The United States has begun returning aerial refueling aircraft to the Middle East and to Israel after the planes had been moved to Europe in recent weeks, following the overnight exchange of attacks between the United States and Iran, according to Kan News.

Over the past day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir held a series of assessments at the Kirya in Tel Aviv with senior officers from Military Intelligence, the Israeli Air Force, and the Operations Directorate. He also remained in direct contact with senior officials at U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon as Israel monitored developments.

Israeli officials say that any Iranian attack on Israel would inevitably trigger a powerful Israeli response. Unlike the previous round, when the United States prevented a broader Israeli strike, Israeli officials now believe President Donald Trump also sees Iran as dragging out negotiations and trying to buy time.

Israel is continuing to monitor developments in the region and is also preparing on the defensive front, though at this stage there has been no change in Home Front Command guidelines.

Kan News also reported that Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu are in direct contact regarding the tensions with Iran, and that Israeli sources believe there could be several consecutive days of American strikes in Iran. At this stage, the fighting between Washington and Tehran appears centered around the Strait of Hormuz.

Netanyahu has continued to say that more work remains to be done in Iran, including dealing with its stockpile of enriched uranium. Trump said today that he doubts the feasibility of a ground operation and argued that only the United States could carry out such a move.

In the past, there have been reports of a possible joint U.S.-Israeli operation to remove the enriched material stored at three separate nuclear sites in Iran.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)