News Digest — 7/9/26
Ghalihaf: If You Strike, ‘You’ll Get Hit,’ IRGC Claims Responsibility For Kuwait, Bahrain Strikes
The IRGC claimed responsibility for strikes on the Gulf states on Thursday morning (9th).
Sirens sounded for a second time in Bahrain on Thursday (9th), Bahrain’s interior ministry reported. The Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain’s state media, attributed the sirens to Iranian missiles.
Sirens also sounded in Kuwait, where the defense ministry reported that the country’s air defenses “are confronting rocket and drone attacks.”
At the same time Reuters reported that an elevated security warning was sent to mobile phones in Qatar. An all-clear was sent out within 10 minutes, noting that “a threat had been eliminated.”
Iran’s speaker of parliament, Muhammad Bagher Ghalihaf claimed the strikes on the Gulf states were in response to American attacks on southern Iran earlier on Thursday (9th).
“America still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he said in a post on X.
“Don’t flail around pointlessly, or you’ll sink even deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with ‘Iranian arrangements,’ not American threats,” Ghalihaf added.
Shortly after, international media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took responsibility for attacking two US bases in Bahrain and two more US bases in Kuwait.
U.S. Returns Tanker Aircraft To Middle East As Trump, Netanyahu Coordinate On Iran
The United States has begun returning aerial refueling aircraft to the Middle East and Israel after relocating them to Europe in recent weeks, as President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in direct talks regarding strikes in Iran, Kan News reported Wednesday (8th).
Over the past 24-hours, IDF Chief of Staff LTG. Eyal Zamir has conducted discussions and operational assessments at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv with senior officials from the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Israeli Air Force, and the Operations Directorate. He has also maintained direct contact with senior officials at US Central Command and the Pentagon.
Israeli officials said any Iranian attack against Israel would inevitably trigger a powerful Israeli response.
They also assess that the United States may carry out several consecutive days of strikes against Iran.
Kan News reported that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in direct contact regarding tensions with Iran. Israeli officials also believe that, unlike during the previous round of hostilities, when the United States prevented a broad Israeli strike, Trump now believes Iran is acting deceptively in negotiations and is seeking to buy time.
Israel continues to monitor developments across the region while maintaining defensive preparations.
At this stage, there has been no change to the Home Front Command’s public safety guidelines.
Netanyahu has continued to say that more work remains to be done in Iran, including addressing its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Earlier Wednesday (8th), Trump expressed doubt about the feasibility of a ground operation, saying that only the United States would be capable of carrying one out.
Previous reports have described a possible joint US-Israeli operation to remove the enriched uranium, which is stored at three separate nuclear sites in Iran.
The return of the aerial refueling aircraft comes as Israel continues consultations with US military officials and maintains a heightened level of readiness while monitoring the evolving situation involving Iran and ongoing US military operations.
US Base Relocation To Israel Considered After Iranian Strikes In Gulf
Discussions among Israel’s political and security leadership over the US aid agreement are continuing, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and senior security officials were expected to discuss on Wednesday evening (8th), the possibility of moving America’s bases from countries in the region to the Negev.
Political officials have expressed a positive view of the possibility of transferring US bases to Israel, and the issue has already been raised with senior American officials. However, no final decisions have yet been made, and talks between the sides are still ongoing.
The option being examined comes against the backdrop of a reassessment in the US of the deployment of American forces in the Middle East, and particularly the future of bases in countries across the region. These include bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, countries that are within range of the Iranian threat.
The discussions also come amid reports in the US in recent months that the damage caused to American bases in the region by Iranian attacks was more significant than initially reported. According to those reports, the strikes on bases and military infrastructure sharpened Washington’s need to reexamine the location of US forces in the Middle East and the extent of their exposure to threats from Tehran.
Israel offers several clear advantages from the American perspective: geographic proximity to the main theaters of operation in the Middle East, close security and intelligence cooperation, advanced technological infrastructure, a pro-American population and one of the world’s most advanced multilayered air defense systems. Moving bases to the Negev could also deepen the security relationship between Israel and the US, while bringing economic and employment benefits.
Alongside the potential advantages, Israel’s political and security establishment is also aware of the risks involved in such a move. A permanent and extensive presence of American bases in Israel could make the country an even more significant target for Iran and other actors in the region, especially in the event of a direct escalation with the US.
Another issue that may come up in the discussions is the extent to which such a move could affect Israel’s freedom of action. The deployment of American forces and infrastructure on Israeli soil could strengthen Washington’s security commitment to Israel, but could also lead in the future to American pressure on Jerusalem to refrain from military steps that could endanger US forces stationed in the country.
Wednesday evening’s (8th) discussions were expected to take place as part of the broader talks on the next US aid agreement and the nature of security cooperation between the countries in the coming years. Israel is examining the possibility as part of a broader approach aimed at deepening the alliance with the US, but at this stage the move remains under review and no final decision has been made.
