Israel’s leaders are publicly signaling that their country is prepared to strike Iran for a third time, while a U.S. official tells Fox News Digital that Washington remains closely coordinated with Jerusalem. 

«The IDF is on high alert and prepared to resume the campaign, regain air superiority, and carry out an independent Israeli strike against Iran to eliminate threats — even for a third time,» Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Minister Israel Katz said Thursday at a graduation ceremony for the Israeli Air Force’s newest pilots.

«If we have to return, we will return with even greater force,» Katz added.

ISRAEL DEFENSE CHIEF WARNS STRIKES ON IRAN COULD RESUME SOON, SIGNALS CAMPAIGN NOT OVER

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned Thursday that Israel’s campaign against Iran was not finished and said Tehran would not be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon, regardless of any agreement reached with Washington.

«The war has not yet ended,» Netanyahu said at the air force ceremony. «Alongside the old challenges, new challenges are emerging. Axes are falling, and axes are rising. We are paying attention to this. We are prepared for every scenario.»

Two Israeli sources told CNN Friday that the Trump administration does not currently want Israel to participate in the latest U.S. strikes against Iran. 

«Netanyahu would really want to join the U.S. strikes, but the U.S. doesn’t want Israel involved at the moment,» one of the sources told CNN.

A U.S. official denied the report, telling Fox News Digital, «This is fake news. The United States has a strong relationship with Israel, which contributed to the resounding success of Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury. We remain in close coordination with our Israeli partners.»

Israel first launched a major campaign against Iran in June 2025, with the United States later joining the fighting by striking the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities. On Feb. 28, the two allies launched a new, coordinated military campaign against Iran.

While Israeli leaders are openly presenting the military as ready for another campaign, some Israeli officials and analysts say there is little appetite for renewed fighting unless it produces a clear strategic result.

The public warnings may overstate Israel’s desire to reenter the fighting, said Israeli analyst and journalist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth, Nadav Eyal. 

«On the record, Israel is signaling that it is prepared and even eager to strike Iran. But off the record, sources are saying that it is anything but that,» Eyal told Fox News Digital. «The reason is clear: Any Israeli strike in Iran will lead to Iranian ballistic missile attacks against Israel.»

US CLAWS BACK KEY CONCESSION TO IRAN AFTER FRESH ATTACKS ON COMMERCIAL SHIPS IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, from left, US President Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Trump insisted Egypt and Jordan will take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, dismissing the countries’ refusal to accept people from the war-shattered territory. Photographer: Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

Eyal said the domestic political consequences could make Netanyahu reluctant to begin another round of fighting, particularly as Israel approaches another election.

«If these strikes are meant to provide meaningful, strategic change, it is something the prime minister can sell to the public,» Eyal said. «But if the intention is only to use Israel as leverage, why should Israelis again experience a couple of weeks or more of sitting in safe rooms and losing their summer vacations, children’s day camps and summer camps? That could play out badly for the prime minister politically.»

«The truth is that Israel was not really enthusiastic about another strike,» he added. «That doesn’t mean it is not going to happen. If President Trump demands that Netanyahu join, it is very hard to see the Israelis saying no. But right now, I don’t see any passion for it.»

The diplomatic outreach continued even as Trump declared that the ceasefire with Iran was over.

«The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!» Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

A source with knowledge of the situation told Fox News that Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran, in coordination with the United States, to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume.

On Thursday, Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office, which said the two agreed to continue coordinating across several regional fronts. Trump briefed Netanyahu on American operations in the Gulf, the statement said.

NETANYAHU REJECTS REPORTS OF A RIFT WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, SAYS THE TWO REMAIN ALIGNED ON IRAN

A satellite image shows damage at the control tower in the port of Chabahar, Iran, July 9, 2026, after the U.S. military said July 8, 2026, it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping. ( 2026 PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via Reuters)

The military warnings came as the Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence about what is described as a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate Trump.

The developments follow renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, where U.S. naval officials said the maritime threat remained «severe.» U.S. Naval Forces Central Command reminded commercial vessels Friday that an expanded southern route through the strait remained open and that no controlling authority could require ships to pay a fee for passage.

A U.S. official told Fox News on background that Iran’s attacks against commercial vessels were «acts of terrorism» and constituted failed performance under the memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran.

«The United States is still committed to finding a resolution, and technical talks continue,» the official said. «Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.»

Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser, a former senior Israeli military intelligence officer who now heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said Israel had never regarded the memorandum as an adequate guarantee.

