Israel leaves open renewed Iran strikes, US hints at longer Mideast stay

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged parliament on Sunday to approve Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi as defense minister, saying Iran’s defensive strength rests not only on missiles but also on public support and national unity.

“Defense is not just missiles. Our people, and the unity and cohesion we have in the country, are also an important part of Iran’s defensive capability,” Pezeshkian told lawmakers during the parliamentary debate on Akhlaghi Ketabchi’s nomination.

Pezeshkian said Iran had no intention of attacking other countries but would resist any assault “with strength and courage to the point of death.”

He said Akhlaghi Ketabchi had worked at the Defense Ministry for 42 years and had risen through scientific, technical and managerial posts, arguing that Iran now needed specialists willing to put their lives at risk for the country’s defense.

Pezeshkian formally nominated Ketabchi earlier this month and parliament is considering whether to give him a vote of confidence.

The post has been filled on an acting basis since former defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh was killed in a US-Israeli strike on Tehran at the start of the 40-day war in February. Brigadier General Majid Ebn al-Reza was subsequently appointed caretaker defense minister.

Bahrain’s capital Manama will host the 168th meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council Ministerial Council and the ninth GCC-Russia Strategic Dialogue on Sunday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to attend the talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one of his main goals for the remaining two years of US President Donald Trump’s term is the “complete elimination of the Iranian threat” to Israel, the United States and the wider world.

Speaking on Life, Liberty & Levin, Netanyahu said he believed Israel and the United States were already moving toward that objective through military and economic pressure on Tehran.

“Achieve the complete elimination of the Iranian threat to Israel, to America, to the world,” Netanyahu said when asked what he wanted to accomplish with Trump over the next two years.

He praised what he called Trump’s “brilliant leadership,” citing both military action and the US economic blockade, and added: “Let’s complete the job and have the people of Iran seize their own future.”

Netanyahu says Iran’s establishment must go

Netanyahu later described Iran as the center of what he called a regional network that includes Hezbollah and the Houthis, while drawing a distinction between Iran’s government and its population.

“The Iranian people are great people. They have a historic legacy there, culture, one of the great civilizations of history,” he said.

He said Iran had been “kidnapped and hijacked” by its current leadership and argued that the only way to remove the threat was ultimately to end that system of rule.

“The only way that you can deal with it is basically to get rid of this regime,” Netanyahu said, adding that this would be “a long process” involving military and economic pressure.

Netanyahu also said Trump had consistently emphasized preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and argued that Iran posed a direct threat to the United States because of its missile and nuclear ambitions.

He said Tehran was developing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States and wanted to pair them with nuclear warheads.

Netanyahu said his broader goals with Trump also included expanding the Abraham Accords and building what he described as a regional bloc of “peace, moderation and promise” against Iran and its allies.

Iran has established a new system for managing shipping and energy transit in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz without US involvement, a senior Iranian police official said.

Ali Shirazi, head of the ideological and political organization of Iran’s police force, said Iran had imposed what he described as a new order on shipping and energy transit in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

“A new order has been imposed on the management of shipping and energy transit in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz without the slightest US intervention,” Shirazi said, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency.

Iran should respond to any US attack on Pickaxe Mountain by striking Israeli nuclear facilities, the hardline Kayhan newspaper said on Sunday.

Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader, said repeated US and Israeli threats against Iran should be met with a “harsh and merciless” response against Israel’s nuclear facilities.

US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that Washington might have to strike Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried facility near Iran’s Natanz nuclear complex. “We may have to go there. We’ll take a shot at that one. We’ll knock it out fast,” Trump told Newsmax.

Pickaxe Mountain is a fortified underground complex linked to Iran’s nuclear program and is believed to be buried deep beneath a mountain near Natanz. Iran has previously described it as a centrifuge assembly facility, while the lack of inspector access has fueled questions about whether it could have other nuclear uses.

A tug travelling southbound was struck by two unknown projectiles northeast of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said.

The vessel sustained damage but was continuing on its route, UKMTO said. One minor casualty was reported.

Authorities were investigating the incident, while vessels in the area were advised to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.

A Saudi AH-6i helicopter crashed in the Najran region because of a technical malfunction, killing both crew members, Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on Sunday.

The coalition said the crash occurred in an area under the Saudi National Guard Ministry’s jurisdiction.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree had said a day earlier that the group shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter near Najran while it was carrying out what he described as hostile operations along the border.

It was not clear whether the two sides were referring to the same aircraft.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington had “in some ways” won decisively against Iran, but the conflict could not be considered over until Tehran makes a firm commitment not to rebuild its nuclear program.

Speaking at a CBS News town hall aired Saturday, Vance defended the Trump administration’s Iran strategy, saying Washington was seeking a “final firm commitment” that Iran would not restore its nuclear capabilities.

Vance also linked continued US involvement to energy security, arguing that allowing Iran to control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz would drive gasoline prices higher by restricting global energy supplies.

“When this conflict is over, we are going to see gas prices come down,” he said, crediting the US military with helping keep oil moving through the strait.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaydi in Baghdad on Saturday for talks focused on efforts to halt the Iran-US war and prevent further regional conflict.

According to a statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s office, the two sides discussed the ceasefire agreement between Iran and the United States as well as international and regional efforts to strengthen security and stability.

Al-Zaydi welcomed diplomatic efforts to end the war in the region and stressed the need to resolve disputes through dialogue.

The statement said respect for countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity was also discussed during the meeting.

For our previous liveblog on Iran and all posts, visit here.