Israeli parliament member Ohad Tal told Fox News Digital that striking a deal with Iran should not be the goal without first toppling its ‘evil, jihadist regime,’ as President Donald Trump on Sunday called on both sides to come to the negotiating table. 

Tal, who sits on the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committees, spoke to Fox News Digital from outside of Jerusalem on Sunday as Israel and Iran traded strikes for a third day.  

‘We are now engaging in a war with Iran, a war which I believe is historic, because we are now, finally, hopefully, we will liberate, not just ourselves, not just the Iranian people, but the entire world from the threat of the evil Iranian regime,’ he said. 

Earlier Sunday, Trump said on TRUTH Social that ‘Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal,’ noting how his administration has successfully negotiated other conflict resolutions, including between India and Pakistan, ‘by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!’ 

Tal, however, made the distinction that the goal of the Ayatollah and the Muslim Brotherhood is the ‘destruction of Israel’ and the ‘destruction of America.’   

‘I think that our goal should be taking down the Iranian regime, because if you really want to put an end to the ambitions of Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, the only way to do that is by taking down this regime,’ Tal said. ‘This regime has only one purpose, not to destroy Israel … they want to take down America.’ 

He said more deals would only allow Iran to re-arm and re-develop their nuclear program. 

‘I think just the idea of negotiating deals with a jihadist terror supporter regime is outrageous,’ he continued. ‘I mean, the only goal we should have, we should all have, is taking down this evil regime. Again, if we really want to build a better future of stability and prosperity for everybody in the region, in the world, that should be the goal.’ 

Trump has vetoed a plan floated by Israel to the U.S. to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a U.S. official told Fox News, amid concerns doing so would further destabilize the region. 

Tal told Fox News Digital that the West must face the reality that ‘we must take down this evil, jihadistic regime’ not just to save the region, but the ‘entire world from this threat.’ 

Since last Thursday, when the Israel Defense Forces launched a large-scale preemptive strike against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, key infrastructure and leadership, Tal said he’s received calls from Muslim and Arab leaders across the Middle East who told him, ‘You’re not just saving yourself, you’re saving us as well.’ 

‘That is the reality. Iran and the Ayatollahs are not just a threat to Israel, they are a threat to the entire world, and therefore I believe that by the fact that Israel is not looking the other way,’ Tal said. ‘We’re not burying our head in the sand. We are standing in front of this threat, and we are fighting back. I think we are doing a big favor to the world.’ 

Tal said Iran has suffered ‘an unbelievable amount of damage’ and the IDF ‘basically has total control over the Iranian airspace.’ Israeli forces, he argued, are targeting military bases, nuclear facilities and officials, while Iran is targeting civilian populations. Some Iranian missiles have made it past Israel’s aerial defense systems. 

‘That’s a culture that glorifies death, doesn’t care about civilian casualties, and we’re a culture that sanctifies life,’ he said. 

Tal said he has received support from U.S. officials, including members of Congress. 

He believes that Israel’s actions are in line with Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, in that the ongoing operation will prevent the United States from being pulled into a broader conflict. 

‘We’re getting the support from the Trump administration 100 percent,’ Tal said. ‘Trump is supporting America First Policy. We are also supporting America First Policy because fighting this evil regime will help to prevent much, much bigger war.’

‘If the Iranians would have managed to get their desire and acquire a weapon, that would not have just been a threat to America,’ he continued. ‘We’re not asking [for] American boots on the ground, we’re not asking America to fight for us. We’re just asking them to support us in taking away the threat coming from Iran.’ 

Fox News’ Peter Doocy contributed to this report.

Former Biden-era White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre abruptly left the Democratic Party in her rear-view mirror, announcing in June that she had become an Independent after spending more than two years as President Joe Biden’s top spokesperson and defender. 

‘Our country has become obsessed with blind loyalty to a two-party democratic system. In her new book, timed for publication just one year after the 2024 election, Karine Jean-Pierre shares why Americans must begin to look beyond party lines and why she chose to embrace life as an Independent,’ a press release announcing Jean-Pierre’s upcoming book, ‘Independent,’ stated while revealing that the former spox had ditched the Democratic Party. 