«From Israel’s perspective, the MOU was never a good deal,» Kuperwasser told Fox News Digital, speaking of the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. 

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CENTCOM shared footage of strikes against airplanes amid Iran war (U.S. Central Command on X)

«Israel should be on high alert, ready to face an Iranian attack and prepared to strike back if necessary,» he added.

For now, Israel’s leaders appear to be leaving Iran — and Washington — with little doubt that they are prepared to act. Whether the United States allows Israel to join the renewed campaign, however, could determine whether the latest confrontation remains limited or develops into another full-scale regional war.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. 

Irán, temeroso de que su control de las rutas marítimas clave del estrecho de Ormuz se estuviera debilitando, tentó su suerte y atacó de nuevo a buques petroleros, con lo que, según analistas, se ha arriesgado a reavivar una guerra a gran escala con Estados Unidos.

El miércoles, ambas partes amenazaron con cancelar el memorándum de entendimiento que habían firmado el 17 de junio para establecer un plan de conversaciones de paz y prolongar el frágil alto al fuego que ha estado vigente desde abril. En la noche, aviones de combate estadounidenses realizaron ataques aún más intensos contra decenas de objetivos iraníes en todo el territorio, mientras que Irán prometió intensificar los ataques con drones y misiles contra los aliados de Estados Unidos en el golfo Pérsico.

El acuerdo básico de ese memorándum de entendimiento de 14 puntos, redactado en términos vagos, consistía en que Irán reabriría el estrecho de Ormuz al tráfico comercial a cambio de un respiro económico que tanto necesitaba. Los temas más espinosos, como el futuro del programa nuclear iraní, se dejaron para más adelante, para negociaciones futuras. Pero casi nada cambió.

“El memorándum de entendimiento se parecía cada vez más a un espejismo”, dijo Vali Nasr, un experimentado analista sobre Irán y profesor de la Escuela de Estudios Internacionales Avanzados de la Universidad Johns Hopkins. “En Teherán se considera que Estados Unidos está llevando a cabo un esfuerzo concertado para arrebatarle a Irán el control del estrecho, debilitar su posición en el Líbano y recuperar su poder para ejercer aún más presión sobre Irán o volver a la guerra”.

Conforme los 60 días del acuerdo se terminaban, Irán se sentía cada vez más frustrado porque la Armada estadounidense estaba alentando a las embarcaciones a tomar una ruta sur por la costa de Omán, en lugar de respetar las exigencias iraníes de que todo el tráfico se registrara con su recién creada autoridad de tránsito de Ormuz, un paso previo al cobro de tarifas. El tráfico del pasado fin de semana fue de aproximadamente un tercio del nivel anterior a la guerra, que superaba las 100 embarcaciones diarias, repartidas a partes iguales entre los lados iraní y omaní de la vía navegable, según Kpler, que realiza un seguimiento del tráfico marítimo.

Además, Estados Unidos estaba trabajando para cerrar un acuerdo de paz por separado entre el Líbano e Israel que incluyera el objetivo, inalcanzable por tanto tiempo, de desarmar a Hezbollah, la principal fuerza aliada de Irán en el Líbano. Por último, en los debates públicos sobre la ayuda financiera, la escala seguía reduciéndose.

En cambio, incluso en medio de las ceremonias fúnebres a lo largo de la semana en honor al ayatollah Alí Jamenei, el líder supremo de Irán asesinado en la guerra en febrero, los iraníes decidieron atacar en lugar de esperar a que su ventaja se desvaneciera, dijeron los analistas. El martes, unos proyectiles alcanzaron a tres buques petroleros que transitaban por el estrecho, aunque Irán no reivindicó su autoría.

Los analistas dijeron que la percepción de Irán de que había vencido a Estados Unidos e Israel en la guerra de principios de este año probablemente contribuyó a que se reavivara el enfrentamiento.

“Después de haber aguantado la paliza de Estados Unidos e Israel, probablemente se sientan bastante seguros”, dijo Suzanne Maloney, investigadora principal del Brookings Institution en Washington, que ha asesorado tanto a gobiernos republicanos como demócratas en materia de política de Medio Oriente. “Creo que el momento en que se realizaron los ataques, que coinciden con las ceremonias fúnebres, demuestra cierto triunfalismo por parte del régimen, que considera que, en esencia, por fin se ha liberado de la guerra. Son capaces de enterrar a sus muertos y siguen respondiendo a los ataques. Sin duda, hay un mensaje en eso”.

