the site's potential use for enrichment activities. Nuclear facilities feature among the targets mentioned in the Financial Times report alongside power plants, in a proposed campaign whose intensity, according to the newspaper, would exceed that of the previous joint confrontation.
On U.S.-Israeli contacts, Reuters, citing Axios, reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met Netanyahu on Monday. The meeting took place during an unannounced visit by the U.S. secretary to Israel, according to the account carried by the news agency. On Tuesday, Netanyahu shared a recording in which he addressed Trump directly, according to The National. The Israeli prime minister said in the recording: "Donald, we have work to do." Addressing the U.S. president, he added: "You said it, and we will do it together." Netanyahu's message stressing the completion of the work with Trump followed Monday's meeting with the U.S. defense secretary, while the Financial Times attributes pressure to resume large-scale strikes to the Israeli prime minister.
These developments follow a halt in exchanges of fire between Israel and Iran since June, according to Reuters. Netanyahu had publicly opposed a pre-emptive strike before the elections, in remarks the news agency carried from an interview with Army Radio. Asked about carrying out such a strike before the vote, he said: "That does not suit us, and it is not good." His public statement specifically concerns a pre-emptive strike in the period before the elections, while the Financial Times report addresses his efforts to resume a broad campaign against Iran. On the Iranian side, Reuters quoted officials as saying Tehran expects bombing to resume. The Iranian officials summed up their expectations by saying that "the bombing will resume sooner or later," despite the halt in exchanges of fire between the two countries since June.
On the parallel diplomatic track, Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran had deliberately prolonged talks with Washington in an attempt to weaken Trump politically before the midterm elections. In explaining the continuation of the talks, the officials linked the prolongation of negotiations to political pressure on the U.S. president before the elections. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that Iran's offer remained on the table. He added that messages were being exchanged through intermediaries, according to Reuters' account of his remarks on contacts with Washington. Araghchi's confirmation that messages continued to be exchanged came alongside the Iranian officials' account of deliberately prolonging the talks for an electoral political purpose. The continuation of this negotiating track coincides with those same Iranian officials' expectations that bombing will resume, and with the White House's opposition to a U.S. attack before the midterm elections.
In the oil market, Brent futures rose 85 cents, or 0.78%, to $109.64 a barrel at 0022 GMT on Wednesday morning, October 21, according to Reuters. The news agency attributed crude's gains to concerns about regional supplies. The rise followed Tuesday's session on October 20, when Brent fell 76 cents, or 0.69%. Crude closed that session at $108.79 a barrel before returning to gains in early trading on Wednesday. On the Israeli electoral timetable, Investing cited the Financial Times as reporting the cancellation of military leave until the parliamentary elections. The elections are scheduled for October 27, the date through which military leave has been cancelled, according to the report.