An Israeli strike on Iran remains possible, but Israeli defense officials have detected no major US military buildup in the region, Ynet reported on Friday, citing unnamed defense officials.
The officials said the situation could change quickly depending on decisions in Washington and the goals of any potential operation.
They pointed to additional US forces in southern Israel and movements in the Arabian Sea, but described the latter as not unusual.
They said there were no significant signs of preparations for a new operation.
The IDF is continuing routine operations while it waits for diplomatic developments, according to Ynet. The report said Israeli and US objectives may now differ.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of toppling Iran’s government, while some voices in Washington favor a swift, intense operation to weaken Tehran and bring it to negotiations from a disadvantaged position.
Such a deal could be presented as an achievement for US President Donald Trump after Republicans’ poor performance in the midterm elections, the report said.
Ynet also reported that tensions arose before Israel’s elections between IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz over a proposed operation against Iran.
Zamir was concerned that a major operation could lead to the elections being canceled and blocked the move alongside US officials, the report said.
The IDF is refining its plans and preparing for the possibility of renewed fighting, including a potential new round in Lebanon.
The military is also preparing strike plans against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Ynet reported.
Turkey's approval of a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has paved the way for military support to Riyadh amid attacks by Iran-backed Houthis, though deploying Turkish troops would still require separate parliamentary approval.
Turkey's parliament approved the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement on Thursday by 279 votes to 119, completing a major legislative step toward Ankara's participation in a security arrangement that treats an attack on one member as an attack on all three.
The agreement, signed in August, provides for intelligence sharing, military coordination, joint deterrence and defense industry cooperation. It does not automatically authorize Turkish troop deployments, which would require separate parliamentary approval.
The pact builds on an earlier Saudi-Pakistani defense agreement and reflects Riyadh's efforts to diversify its security partnerships amid the wider conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel.
Although the pact predates the latest attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthis, those attacks have given its collective-defense commitments more immediate significance.
Houthi attacks put defense commitments to the test
The three countries agreed during consultations in Riyadh in September to implement collective-defense measures, including arrangements for the rapid deployment of agreed military forces and capabilities to Saudi Arabia.
The decision came as fighting intensified in Yemen, with Houthi forces launching missile and drone attacks against Saudi targets and Riyadh resuming military operations against the group.
The Houthis have described some of their attacks as retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. Reuters reported in September, citing Iranian and regional sources, that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had helped direct a Houthi offensive along Yemen's Red Sea coast and that Tehran had encouraged further attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's internationally recognized government made further allegations this week, accusing Iranian and Hezbollah personnel of directly helping manage Houthi military operations.
Interior Minister Ibrahim Ali Haidan said Tuesday that 14 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and seven Lebanese Hezbollah experts were involved in planning operations, developing missile and drone capabilities, and coordinating attacks on international shipping.
Haidan said decisions were made in Tehran and announced in Sanaa, accusing Iran of moving beyond financing, arming and training the Houthis to directly supervising their military activities.
Iran's Foreign Ministry denied Thursday that Iranian military experts were operating in Yemen. Hezbollah rejected the allegations Wednesday, saying it had no personnel working with the Houthis and describing the accusations as baseless.
The allegations and denials come as Saudi Arabia weighs how to respond to Houthi attacks and what military assistance it could receive from its new defense partners.
Turkish officials have indicated that Ankara's contribution would initially focus on equipment, intelligence and weapons systems, Reuters reported. Defense Minister Yasar Guler has said Turkey does not envisage its troops engaging in combat or offensive operations against the Houthis.
Opposition lawmakers warned during Thursday's parliamentary debate that the agreement could draw Turkey into regional wars. Government representatives said any troop deployment would require separate parliamentary approval, according to the Associated Press.
Defense partners keep diplomatic channels with Tehran open
Despite their expanding military cooperation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have also pursued direct talks with Iran in an effort to prevent another regional escalation.
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Iranian officials in Tehran on October 26 to discuss ways to prevent renewed regional fighting.
Saudi Arabia said the visit was intended to open negotiating channels and prevent renewed military escalation.
The discussions took place as Washington and Tehran remained divided over terms for ending their confrontation, including sanctions, the US naval blockade of Iranian ports and the future of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Turkish and Pakistani officials have maintained that the Mecca agreement is defensive and is not directed against Iran or any other country.
