Could the U.S. and Israel be on the verge of launching a new attack on Iran? President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been suggesting that’s on the table.

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Could the U.S. and Israel be on the verge of launching a new attack on Iran? President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been suggesting that’s on the table. And now, there’s new reporting about war plans the two countries are drawing up for early November. NPR’s Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. Hey there.

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.

SUMMERS: Daniel, what can you tell us about these plans?

ESTRIN: I spoke to a person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to speak publicly, but said the U.S. and Israel are working on plans for a potential strike on Iran as early as early November, after Israeli elections that take place next week and after U.S. midterm elections, which are November 3. The person I spoke to said Israel had initially planned a strike on Iran for mid-October but that the U.S. ruled it out. This information was all first reported by the Financial Times and The New York Times. Netanyahu has denied the reports.

SUMMERS: But Daniel, hasn’t Netanyahu openly been threatening an attack?

ESTRIN: He has. All of this has been coming out just in the last few days. On Sunday, President Trump endorsed Netanyahu for reelection. Israelis go to the polls this coming Tuesday. And Trump said the reason that he was endorsing him was that he said, we may have to finish the job in Iran and that he would need Netanyahu and Israel’s support to do that. And ever since Trump endorsed Netanyahu, Netanyahu has been campaigning for reelection with the promise that he will strike Iran.

Just yesterday, Netanyahu gave a speech and said that the new supreme leader of Iran is attempting to develop what he called the bombs of death, referring to nuclear weapons. And Netanyahu said there’s only one way to remove this threat once and for all – overthrow the regime in Iran. He said that is his directive to the Israeli military and to Israeli security and intelligence agencies. He said the supreme leader has not learned his lesson from the previous two rounds of war that Iran has faced from Israel and the U.S.

SUMMERS: How are people in Israel responding?

ESTRIN: Many analysts in Israel are actually criticizing this strategy that Netanyahu is laying out. One Israeli analyst, Danny Citrinowicz, used to head the Iran branch of Israel’s military intelligence, and he’s arguing that it’s actually the U.S. and Israel that have not learned the lessons of the previous wars. He said that more attacks will not convince Iran to give up its nuclear or its ballistic missile ambitions and program. And he said that Iran, this time around, if there is a war, could retaliate with even more severe attacks that could affect global markets. So the question he’s posing is, what would another military campaign actually achieve that the last two failed to achieve?

SUMMERS: Daniel, what can you tell us about how the U.S. is preparing for war?

ESTRIN: My colleague Tom Bowman reports that Pentagon officials have told him that the U.S. is moving a third aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt, to the region, and that it’s expected to arrive in the region later next month. We know that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Netanyahu in Israel earlier this week. I should stress, though, Juana, an attack may not occur. This war preparation could be part of a campaign to pressure Iran to reach a diplomatic deal. It’s certainly – all this talk – is serving Netanyahu’s own reelection campaign. He is trailing in the polls against his main challenger, and so he is very heavily campaigning on this new line of a possible war.

SUMMERS: And last thing, Daniel, before we let you go – what does Iran had to say about all of this?

ESTRIN: Iran’s foreign minister says that just as Iran is prepared for diplomacy, it’s prepared for war. He said any scenario is conceivable, including the possibility of an attack by the U.S. and Israel. Iranian state media is also reporting that Iranian officials are saying that if civilian infrastructure in their country is attacked, that it would retaliate by targeting U.S. interests in the region. Iran is also threatening to target data centers and underwater internet cables in the Gulf. And that is really making Gulf countries very nervous. There’s a new report out by the International Monetary Fund that Gulf economies took a very serious hit by the previous rounds of U.S. and Israeli attacks.

SUMMERS: NPR’s Daniel Estrin on the line from Tel Aviv. Thanks so much.

ESTRIN: You’re welcome.

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