American F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli Air Force base on Tuesday evening amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.
US President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks during a press briefing at the White House, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs, in Washington, DC, US, February 20, 2026.(photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE/FILE PHOTO)ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF Updated: US President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with the limits of US military leverage against Iran, according to CBS News, citing sources familiar with the matter.
This comes after aides told Trump that, unlike the recent operation removing leader Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, an operation in Iran would require more than one strike, according to the Monday CBS report. This could open the US up to a long-term military campaign in the Middle East, the report explained.
American F-22 fighter jets landed at an Israeli Air Force base on Tuesday evening amid rising tensions between the US and Iran, according to Walla‘s Amir Bohbot.
In particular, the WSJand Axios reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine opposed the war with Iran, a claim the president subsequently denied in a Truth Social post.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir meets with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine at the IDF’s Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv, November 1, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)The WSJ noted that several Pentagon officials issued similar warnings to Caine, although the general was the chief among them.
According to Trump, General Caine “would [not like] to see war in Iran, but if a decision is made on going against Iran at a military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.”
Trump still undecided between Iran attack scale, or potential deal, sources tell ‘Post’
Trump has not yet decided whether he wants a deal with Iran, or to launch a weeks-long war to topple the regime, or to launch a narrow attack to try to pressure Tehran into a deal more to his liking, sources indicated to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
With massive amounts of fake news and speculation flooding the media, the Post understands that top American and Israeli officials are sometimes as ultimately as unsure about what Trump might do next as the general public.
One of the latest trends, which sources say has been discussed and is now being widely leaked to the media, is the possibility of Trump searching for a middle-ground decision, such as a narrow and short attack on the Islamic Republic.
An Iranian local told KAN Reshet Bet that anti-regime activists would prefer an Israeli strike for its precision, as they await a US attack on the regime amid ongoing protests and brutal crackdowns.
IAF fighter jets taking off for strikes in Iran, June 16, 2025.(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON’S UNIT)ByJAMES GENN Updated: Iranians, while “waiting every minute and second” for a US strike against the Islamic Regime, would prefer an Israeli strike due to the precise nature of the Air Force’s strikes in June, while there is a perception that US strikes would “bring terrible destruction, like in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a local, identified as Ali told KAN Reshet Bet on Sunday.
Ali added that the Israeli strikes in June focused on targeted hits against “the mercenaries of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps” and the Iranian regime’s leadership, and did not cause harm to “ordinary citizens” or any economic infrastructure.
Additionally, he told KAN that the regime has “brutally murdered and dismembered” over 40,000 people, and injured hundreds of thousands more during the anti-regime protests over the past two months.
A mosque that was burned during Iran’s protests, in Tehran, Iran, January 21, 2026. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
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Israel’s public broadcaster also asked Ali if he was afraid to be interviewed by Israeli radio. In response, he quoted a Persian proverb, including that if the regime kidnaps and kills him, then “at least I will rest, at least I won’t feel hungry.”
Iranians adopt nickname for PM Netanyahu
Further, he added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown in popularity in Iran, with everyone calling him “Bibi-Gol [Bibi the flower],” while telling Ben-Ami that he has been learning Hebrew and that the regime has kept Hebrew-learning platforms open.
The regime has intended these platforms to be used to further its hopes that it will conquer Israel, wanting citizens to know the language, possibly aiding in espionage. “This will help you,” the regime tells citizens, according to Ali.
Basij tried to intimidate us, but we shouted louder, student protesters tell N12
Later on Sunday, two university students active in the weekend’s protests in Tehran spoke to N12 News about the weekend’s events and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary Basij force’s attempt to suppress protest activity.
One of the students, attending Sharif University, told the Israeli news channel that the regime believed it could “extinguish the fire that burns within us students for protest and revolution” by keeping campuses closed, but they failed to do so.
Saturday was the first day campuses reopened following a closure last month amid the height of anti-regime protests, they noted.
“The moment we entered campus, we looked each other in the eyes… as if to say to each other: we haven’t stopped in the middle, we don’t leave work half-done. We all had suppressed anger,” they added.