Netanyahu: Iran ‘Definitely’ Possesses Chemical Weapons, Would Not Hesitate To Kill Americans
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday (7th) that Iran “definitely” possesses chemical weapons and would “not care a whit about murdering hundreds of thousands of Americans if it could.”
Netanyahu told Newsmax in an interview that the Islamic Republic had shown it was willing to murder its own citizens, and warned Tehran would have “no compunction” about using weapons of mass destruction.
The US State Department has previously said Tehran is in non-compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, citing, among other things, its alleged development of pharmaceutical-based agents for offensive purposes and failures to fully disclose past chemical weapons-related activities.
Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces and US Military embarked on “Operation Roaring Lion/ Epic Fury” in late February with the goal of “destroying the nuclear threat, or pushing it away, and also destroying a good chunk of their capacity to make ballistic missiles.”
“If you give that regime the ability to have ballistic missiles that could ultimately reach the United States and they could arm them with nuclear weapons, then every single American would be in danger,” the premier explained.
“That’s why President Trump decided to do this. He does what he thinks is good for the United States, and in this case, I would say it was essential for the security of the United States.”
“Iran was on the verge of making nuclear weapons. We pushed that immediate threat away,” declared Netanyahu, adding: “We pushed it back, but it’s not over. The jury’s still out–I’m the first to say that.”
“I don’t know if there will be a deal or not,” he stated. “Deal or no deal–I’ve pledged as President Trump has pledged, that Iran, under no circumstances, would have nuclear weapons.”
“I think it’s too early to say, but I personally would not trust Iran the length of this room, which is about 10 feet long. So, mo, they’re totally untrustworthy,”added Netanyahu.
Israel AgreesTo Extend Earthquake Aid In Venezuela, After Rare Call Between President, FM Sa’ar
The Israeli aid delegation’s earthquake relief work in Venezuela will continue for an additional two weeks after interim president Delcy Rodriguez met with Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to request the extension, the Foreign Ministry and the IDF announced on Wednesday (8th).
The decision was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
With a small delegation of only 30 people, Israeli presence in Venezuela has been focused on designing a national reconstruction plan which Rodriguez hopes to begin implementing.
As part of the plan, the IDF began mapping and categorizing approximately 1,300 buildings on Monday (6th), classifying them as either to be demolished or potentially salvageable despite damage.
Additionally, IDF BG. Elad Edri said that the IDF engineers have provided guidance to Venezuela on handling debris from damaged buildings.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry and aid delegation to Venezuela met with interim president Delcy Rodriguez in Caracas, on July 8.
The multi-year plan is a major accomplishment of the Israeli delegation, and Venezuela approved it within days, rather than the weeks or months it would normally take to develop.
Edri said the severity of the disaster warranted rapid,out-of-the-box thinking.
Following the June 24 earthquake, the IDF delegation flew out of Israel on June 30 and landed in Venezuela on July 1 after multiple complex stopovers, Edri said.
He explained that, given the current chaos, other delegations who wanted to assist with the disaster have needed four to five days of travel and waiting to reach disaster-stricken sites.
Even the IDF could not fly directly into Caracas; they flew into Valencia instead and then traveled domestically to Caracas.
On Sunday (6th) the Venezuelan Information Ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 3,342.
The new tally also puts the number of injured at 16,470, while the number of homeless has risen to 17,345. Nearly 200 buildings are confirmed to have collapsed, according to state officials.
Some of the homeless are living in official shelters and others in tent encampments. An unofficial, but widely used tally of the missing stands at around 41,000.
The Palestinians Are Fighting To Save UNRWA As The ‘Guardian Of The Right Of Return’ – Khaled Abu Toameh
The furious Palestinian reaction to the recent declaration of the “Board of Peace” that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) “has no place in the new Gaza Strip” has once again exposed a fundamental truth. For the Palestinians, UNRWA is a political institution that keeps alive the dream of the “right of return” – a demand that would overwhelm Israel’s population with millions of supposed “refugees,” which would effectively bring about the end of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
Ahmed Abu Holi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, denounced the “Board of Peace” for allegedly attempting to “liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue.” “Any attack on UNRWAor attempt to dismantle it constitutes a direct assault on Palestinian national identity…and an undermining of the right of return.”
The issue is not schools, food distribution, or medical clinics. The issue is politics. More than seven decades after the 1948 war, the number of registered Palestinian refugees has expanded from roughly 70,000 to several million. Instead of solving the refugee problem, UNRWA’s function is to perpetuate it. The Palestinian insistence on the unrealistic “right of return” remains one of the principle obstacles to any peace agreement.
Palestinian leaders are lying to their own people by telling them that one day they will return to their families’ former homes inside Israel. So long as UNRWA continues to institutionalize that dream, it will remain part of the problem rather than part of the solution. If the goal is a different future for Gaza – based on reconstruction, coexistence, and stability rather than perpetual conflict – then eliminating UNRWA is not only justified, it is long overdue.