For Ankara, the immediate question remains how much practical military support it will provide Saudi Arabia. The defense agreement establishes a collective commitment, but the scope of any Turkish deployment and its role in the confrontation with the Houthis have yet to be determined.
Iranian hardliners are calling for continued pressure on Washington following the US midterm elections, arguing that the war has exacted a political price on Republicans but that Democratic gains offer little prospect of a change in US policy toward Tehran.
The argument featured prominently on Iranian state television on Thursday, where commentators urged Iran to maintain its leverage through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that easing pressure could allow the United States to continue its naval blockade even after the war formally ends.
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei dismissed hopes that changes in the balance of power in Washington could lead to a softer American approach.
In a message published Wednesday to mark Iran's National Day of Fighting Global Arrogance, Khamenei described as "seriously mistaken" those who retain "even the slightest hope for a change in behavior or shifts in political parties and factions" in the United States.
He warned that even a limited inclination toward surrender would weaken the government's domestic support and encourage further American demands.
Keeping up the pressure
Vahid Khazab, a regular panellist on the state television programme Be Vaght-e Iran (Iran Time), said Democrats were unlikely to oppose the US naval blockade of Iran on principle.
"I have not heard anyone come forward and say that a naval blockade is wrong," he said. "They would not oppose a blockade unless it became costly too."
Khazab argued that Iran should keep the Strait of Hormuz completely closed to make the US naval blockade as costly for Washington as the war itself, warning that the blockade's continuation could effectively prolong the conflict even after hostilities formally end.
The remarks reflected an argument among hardline commentators that Tehran should preserve its economic and strategic leverage rather than interpret the Democratic victories as an opening for compromise.
Claiming a political victory
Senior Iranian officials and pro-establishment media have portrayed the Democrats' gains as a consequence of the political and economic costs of the war.
Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on X that Iran had inflicted a strategic defeat on Trump on the battlefield and in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as a political defeat in Washington.
The hardline newspaper Javan, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, declared that "Iran won the election in America," describing the Democratic victory as a political aftershock of Trump's conduct of the war.
Khazab pointed to rising gasoline, diesel and fertiliser prices, arguing that the war had contributed to Republican losses in agricultural states such as Iowa and Kansas.
"What caused the high prices of gasoline, diesel, and chemical fertilizers?" he asked. "Was it Trump's personality? Was it Trump's corruption and that of his sons? Was it Elon Musk? No, it was the war."
The programme's presenter said the significance of the elections lay not in a Democratic victory but in "the defeat of the Republicans because of the policies they adopted" toward Iran.
No expectations of Democrats
The commentators also warned against repeating what they regarded as misplaced optimism following Joe Biden's victory over Trump in 2020.
Nima Akbarkhani, another regular panellist, criticised reformists who had expected Biden to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement after Trump withdrew from it in 2018. Although Biden returned the United States to several international agreements abandoned by Trump, his administration did not rejoin the nuclear deal.
"Why didn't he return to the JCPOA?" Akbarkhani asked, referring to the agreement by its formal abbreviation. "Because they were telling themselves that this was once again the time to enter new negotiations and secure further concessions."
Mohammad Saleh Jowkar, a member of parliament, echoed Khamenei's warning in comments to the Mehr News Agency.
"It is absolutely unacceptable for some to assume that the arrival of the Democrats, a change in the composition of the US Senate or House of Representatives, or political developments in that country have created conditions for negotiations and concessions," he said.
Khazab added that the US elections were worth examining, if only because "understanding the enemy's camp is essential," he said.
Iran stepped up diplomatic efforts on Thursday, submitting a new nuclear proposal to Washington, seeking Russian support and reaching out to regional powers a day after President Donald Trump's party suffered a sweeping defeat in the US midterm elections.
Tehran sent Washington a nuclear proposal through Qatar, Reuters reported, citing a senior Iranian official who said any discussion of its contents would depend on the United States first meeting Iran's seven demands.
The official said Washington was reviewing the proposal.
Trump has acknowledged that the war contributed to Republican losses in Tuesday's elections, while Democratic leaders have vowed to use their new congressional majorities to push for an end to military operations against Iran.
