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WITH a controversial Israeli attack in the news, I have thought back to another controversial Israeli attack, one that took place 29 years ago today: the strike on the Osirak nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq. The daring, risky bombing dealt a fatal blow to Saddam Hussein’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. I was then President Ronald Reagan’s national security adviser, after having been his chief foreign policy adviser for several years. Sunday afternoon, I was on my back porch in Arlington, Va., wading through...my perpetually mounting paperwork. My progress was interrupted..the duty officer was requesting that I go to...

This is the most dangerous moment that we have seen in the Middle East in modern times. As you will see below, Israel has decided to hit Iran. There is still debate about whether it should be a devastating blow or a more limited strike. But in either case, the Iranians are pledging to retaliate. In fact, the Iranians are promising to respond to any attack with overwhelming force. Needless to say, that would certainly provoke another response from Israel. The cycle would continue until someone finally decides that enough is enough. But what if neither side backs down and...

Numerous foreign policy experts are urging Israel to deliver a “disproportionate” military response to Iran’s attacks over the weekend and are warning that time is winding down to deal with the Islamic Republic before it becomes a nuclear state. Part of what is driving the concern from foreign policy and military experts is that Iran has strengthened its relationship with Russia and may soon acquire more advanced military hardware from the Russians that will make it much harder for the U.S., Israel, and Arab allies in the region to counter Iranian threats. The Washington Post reported on Monday night that...

The attack of Iran on Israel on April 13, 2024 was unprecedented. We know that Iran has sponsored terrorism for a long time, working with proxy groups like the Houthis, Hezbollah, and, of course, Hamas on that horrific attack on the Jewish homeland on October 7th—where 1,200 people were butchered and murdered. It is unbelievable. And there are still so many being held as hostages. But when Iran directly attacked Israel, that is literally without precedent and it has Bible prophecy significance. Now, we had this solar eclipse recently and some people thought that that was a sign of the...

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his War Cabinet are leaning towards ordering the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to launch a retaliatory strike against Iran in the coming days, according to Israel’s Channel 12 news. A final decision has apparently not been made. The War Cabinet is expected to convene again tomorrow. But as war clouds form over the region, the stakes could not be higher. This is a big deal. I think that the War Cabinet is signaling that they will probably order a strike on Iran, but leaking word of their deliberations so the Israeli...

Just hours after the unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack against Israel, top Iranian military leaders threatened to launch even larger attacks if the Jewish state decides to launch a counterstrike. “Our response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran,” the head of the Iranian military, Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Bagheri warned. The Israeli Air Force (IAF), the United States and other allies successfully neutralized about 99% of the 300 missiles and drones Tehran fired toward Israel in the early morning hours on Sunday Bagheri further warned the U.S. that Iran would attack U.S. military bases...

I have been sitting here trying to figure out what to write about what we just witnessed. Just like October 7th, the shocking attack on Israel that just took place altered the course of history. This was the first time that Iran ever attacked Israel directly, and I was flooded with emails by readers that were concerned about World War III. So now that the Iranian attack is over, what will Israel do now? That is the big question. If Israel directly attacks Iran, the Iranians will inevitably respond and the conflict could spiral out of control. But if the...

On September 29, 1938, Winston Churchill rose in the House of Commons to challenge the mood of celebration that followed Neville Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler at Munich. Contrary to the Prime Minister’s proclamation that he had secured “peace in our time,” Churchill warned Chamberlain, “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.” In the aftermath of Iran’s recent assault on Israel, the Biden administration has embraced this pathos, urging Israel to celebrate the lack of casualties beyond a Bedouin girl, an approach encapsulated by Joe Biden’s reported words to Bibi Netanyahu:...

AFP — President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that France would help do everything to avoid an escalation in the Middle East after an unprecedented Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel. Iran launched its first-ever direct assault on Israeli territory late Saturday in retaliation for a deadly April 1 air strike on Tehran’s consulate building in Syria’s capital Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel. “We will do everything to avoid a conflagration — that is to say an escalation,” Macron told the BFMTV news channel.

Hundreds of people gathered in Tehran's Palestine Square, waving Iranian and Palestinian national flags and shouting anti-Israel slogans on Sunday. Some demonstrators said the attack on the IRGC military facility in Damascus, Syria was a violation of Iran's national sovereignty. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) released statements claiming it had launched "tens of missile and drones" and "successfully hit and destroyed" important Israeli military targets. The IRGC said the launches came in response to "numerous Israeli crimes." It also warned that any threat by the United States and Israel, or from any other country, would receive a "reciprocal and...