Aunque antes de la guerra el tráfico marítimo fluía libremente, Irán dijo que pretendía imponer un nuevo control sobre el estrecho, dijeron los analistas. Estados Unidos, que había levantado las sanciones petroleras contra Irán que llevaban décadas vigentes, las volvió a imponer de inmediato.

Irán afirmó que no le importaba. “Los ingresos no son tan importantes como el control”, dijo en la televisión estatal Majid Shakeri, un economista iraní y asesor de Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, presidente del Parlamento y principal negociador. “Nos quedamos con el estrecho o todos y cada uno de nosotros nos convertiremos en mártires por él”.

Aun así, ambas partes suelen recurrir a una retórica agresiva y a los alardes, según señalaron analistas, y tienden a utilizar la guerra como un modo de negociación. Trump no descartó del todo la idea de retomar las negociaciones.

Leé también: Crece la tensión en Medio Oriente: Benjamin Netanyahu advirtió que “la guerra contra Irán no terminó”

Los ultraconservadores de Irán llevan mucho tiempo atacando la mera idea de las negociaciones, por lo que ha habido llamamientos para retirarse del memorándum de entendimiento sobre la situación en el estrecho.

“Creo que se trata sobre todo de una pose”, dijo Nate Swanson, investigador principal del Atlantic Council que anteriormente fue director para Irán en el Consejo de Seguridad Nacional bajo la presidencia de Joe Biden. “Creo que es parecido a lo que está haciendo Trump. Él negocia a través de acciones militares y amenazas estridentes, así que, en cierto modo, hablan el mismo idioma”.

Irán apostaba por que Trump, molesto con el conflicto y ante unas difíciles elecciones intermedias en cuatro meses, no se arriesgaría a reanudar una guerra impopular, según sugirieron los analistas.

Sin embargo, Trump lanzó una diatriba contra los iraníes; tachó a sus líderes de “malvados” y de “escoria” y sugirió que Estados Unidos atacaría a Irán aún más fuerte. Dijo que el alto al fuego se había “acabado”.

“Corren el riesgo de malinterpretar al presidente Trump, algo que han hecho una y otra vez”, dijo Joel Rayburn, investigador principal del Instituto Hudson, coronel retirado del ejército estadounidense y exenviado especial para Siria durante el primer mandato de Trump. Irán tiene una tradición longeva de emprender acciones provocadoras, como disparar contra petroleros y luego hacerse pasar por la parte agraviada, dijo: “Está sobreestimando su situación”.

No sería la primera vez. Justo después de la Revolución islámica de 1979, el nuevo gobierno de línea dura de Teherán retuvo a rehenes de la embajada estadounidense por 444 días, mucho más tiempo del que les servía como ventaja, y a cambio consiguió que se embargaran millardos de dólares en activos depositados en instituciones financieras occidentales. En 1982, Irán rechazó una tregua en la guerra entre Irán e Irak, lo que provocó seis años más de combates brutales y cientos de miles de bajas.

*Por Neil MacFarquhar, reportero del Times desde 1995 que cubre una amplia variedad de temas, desde la guerra hasta la política y las artes, tanto a nivel internacional como en Estados Unidos.

Graham Platner the embattled Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, on Friday publicly released the letter formally withdrawing from the U.S. Senate race, thanking supporters before signing off with, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»

Platner posted the July 10 letter on X after submitting it to the Maine Department of the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections.

«I write to formally withdraw my candidacy for United States Senate,» Platner wrote.

THE DOZEN RACES THAT WILL DETERMINE THE SENATE’S BALANCE OF POWER

The letter thanked the 156,084 Mainers who voted for him in last month’s Democratic primary and argued they had backed «a new kind of politics» focused on issues including Medicare for All, stronger unions and limiting the influence of billionaires in politics.

«My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,» Platner wrote. «As such, please consider this notice as my official withdrawal from consideration for this office.»

Platner concluded the letter by writing, «F**k ICE. Free Palestine. Up the Hearts.»

The letter comes two days after Platner announced he was suspending his campaign amid mounting controversies and allegations of sexual misconduct that he has repeatedly denied.

A populist Democrat who was backed last September by progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders, Platner was challenging longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a high-profile, combustible and expensive race in Maine, which is one of a handful that will determine if the GOP holds onto its slim Senate majority in November’s midterm elections.

«For the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,» Platner said on Wednesday in a video posted to social media.

The end of his campaign came a month after Platner won a landslide victory in Maine’s June 9 Democratic Senate primary, but days after an explosive report contained an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated.

