Israel threatens to strike Iran within days; U.S. won’t participate – reports

Israel is prepared to launch military strikes against Iran within days if Tehran rejects a U.S.-backed proposal to limit its nuclear activities, according to U.S. and Israeli officials cited by The Wall Street Journal.

A senior Israeli official said that military action could begin as early as Sunday unless Iran agrees to immediately halt production of weapons-grade fissile material, according to The WSJ report.

The U.S. has privately informed Israel that the United States will not participate directly in any military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, according to Axios, citing two U.S. sources and an Israeli source familiar with the discussions.

On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified that Iran appears to be advancing toward nuclear weapons capability. “There are plenty of indications that they have been moving their way towards something that would look a lot like a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Iran’s actions represent an imminent threat to regional and global security.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) further heightened concerns on Thursday when its board of governors formally declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in two decades.

The resolution, backed by the U.S., UK, France, and Germany, cited Iran’s failure to provide credible explanations for undeclared nuclear materials and noted that its enriched uranium stockpile has reached a level sufficient for producing multiple nuclear bombs.

Iran condemned the resolution as politically motivated and responded by vowing to open a new enrichment facility. In a statement earlier this week, the Iranian mission to the United Nations insisted that “Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and U.S. militarism only fuels instability.”

On Thursday, Oman’s foreign minister announced that Iran and the United States will meet this Sunday for a sixth round of indirect negotiations aimed at defusing the crisis.