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton claimed Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that former President Donald Trump did not have any idea what to do in the Middle East. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Former President Trump last night at a rally in Pennsylvania, Shanksville, said that none of this would have happened if he had been president. Take a listen to what he said.”

Joe Biden will return to the White House Saturday afternoon, interrupting a weekend vacation at the beach in Delaware, the Biden press office announced: “The President is returning to the White House this afternoon to consult with his national security team about events in the Middle East.” Biden took off for his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home Friday night with plans to not return until Sunday night, even as he told reporters earlier Friday that he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner rather than later”:

Roosevelt, argues Arnold Beichman, misread Stalin—and proved naive about communism itself.... Professor Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who has argued that the 1989 counter-revolution in Central Europe vindicates President Roosevelt’s wartime diplomacy,... However, I argue that, from the time he took office in 1933, FDR ignored informed assessments from within the State Department of the nature of Soviet diplomacy and that, consequently, the peoples of Central Europe for some four decades paid the price.... In the early years after the Bolshevik revolution, some U.S. diplomats who had begun to specialize in Soviet affairs believed that we should have as few dealings with...

BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany's Lufthansa said on Wednesday it suspended flights to and from Tehran from April 6 until probably April 11, "due to the current situation in the Middle East". Countries in the region and the United States have been on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran in response to a suspected bombing by Israeli warplanes of the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1. "We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities. The safety of our guests and crew members is Lufthansa's top priority," a...

The US has picked up intelligence on what an Iranian retaliatory strike for the alleged Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus in which a senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards was eliminated, will look like, CBS News reported on Friday. According to the report, the American intelligence indicates that Iran is planning a retaliatory attack that would include a swarm of Shaheed loitering drones and cruise missiles. Officials quoted in the report say the timing and target are unknown, but a proportional response to the Damascus attack would be to hit an Israeli diplomatic facility. The attack...

The Health Ministry today (Thursday) summoned all hospital managers for a planning meeting due to the threats from Iran. Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov asked hospital directors and the heads of the health system to continue preparing for a scenario of a mass-casualty incident and to hold drills for medical staff to be prepared to treat patients and reinforce medical staff. The meeting was held in light of Iran's threats following the assassination of a senior Revolutionary Guards leader in Damascus earlier this week. The Health Ministry stated that "the level of preparedness of the health system has...

With Israel's embassies around the world on a heightened state of alert, and extra IDF reservists called up, and home and weekend leave for all combat troops having been abruptly canceled Thursday, the Israeli population is anxiously awaiting a response - with some reports saying residents are already seeking the safety of bomb shelters. Tehran has vowed that vengeance is coming soon for the Monday Israeli airstrike on its embassy in Damascus. Most pundits believe this will take the form of ballistic missiles raining down on Israeli cities. But Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly vowing that if the Islamic...

Currently, Iran has a uranium stockpile to create 8 to ten nuclear bombs. But thanks to this nuclear deal, Iran must reduce its stockpile of uranium by 98%, and will keep its level of uranium enrichment at 3.67% — significantly below the enrichment level needed to create a bomb. On January 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency verified that Iran has completed the necessary steps under the Iran deal that will ensure Iran's nuclear program is and remains exclusively peaceful. Before this agreement, Iran's breakout time -- or the time it would have taken for Iran to gather enough...

In an alarming development, Ali-Akbar Salehi, the former head of Iran's nuclear agency has implied in remarks broadcast on Monday that Iran has everything it needs for an A-bomb. In a televised interview, Salehi, who was also foreign minister (2010-2013), was asked if Iran has achieved the capability of developing a nuclear bomb. Avoiding a direct answer he stated, "We have [crossed] all the thresholds of nuclear science and technology. Here's an example: Imagine what a car needs; it needs a chassis, an engine, a steering wheel, a gearbox. You're asking if we've made the gearbox, I say yes. Have...

During the 1930s, the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. Isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics. Although the United States took measures to avoid political and military conflicts across the oceans, it continued to expand economically and protect its interests in Latin America. The leaders of the isolationist movement drew upon history to bolster their position. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington had advocated non-involvement in European wars and politics. For much of...