Maine resident Jenny Racicot told CNN «by dictionary definition» Platner «raped» her. She also said over the course of three interviews with Politico that Platner forced her to have sex five years ago against her will, a claim that he denied.

Platner last week was hit with a second explosive allegation of sexual misconduct. In a report published by The Washington Post, Platner was accused of removing condoms during sex with his ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Fifield after she explicitly directed him to wear them.

Fifield had previously accused Platner in a New York Times report of physical misconduct during their relationship, saying that he sometimes grabbed her hard enough to leave marks on her body and that one time he twisted her arm around her back, pushed her into a bedroom and held the door shut until she «calmed down.»

The Platner campaign responded that Fifield’s latest allegations were «categorically false and politically motivated,» pointing to her previous work for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

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Addressing the multiple allegations in his video announcement last week, a visibly angry Platner charged, «This is all false. The things that have been claimed did not happen. It is not real.»

The Marine Corps combat veteran and oyster farmer became the all-but-certain party nominee in the spring after two-term Gov. Janet Mills, who was backed by Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and the party establishment, suspended her bid after significantly trailing Platner in fundraising and polling.

But as he moved towards capturing the nomination, Platner was forced to play defense amid multiple controversies that muddied the final days of his primary campaign and overshadowed his victory.

Past inflammatory online comments made on a now-deleted Reddit account came back to haunt him at the same time he was reeling from revelations of a now covered-up tattoo on his chest that resembled a Nazi symbol. Then reports that Platner exchanged sexually explicit messages with several women while married came right before allegations from ex-girlfriends of a history of rape fantasies, heavy drinking and violent episodes.

Platner repeatedly called the allegations of violence untrue.

The mounting controversies drew plenty of attention, gave Republicans more ammunition to use against him and triggered some Democrats in the nation’s capital to question whether Platner was damaged goods.

But the allegations didn’t stop him from riding a populist wave to capture the nomination in a landslide.

SCANDAL-PLAGUED PLATNER CAPTURES DEMOCRATIC SENATE NOMINATION DESPITE MOUNTING CONTROVERSIES

Platner, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his three tours in the war in Iraq with the Marines and one tour with the Army National Guard in Afghanistan, apologized for his controversial Reddit posts after some of them made headlines after he launched his Senate campaign.

In his primary night victory speech last month, Platner emphasized that he was a changed man.

«If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,» Platner told the crowd. «And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.»

After the latest allegations went viral last week, a growing chorus of Democrats called on Platner to quit the race, from establishment figures like Schumer to progressives among his biggest backers, including Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., and Rep. Ro Khanna, Calif., who campaigned with Platner in Maine in June.

The Maine Democratic Party announced last week that officials were working «around the clock» to determine a replacement process, but claimed Platner’s team was trying «to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.»

Graham Platner, Democratic US Senate candidate for Maine, during a primary election night event at the Blue Hill YMCA in Blue Hill, Maine, US, on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Progressive Democrat Graham Platner won the party’s Senate primary in Maine after a bruising campaign which became as much about his accusations of past misbehavior as it was voters’ top concerns. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Platner’s team, responding, said they had reached out to the party but denied they were trying to put any «finger on the scale.»

A day later, the state party announced it would hold a nominating convention, which Fox News Digital confirmed would likely consist of 600 voting delegates, to choose a new Senate nominee.

That didn’t appear to sit well with Platner, who in his video said, «What comes next needs to come from the people. Needs to come from the people of Maine. Needs to come from the voters who on June 9….said no to this kind of politics. Voted for a politics that would actually represent them. Vote against the political system. Against the donor class. Against the entrenched forces.»

Platner, who ran an outsider campaign, said that if he had continued his bid, he’d lose the ability to raise money and access crucial voter data, essential elements to any campaign.

«Those in power who have the ability to do so are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all the things that we need to run a campaign,» he charged.

Since last Wednesday’s announcement, a slew of Democrats have jumped into the race to succeed Platner as the party’s Senate nominee.

The list includes three gubernatorial contenders who came up short in last month’s primary: progressive Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president who was also backed by Sanders; Nirav Shah, the former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

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Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine tours a food bank in Harrison, Maine, on May 5, 2026. The food bank was able to expand thanks to federal funding that the senator helped obtain. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)

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Collins, a moderate Republican who at times votes against President Donald Trump’s agenda, is running for a sixth six-year term in the Senate.

Republicans currently control the chamber 53-47 and flipping the Senate seat in left-leaning Maine is a key part of the Democrats’ path to retake the majority.