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Biden Again Warns Iran Against Attacking Israel: ‘Don’t’
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. March 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
JNS.org – Joe Biden delivered another “don’t” when asked by reporters what his message to Iran was as the US president was walking out of a church and entering his vehicle in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Saturday.
Tehran has vowed to retaliate against the Jewish state for the targeted killing of Hamas terror leader Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital on July 31. Jerusalem has not taken responsibility for the assassination, but the Islamic Republic and Hamas have attributed it to Israel.
Biden previously said “don’t” to deter Israel’s enemies in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre in the northwestern Negev. The president also used the word to warn Iran against an attack against Israel in mid-April.
Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah has carried out near daily cross-border attacks since Oct. 8, and Tehran launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel the day after Biden’s previous warning.
Meanwhile, Iran appears intent on going ahead with its second-ever direct attack on Israel, with the timing and nature of the retaliation still uncertain.
Hezbollah has also vowed to attack Israel, in retaliation for the July 30th targeted killing of senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut, for which Jerusalem took responsibility. The assassination was in retaliation for a Hezbollah rocket strike on a soccer pitch that killed 12 children in the Golan Druze town of Majdal Shams.
Ahmed Bahsheesh Ardestani, a member of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament, said overnight Saturday that “the air operations of the Islamic Republic against Israel may last for three to four days,” according to the London-based Iran International news agency.
Ardestani added that Tehran “is ready to accept the consequences of such an attack and will be ready for any further developments.”
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander, Ali Fadavi, was quoted by Iranian media on Friday as saying that Israel will receive a “harsh punishment” for the Haniyeh assassination.
“The supreme leader’s orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit … and they will be implemented in the best possible way,” he said.
Asked by reporters to respond to Fadavi’s remarks, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States was ready to defend Israel.
“When we hear rhetoric like that we’ve got to take it seriously, and we do,” Kirby said.
Should an Iranian attack take place, Jordan will allow Israel to use its airspace to fend off any aerial threats, a Jordanian official told Channel 12 on Saturday.
“We will allow Israel to repel the Iranian attack in our airspace,” the official said, adding that “it stems from a security interest and this is the policy, just as in April Jordan helped Israel stop the Iranian attack. It is ultimately an ally of the United States.”
The inter-Arab news site, Arab Post, also reported from Jordanian security sources that “the authorities in Jordan have informed Israel that they will allow its air force to intercept the expected Iranian attack in the kingdom’s airspace.”
The sources added: “There is security, military and intelligence coordination between Jordan and Israel regarding the expected Iranian response, which ensures that the Israeli Air Force is authorized to participate in intercepting potential Iranian attacks that may pass through the kingdom’s skies.”
The reports contradict Jordan’s public declarations in the media that it won’t allow its airspace to be used by any party.
On April 13, the Royal Jordanian Air Force participated in a coalition that helped shoot down most of the 300 missiles and drones fired towards Israel as part of Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the Jewish state.
Amman, a frequent and harsh critic of Israel’s war against Hamas, intercepted dozens of drones hurtling through its airspace towards Israel.
Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported on Saturday that Arab states, including Qatar, have sent messages to Iran and Hezbollah to delay or cancel the planned attacks at least until after Gaza ceasefire and hostage release negotiations take place in either Doha or Cairo on Aug. 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Friday that the response to Israel is “a matter totally unrelated” to the attempts to broker a ceasefire in the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“However, we hope that our response will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire,” the mission said when asked if Tehran would delay the attack until after the ceasefire talks.
“Our priority is to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza; any agreement accepted by Hamas will also be recognized by us,” said Iran’s UN mission in New York.
US, Egyptian and Qatari leaders released a statement on Aug. 8 calling jointly for an immediate conclusion to talks between Israel and Hamas about a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
“It is time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families,” the three stated. “The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal.”
The statement, signed by Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, called on both sides to resume urgent talks on Aug. 15 in either Doha or Cairo.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated almost immediately that it would send a negotiating delegation next Thursday. “Pursuant to the proposal by the US and the mediators, Israel will—on Aug. 15—send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement,” it said.
The post Biden Again Warns Iran Against Attacking Israel: ‘Don’t’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile

Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen

The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”