For Tehran, the election results have raised the prospect of negotiating with a politically weakened president, although Iranian officials continue to insist on concrete concessions before relaxing their grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Putin offers support for ending war
Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei travelled to Moscow, where he delivered a message from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rezaei told Iranian state television that Khamenei had wanted the message conveyed to Putin as soon as possible. He did not disclose its contents.
According to Rezaei, Putin condemned US and Israeli attacks on Iran, including strikes on its nuclear facilities, and offered Russian assistance in ending the war.
"He believed this was an unjust war and that it should end as soon as possible," Rezaei said. "He said, 'We are ready to cooperate in any way we can to help end the war.'"
Rezaei said Putin welcomed recent consultations among four regional countries in Tehran and supported a security framework that would exclude outside powers.
"Like our Chinese friends, we believe there should be regional arrangements and that foreign countries should not interfere in the region's security," Rezaei quoted Putin as saying.
Rezaei's involvement may also indicate a willingness among influential figures in Iran's security establishment to explore a negotiated settlement.
The New York Times reported, citing two Iranian officials and an American official, that Rezaei had privately expressed openness to discussing Iran's nuclear programme.
According to the report, he has been involved in negotiations with Qatari mediators alongside Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
Regional diplomatic outreach
Araghchi also held separate telephone conversations Thursday with his counterparts from nine countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to Iranian state media.
The calls, which also included Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait and Cyprus, focused on regional developments and efforts to end the war.
The breadth of the diplomatic activity suggests that discussions extend beyond Iran's foreign ministry to senior figures in its security and political establishment, although Tehran's willingness to compromise remains unclear.
The central obstacle is the sequence of concessions. Iran wants Washington to meet its demands before substantive nuclear discussions can proceed, while the United States has yet to indicate whether it will accept those conditions.
An Iranian court has sentenced two men arrested during January's anti-government protests to death, a rights group reported Thursday, adding to a growing number of protesters facing execution in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
Matin Shabani and Amir Delshad were sentenced by Branch 5 of the Mashhad Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Hossein Yazdankhah, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
An Iran International review of cases involving political charges found that approximately 220 prisoners are currently under sentence of death across Iran, up from around 194 previously reported.
Shabani was convicted of moharebeh, or "waging war against God", over allegations of arson and destruction of public property during protests in Shandiz, near Mashhad.
His case relates to demonstrations on January 8 and 9, during which a mosque and a Quranic education centre caught fire, according to a source cited by HRANA.
Shabani was arrested during those protests and later transferred to Vakilabad Prison. His death sentence had been communicated to him before Thursday's report, HRANA said.
Delshad was sentenced to death over alleged activities on behalf of an opposition group, as well as arson and destruction of public property during the protests, according to HRANA.
His case has been referred to Iran's Supreme Court following an appeal against the sentence. He remains in Vakilabad Prison.
Other protesters facing execution in Mashhad
In another case, Pouria Hosseini-Mofrad, 23, has appealed his death sentence to Iran's Supreme Court, HRANA reported.
Arrested on January 14, he was sentenced to death in August on national security-related charges. A source cited by HRANA said the allegations against him included breaking the glass of a bus stop and setting fire to shrubs.
HRANA also identified 34-year-old Vahid Khedrikhah as one of three protesters sentenced to death in a separate joint case.
Khedrikhah, Matin Farnian, 23, and a third defendant whose identity remains unknown were convicted of moharebeh by the same court.
Khedrikhah was wounded by gunfire during the January protests, according to a source cited by HRANA.
Five protesters already executed in Mashhad
At least five protesters arrested in connection with January's demonstrations in Mashhad have been executed at Vakilabad Prison this year.
Mehdi Rasouli, 25, Mohammadreza Miri, 21, and Ebrahim Dolatabadinejad were executed on May 3 over their alleged involvement in the protests.
Authorities accused Rasouli and Miri of involvement in the killing of a Basij paramilitary member, while Dolatabadinejad was accused of directing protesters and inciting unrest. Rights groups reported that the men had been subjected to torture and forced confessions.
Two others, Ali Hemmati Sistani and Majid Nikandish, 25, were executed on September 30 after being convicted of moharebeh.
Iran's judiciary accused them of involvement in protests in Mashhad's Tabarsi district on January 8 that allegedly resulted in the deaths of four security personnel.
