Connect with us

RSS

The Boiling Point: Confronting Iran’s Escalating Threat

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with Iran’s parliament members in Tehran, Iran, July 21, 2024. Photo: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

With the Islamic Republic of Iran on the brink of developing nuclear weapons and dragging the entire region toward a full-scale war, the US, Europe, and their allies need an urgent policy review to confront the regime’s clear and present danger to global security.

It is time to move beyond diplomacy and defense, and take concrete actions to thwart Iranian aggression. The US must rally a global coalition to forcefully counter Iran’s conventional, terror, and nuclear threats.

Tehran has called for the annihilation of Israel and the US, supported terrorism directly and through proxies, interfered in other nations’ affairs, and committed severe human rights abuses. The horrific massacre perpetrated by Hamas — an Iranian proxy — on October 7, alongside ongoing assaults on Israel, US troops, and international maritime security, underscore Iran’s true intentions.

This gradual escalation — and the international community’s tepid and ineffective response — bring to mind the tale of the frog in boiling water. Initially comfortable in the warm water, the frog fails to perceive the danger as the water gradually reaches its boiling point until it is too late.

The international community has for too long underestimated and insufficiently countered Iran’s increasing threats. What was once intolerable has become the new norm. The West once believed any Iranian enrichment of uranium was unacceptable. Now, Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, a level dangerously close to weapons-grade, while the regime has kicked out International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitors and sabotaged IAEA equipment.

Most alarmingly, the latest threat assessment from the US intelligence community no longer includes the phrase: “Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities that would be necessary to produce a testable nuclear device.” Instead, the report states that Iran has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device.”

Iran is not only at the threshold of acquiring nuclear weapons, but also has the means to deliver them. With the largest inventory of ballistic missiles in the region, and continuing advancements toward intercontinental ballistic missiles, Iranian nuclear weapons could soon threaten not just the Middle East, but also Europe and the US.

Indeed, that same US threat assessment warns that Iran will remain a threat after the Israel-Hamas war ends, and “probably will continue arming and aiding its allies to threaten the United States” and back Hamas and others who would hinder a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

And yet, what should be headline news worldwide barely makes a ripple in the back pages of international newspapers — if it is reported at all.

In parallel, the regime has accelerated executions, arrests, and torture domestically, while exporting terror and fueling conflicts. On August 7 alone, Iran executed at least 29 people, and the world barely took notice.

Iran’s proxies — Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria — have murdered, injured, and abducted thousands of civilians, fired thousands of missiles at Israeli towns and villages, and killed and wounded numerous US military personnel.

Iran has violated international freedom of navigation in the Middle East and has plotted terror attacks against former US officials, Jews, and Iranian opposition leaders in Europe and the US. Furthermore, Iran has become Russia’s most critical weapons supplier in its brutal war against Ukraine, highlighting its broader destabilizing influence and dangerous alliance.

The onslaught by the Iranian regime, its proxies, and allies is not just a threat to Israel and the Middle East or Ukraine; it represents a concerted effort to overthrow the existing world order and the entire Western security architecture.

The past four years have shown that the Iranian regime does not respond to diplomacy unless it is backed with a robust and credible threat of force.

Iran rebuffed the good-faith efforts by the US and its European allies to reach a diplomatic solution about its nuclear program. An international coalition under US leadership must communicate a credible military threat against Iran’s nuclear installations unless Tehran immediately halts its nuclear program, restores full IAEA supervision, and returns to negotiations in good faith.

The Biden administration should be strongly commended for swiftly moving robust military assets to the region and coordinating an international coalition to help defend Israel against an attack from Iran and its proxies. Nevertheless, it is a strategic mistake to accept Iran’s assault on the Jewish state as an inevitable fact of life. The US and its allies should make it clear to the Iranian regime that it would face dramatic consequences unless it stands down.

Likewise, to have any chance to prevent a nuclear Iran and stop it from further escalating the regional war it has ignited, the West must reimpose crippling sanctions to weaken the regime. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) includes a key provision to snap back all UN sanctions, designed originally for Iranian violations that are far less severe than those occurring now. It is high time to trigger these sanctions.

It is vital for the international community, particularly the G-7, Arab allies, and the EU, to take a firm and unified stance against Iran’s aggressive actions and ensure the safety and stability of Israel and the broader global community. Once and for all, the regime must understand that its malign actions will no longer be tolerated.

Ted Deutch is the CEO of American Jewish Committee and the former Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa; Simone Rodan Benzaquen is the Director of AJC Europe and oversees AJC’s seven offices across the continent; Daniel Schwammenthal is the Director of AJC’s Brussels-based Transatlan.

The post The Boiling Point: Confronting Iran’s Escalating Threat first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Continue Reading

RSS

After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

Continue Reading

RSS

Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News