Describing the atmosphere upon return to campus, they said that “Everyone was looking for our friends who were killed – the absence of many has been felt. This sadness turned into shared anger that pulled us to the center of the campus.”
“Basij forces positioned themselves in front of us, threatened, and intimidated us,” they continued.
The paramilitary members, along with “pro-regime students entered, positioned themselves in front of us, and began to threaten and intimidate us, but we shouted louder,” they said.
“Our friends shouted ‘Long live the Shah’ and Basij shouted ‘Haider’ [a nickname for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], the same slogan that is used as a signal for Shia to kill and slaughter us,” they recalled.
“We shouted at them: ‘We are the owners of the land – get out of here, Khamenei,’ which led Basij members to attack, confront, and try to suppress us. This time we stood up to them,” they continued.
Another student, at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, told N12 that “We had planned about 10 days in advance to hold a sit-in strike within the campus.”
“Security, Basij, and pro-regime students were spread around the area. Most of the chants were: ‘Death to the dictator,’ ‘Long live the Shah,’ ‘Death to corruption,’ ‘Freedom, freedom,’ and ‘This is the year of blood – Ali [Khamenei] will fall,” they stated.
Attacks could reportedly include the Houthis resuming its attacks on Western shipping boats in the Red Sea, or Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and other “affiliates” attacking US bases or embassies in Europe.
People wave flags next to an Iranian missile on display during the 46th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Tehran, Iran, February 10, 2025.(photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAMIran may order its proxies to retaliate against American targets worldwide should US President Donald Trump order “large-scale attacks” against the regime, the New York Times reported on Sunday evening, citing US and Western officials.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the officials told NYTthat, while they haven’t learned of any specific plots, “heightened ‘chatter'” in intercepted terrorist communications “indicates some level of attack planning and coordination.”
“Iran can work through proxies to conduct terrorist attacks that will raise costs for any US military campaign,” Executive Director of the Soufan Center in New York, Colin P. Clarke, shared with NYT, explaining that should Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the IRGC feel threatened by the US’s attack, it may lead to them “order[ing] terror attacks abroad, including in Europe.”
Such attacks could reportedly include the Houthis resuming their attacks on Western shipping boats in the Red Sea, or Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and other “affiliates” attacking US bases or embassies in Europe.
According to the NYT , the Pentagon has in recent days rushed to order the preparation of additional Patriot batteries and other missile defenses to protect its troops stationed across the Middle East.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) arrives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, December 1, 2025. (credit: Seaman Abigail Reyes/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS)
Even so, terror attacks against civilians and so-called “softer” targets would be more difficult to defend against.
NYT quoted a senior Western official saying that there is also the fear of possible “hybrid attacks” against US and European targets, though these threats are under constant review, per the report.
Mar-a-Lago could be targeted if US attacks Iran, says Iranian MP
On Saturday, an Iranian member of parliament warned that Iran could expand any wartime response beyond the Middle East and said that even Trump’s “own palace” could be targeted, according to remarks published by Iranian outlet Didban Iran and later translated by Iran International.
The lawmaker was identified as Amir Hayat Moghaddam, a member of Iran’s parliament and its national security and foreign policy commission. Iran International quoted him as saying Iran would deliver a “crushing response” if attacked by the United States.
According to the report, Moghaddam said Iran could sink a US warship in the Sea of Oman, strike US bases in the region, and target American forces, including “soldier, officer, or general.”
US gathers military arsenal in Middle East
The NYT report comes ahead of the third round of negotiations between the US and Iran, set to take place in Geneva on Thursday, and amid the US amassing its military forces in the Middle East.
Flight-tracking data shows that tanker planes, fighter jets, and other US military aircraft have been repositioned in recent days, including advanced F-35s, which can evade radar detection.
The current US arsenal in the area includes two destroyers in the Mediterranean Sea, one in the Red Sea, four in the Persian Gulf, and an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by four destroyers in the Arabian Sea.
A second carrier strike group, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, accompanied by its warships.
The US also possesses established military infrastructure scattered across multiple countries, including bases containing fighter jets, drones, and helicopters in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and the UAE.