Amnesty International said the men had been convicted following grossly unfair trials in which televised forced confessions were used as evidence.
According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights, at least 81 people were executed on political charges between January and the end of October, including 32 protesters.
Even as Iran grapples with war, economic crisis and the threat of renewed US and Israeli attacks, its security forces are breaking up Halloween celebrations, closing cafes and detaining people for gathering in public.
Analysts say the crackdown on everyday freedoms, alongside the continued execution of protesters, serves several purposes: intimidating a discontented population, reassuring loyalists and demonstrating that the authorities remain firmly in control.
"I think they feel cornered and they feel threatened by the impending military conflict with the US and Israel," Shahin Milani, executive director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, told Iran International.
"They just want to tell the population that we're staying here, we're not going to go anywhere."
On October 30, Basij paramilitary forces and plainclothes security personnel broke up Halloween celebrations on Tehran's Iranshahr Street, beating and detaining people and forcing nearby cafes to close, witnesses told Iran International.
Families spending the evening at nearby Artists Park were also ordered to leave.
The crackdown extended to other cities, where authorities shut down businesses and initiated legal proceedings against organisers of Halloween celebrations.
Social control as a means of survival
Roya Boroumand, executive director of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, said the repression reflects a longstanding feature of the Islamic Republic rather than a new wartime strategy.
She pointed to the years following the 1979 revolution, when authorities targeted cinemas, alcohol sales and women who refused compulsory veiling, even as Iran faced war with Iraq.
"They focused on these issues because this is how they keep people in their place," she told Iran International.
Omid Memarian, an Iran analyst with DAWN, said sweeping social changes in recent years have unsettled the government's conservative base, prompting hardline institutions to enforce restrictions that reassure their supporters.
"These performative acts, which might cost some Iranian citizens their time and their life and their freedoms, [are] designed to satisfy the base, the very hardline base that has been supporting the government over the past seven months," Memarian said.
He distinguished between the civilian government and powerful hardline institutions, including the judiciary, which continue to enforce ideological restrictions.
No respite from executions
The policing of social freedoms comes alongside an escalating campaign of executions following January's nationwide anti-government uprising.
On November 3, Iranian authorities executed Amirhossein Maleki and Amirhossein Ebrahimi, both 19, at Isfahan Central Prison.
Iran Human Rights said the executions brought to nine the number of defendants put to death in the Alikhani Square case, which has been marred by allegations of torture, forced confessions and serious violations of due process.
Three other defendants remain at grave risk of execution.
At least 36 protesters have been executed in connection with the January uprising since March, according to Iran Human Rights.
"They want to intimidate people and just send the message that nothing is going to change and that they're not going to give up an inch," Milani said.
Boroumand argued that international attention to military developments has given the authorities greater room to pursue repression.
"Of course, that's why they are executing so many political prisoners and protesters, because the world is focused on fuel prices and the Strait of Hormuz," she said.
But Boroumand stressed that repression is an existential issue for the Islamic Republic, regardless of whether the country is at war.
A show of strength with limits
Milani cautioned against assuming that every restriction reflects a coordinated national strategy.
"Just because the regime is dictatorial and authoritarian doesn't necessarily mean that it is efficient, even in repression," he said.
Decisions can be arbitrary, he explained, with local officials sometimes imposing restrictions independently of senior authorities.
Memarian said hardline institutions are attempting to demonstrate strength at a time when the government faces unprecedented external pressure.
But he questioned whether they could reverse the social changes that have already taken place, arguing that enforcing restrictions on the scale seen in previous decades has become increasingly difficult.
Milani pointed out that intimidation continues to have devastating consequences for families. Many who have lost children or have loved ones imprisoned may remain silent out of fear that speaking publicly could endanger other loved ones.
Boroumand warned that the consequences of January's crackdown must not disappear from international attention as the war dominates headlines.
"The war is very important, but it should not overshadow the massive and unprecedented killings of January and the repression that Iranians have been experiencing since," she said.
She also pointed to the continuing arrests of lawyers and the difficulties protesters face in securing legal representation.
For the Islamic Republic, repression remains a means of asserting authority. But while it can intimidate citizens into silence, whether it can reverse the social changes that have transformed Iranian society is another matter.