Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated threats against Iran and a previously undisclosed meeting with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have heightened fears of a renewed military offensive, just six days before Israel’s parliamentary election and less than two weeks before the US midterm elections on 3 November.
Netanyahu has spoken almost daily in recent weeks about the prospect of another confrontation with Tehran, following the conflict Israel launched jointly with the United States in February. His increasingly frequent videos threatening Iran, combined with a meeting with Hegseth at an Israeli air base on Monday, have fuelled speculation about preparations for further attacks.
According to the Financial Times, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military earlier this month to prepare a bombing campaign against Iran but ultimately did not proceed because US President Donald Trump opposed reigniting the conflict before the American midterm elections.
The reported Israeli plan envisaged several days of strikes against civilian infrastructure, including power stations, as well as targets linked to Iran’s government. It would represent a larger offensive than the February campaign, during which dozens of Iranian officials were killed, including then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Israel’s military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, said on Tuesday that Israeli forces were maintaining a “high level of alert and preparedness” to protect the election against any “external interference”. Netanyahu has suggested that Tehran or its allies could attempt to influence the vote and threatened a severe response, reinforcing concerns about the possibility of renewed hostilities.
Iran is on maximum alert amid the prospect of an attack that Netanyahu has sought to portray as “preventive”. Analysts cited in the source view the current situation, characterised by the absence of a definitive ceasefire agreement and skirmishes around the Strait of Hormuz, as an unstable arrangement that could give way to another round of fighting with consequences across the Middle East.
Last week, Netanyahu told Israeli public television that a military campaign against Iran before the 27 October election was not a “realistic” prospect. However, he insisted that the mission of overthrowing Iran’s government remained unfinished and pledged to complete it.
Trump used similar language on Sunday, threatening to “finish the job soon” in Iran and linking the prospect to Netanyahu remaining in power. Announcing his support for the Israeli prime minister, Trump said: “If Israel has the wrong leader — that is, anyone other than Bibi [Netanyahu’s nickname] — the United States will have to carry out this task on its own, and I am not willing to do that.”
Netanyahu subsequently published an image of the two leaders accompanied by the message: “President Trump: Vote for Netanyahu; only with him will we complete the mission.” Despite Trump’s endorsement, the source reported that the intervention had not increased Netanyahu’s projected seats in opinion polls.
Military movements have added to concerns about a wider escalation. The United States has sent a third aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to the Middle East, according to Fox News. Britain also announced on Tuesday that it would deploy fighter aircraft to defend Saudi Arabia against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are backed by Tehran.
The unusual circumstances surrounding Hegseth’s visit have attracted particular attention. Rather than meeting Netanyahu at his office in Jerusalem or the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, the US defence secretary held talks with him at Ovda air base in southern Israel. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz also attended the initially undisclosed meeting.
According to the Financial Times, Israeli officials presented Hegseth with an updated list of Iranian targets based on new intelligence, including civilian infrastructure that had not been struck during the previous war. After the visit became public, Hegseth described his trip as a meeting with American troops stationed in the region and published photographs of himself speaking with military personnel beside a fighter aircraft, without mentioning the meeting with Netanyahu or identifying the location.
