Benjamin Netanyahu pushes to resume strikes against Iran

{"text":[[{"start":8,"text":"Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to resume large-scale strikes against Iran and had instructed his military to plan for a major new offensive earlier this month, moves that risk plunging the region back into full-scale war."}],[{"start":21.12,"text":"The Israeli military had prepared for a multi-day bombing campaign to take place on the weekend of October 10 that would have targeted civilian infrastructure such as electricity plants, as well as nuclear facilities and regime targets, according to three people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":37.54,"text":"The mission ultimately did not go ahead, with the people familiar citing President Donald Trump’s opposition to restarting the conflict before the US midterm elections on November 3."}],[{"start":48.4,"text":"But both Trump and Netanyahu, who is preparing for a tough re-election battle of his own next week, have continued to threaten a new offensive against Iran, saying that the US and Israel must “finish” the job against the regime."}],[{"start":62.04,"text":"The bombing had been intended to surpass the intensity of the joint US-Israel offensive against Iran begun in February, the people said."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":69.56,"text":"While it remains unclear whether the US was meant to join the operation directly, one of the people familiar with the matter said it was “not an unreasonable scenario” that Israel and Washington would restart strikes in the coming weeks."}],[{"start":82.04,"text":"“There will either be a deal or an attack,” the person said, suggesting the American goal was to force Iran to agree terms with the US as part of a deal over the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran’s nuclear programme that would fully end the war."}],[{"start":96.448,"text":"US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth travelled to Israel on Monday, holding talks with Netanyahu and other senior officials, according to an Israeli official."}],[{"start":105.46,"text":"One person said Israeli officials had presented an updated target bank in Iran gleaned from new intelligence, including civilian infrastructure targets that were not struck earlier this year. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":120.04,"text":"Another person cautioned that the Israeli military’s proposed operation earlier this month could have been part of a bid “to pressure Iran” in negotiations, and that ultimately it was the US president’s decision whether to move ahead with any renewed assault."}],[{"start":133.88,"text":"Deputy White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told the FT that “Iran is in very bad condition, both economically and militarily”, US efforts to blockade Iranian ports and facilitate Gulf oil exports through the strait were succeeding and “the United States will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections”."}],[{"start":154.32,"text":"The Israel Defense Forces has nonetheless been on heightened alert for several weeks, taking the unusual step of cancelling leave for all troops starting Thursday through Israel’s parliamentary elections, which are to take place on October 27."}],[{"start":169.16,"text":"Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, said this was part of a move “to enable the democratic elections to take place safely and as scheduled”. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The IDF declined to comment."}],[{"start":185.2,"text":"Axios reported last week that Netanyahu and Trump had discussed renewing major combat against Iran prior to the US and Israel elections. A US official disputed that such a conversation had happened."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":198.16,"text":"Any move to strike Iran could drag not just Israel but US military forces and Gulf Arab states into a renewed war. It would also drive up energy prices at a time when Trump is under political pressure to ease fuel costs ahead of the midterms."}],[{"start":213.6,"text":"While a fragile ceasefire in April brought an end to the worst of the US and Israeli bombing against Iran, Washington and Tehran have since traded rounds of tit-for-tat strikes across the region in a volatile contest for control of the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":227.6,"text":"Both Trump and Netanyahu have escalated their rhetoric against Iran in recent days."}],[{"start":232.44,"text":"Endorsing Netanyahu’s re-election bid on Sunday, the US president warned on Truth Social that “if Israel has the wrong leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi”, the US would have to take on the Islamic republic alone — “and I am not inclined to do so”."}],[{"start":248,"text":"Trump also threatened further attacks on Iran, saying that “unless [Iran] change their ways, rapidly” the US and Israel would “soon finish the job”."}],[{"start":256.84,"text":"Netanyahu, for his part, released a video on Monday from an Israeli air force base of his conversation with Trump. “Donald, you said we have a job to finish, and we’ll finish it together,” Netanyahu said, seated in front of a warplane."}],[{"start":270.12,"text":"“You’re a great warrior, and we’ll prove that very soon,” Trump responded on speakerphone. “You’re the man I want by my side.”"}],[{"start":277.52,"text":"Netanyahu faces an uphill battle to secure re-election in next week’s polls, with the election the first referendum on his leadership since Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack from Gaza and the regional wars that followed."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":291.28,"text":"Most mainstream Israeli polls show the opposition bloc narrowly ahead of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, though both remain short of a clear majority."}],[{"start":300.08,"text":"Current and former Israeli security officials fear that launching a war so close to an election could severely affect the democratic process, even if it came after election day."}],[{"start":310.08,"text":"Forming a new government is expected to take several weeks of torturous negotiations, during which Netanyahu would still be a transitional prime minister with the legal authority, however tenuous, to launch a war even if he lost."}],[{"start":323.44,"text":"But such a move would have little precedent in Israeli history, and it remains unclear how the current security chiefs would respond to any demand to renew full-scale operations against Iran in the coming weeks."}],[{"start":335.64,"text":"Netanyahu loyalists have been appointed to head the Shin Bet and Mossad intelligence agencies, while the public stature of the IDF general staff has been diminished by the failures surrounding the October 7 assault and relentless attacks by rightwing media figures."}],[{"start":349.72,"text":"“Everything is on the table” when it comes to this government, said one of the people familiar with the plans to attack Iran. “Nothing would surprise me.”"}],[{"start":358.12,"text":"Additional reporting by Mehul Srivastava in London and Abigail Hauslohner in Washington"}],[{"start":367.58,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792567020_3757.mp3"}