Iranupdated 1h ago3 min read
Benjamin Netanyahu Ordered IDF To Prepare October 10 Iran Strikes, Trump Opposed
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Netanyahu ordered the IDF to prepare for an Iran strike in early October. Trump opposed resuming attacks on Iran before the U.S. midterm elections.
www.timesofisrael › a-renewed-iran-war-is-only-a-matter-of-time-isra... was read line by line by the Watchdog: 5.0. See the score →
October 10 plan shelved
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to prepare for a renewed attack on Iran in early October, but U.S. President Donald Trump opposed restarting the war before the U.S. midterm elections on November 3, the Financial Times reported citing three people familiar with the matter.
The sources said the IDF was ready to carry out attacks the weekend of October 10 against nuclear facilities and sites of the Iranian regime, as well as against civilian infrastructure including power plants.
The report said the planned operation would have been much more intense than the joint US-Israel offensive begun in February, and it was not clear whether Washington would have joined the attacks.
The report also said Israel has prepared a new target bank that includes civilian infrastructure that was not attacked in the previous round of hostilities, and it said one source described the planned strikes as potentially part of a bargaining tactic.
The report added that the Pentagon preferred not to comment on the matter, and it said any decision to restart the fighting fundamentally depends on Trump.
Hegseth meets Netanyahu
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz during an unannounced trip to Israel, and the i24NEWS live blog said the meeting took place at Ovda Air Base.
The Financial Times report described Hegseth’s visit as coming two days after the secret trip, and it said Hegseth met Netanyahu to discuss “threats in the region.”
Netanyahu told Trump in a video released from an Israeli Air Force base, “Donald, you said we have a job to finish, and we're going to finish it together,” and Trump replied, “You're a great fighter, and we're going to prove that very soon. You're the man I want by my side.”
The Jerusalem Post learned, according to the Jerusalem Post, that the IDF was not planning a strike on Iran on October 10 despite earlier reports, and it said the premise of the Financial Times report that Trump blocked an attack was wrong because Israel was not about to carry out an attack.
The Jerusalem Post also said sources speculated that a leak of such a potential attack to the Financial Times could be designed to impact the Israeli election.
Iran rejects uranium removal
Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei told Pakistani army chief Asim Munir in Tehran that Tehran would not negotiate with the United States until Washington takes trust-building steps and meets Tehran’s conditions, according to Iranian state media.
Rezaei wrote on X, “Not a single gram of enriched uranium will be removed from Iran,” and the i24NEWS live blog presented the statement as part of Iran’s position.
NewsNation said Gen. Mohsen Rezaei also said Tehran would not surrender any of its enriched nuclear material, and it said he linked negotiations to U.S. trust-building steps.
The i24NEWS live blog said Netanyahu stated his desire to achieve peace with Lebanon, promising peace following the elimination of Hezbollah and the overthrow of the Iranian regime, and it quoted Netanyahu saying, “We are determined to carry out the elimination of the Iranian regime.”
The i24NEWS live blog also said the IDF prepared a multi-day bombing campaign for the weekend of October 10 that would have hit civilian infrastructure such as electricity plants, along with nuclear facilities and regime targets, but it said the mission did not go ahead due to Trump’s opposition to restarting the war before the U.S. midterms on November 3.