A new directive from Israel’s security cabinet has left President Donald Trump with an “impending choice that could restart the war with Iran,” international security expert Robert Pape warned on Thursday.
According to the Turkish news outlet Anadolu Agency, Israel’s security cabinet — led by interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — instructed the Israeli military to “step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran.” Netanyahu, who’s pushed for the United States to attack Iran since at least the 1990s, has reportedly called Trump “every day,” urging him to resume attacks on Iran.
Evidence exists that Trump would “have reasons” to make his decision by Jan. 3 before Democrats reclaim control of Congress, Pape argued in an analysis published on his Substack, with there being “three roads in this war” — and each one leading “to ruin.”
“Washington is sending mixed signals. Rubio says major combat is no longer needed. Trump says he’s ready to return to war if Qatar’s talks fail, and Tehran says there are no talks,” Pape wrote. “So the decision falls to Trump. Will he let Netanyahu go, hold him back, or join in?”
Meanwhile, Tehran is hardening its stance. Mohsen Rezaei, Iran’s national security chief, has said there are no negotiations with the U.S. and that “not a single particle” of enriched uranium will leave the country.
The war is now in its eighth month. Iran has continued to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and the United States has maintained a naval blockade of Iranian ports while Qatari mediators push for a deal. A third U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, is due in the Arabian Sea this weekend, Pape noted.