‘Jean-Pierre didn’t come to her decision to be an Independent lightly, she has served two American presidents, Obama and Biden. . . . She takes us through the three weeks that led to Biden’s abandoning his bid for a second term and the betrayal by the Democratic Party that led to his decision,’ the press release continued. 

Fox News Digital took a look back at Jean-Pierre’s history as press secretary – which spanned from May 13, 2022, until January 20, 2025 – including the most partisan stances and statements she made in defense of the administration as the immigration crisis spiraled to new highs, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the administration embraced transgender issues, and the White House’s heated rhetoric aimed at President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election. 

‘We are not finishing a wall. We are cleaning up the mess that the prior administration made. We are trying to save lives. This is what the prior administration left behind that we are now cleaning up,’ Jean-Pierre declared from the White House briefing room’s podium in July of 2022, as the Biden administration said it would not continue work on the Trump administration’s border wall. 

 ‘A border wall is an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars, so it’s ineffective,’ she added. 

Months later, as Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allowed U.S. officials to turn away migrants who came to the U.S.-Mexico border because of health concerns was set to expire, Jean-Pierre argued, ‘It would be wrong to think that the border is open. It is not open.’

Critics at the time slammed the press secretary over the comment, calling the comment a ‘bold-faced lie’ as migrants were seen coming across the border with little consequences. 

The Biden administration was in power when the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision effectively ending the recognition of abortion as a constitutional right in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June of 2022, with Jean-Pierre calling the ruling ‘extreme.’ 

‘When the Supreme Court made that extreme decision on Dobbs, it really put a lot of families and women’s lives at risk,’ she said during a press conference in July of 2022. 

The Biden White House frequently celebrated LGBTQ holidays during its four years, including fiercely defending transgender issues and policies that the Trump administration has since ended. 

‘Tomorrow is Trans Visibility Day,’ Jean-Pierre said during a March 2023 press conference slamming Republicans who put forth legislation that aimed to keep biological boys out of girls’ sports and end transgender surgeries for minors. ‘On a day that we should be lifting up our trans kids and our trans youth and making sure that they feel seen, we’re seen more and more of these hateful, hateful bills.’

‘We’ve been very clear about these anti-LGBTQ bills that we’re seeing in state legislatures across the country, in particular these anti-trans bills, as they attack trans kids, as they attack trans parents. It is shameful, and it is unacceptable,’ she added. 

In the months leading up to Election Day, Trump faced two separate assassination attempts, including one in Butler, Pennsylvania, during a campaign rally in July that left him with an injury to the side of his head after a bullet whizzed towards him, and another in September when a man attempted to kill Trump while he played golf in Florida. 

‘It’s been only two days since somebody allegedly tried to kill Donald Trump again, and you’re here at the podium in the White House briefing room calling him a threat,’ Fox News’ Peter Doocy pressed during a news conference in September of 2024. ‘How many more assassination attempts on Donald Trump until the president and the vice president and you pick a different word to describe Trump other than ‘threat’?’

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden had both repeatedly claimed that ‘Democracy is on the ballot’ last year amid Trump’s re-election campaign. While the White House, Biden and Harris additionally described Trump as a ‘threat’ to democracy, Fox Digital previously extensively reported. 

Jean-Pierre exhaled in a sign of disapproval before answering: ‘Peter, if anything, from this administration, I actually completely disagree with the premise of your question, the question that you’re asking. It is also incredibly dangerous in the way that you are asking it, because American people are watching. And to say that, when you start bringing political rhetoric. . . . That is not okay.’

‘There are people watching at home who might miss the part where you say, let’s lower the temperature. And there are mentally unstable people who are attempting to kill political candidates, attempting to kill Donald Trump. And they are still hearing this White House refer to him as a threat. Is there no concern?’ Doocy continued in the press conference. 

‘We’re using examples. We’re not just saying that just to say it,’ Jean-Pierre responded. 

After House Republicans passed reconciliation language banning taxpayer funds from paying for sex change treatments, Democrats began using language to drum up opposition that conservative watchdog group the American Principles Project says is meant ‘to confuse people and make it sound like we’re trying to ban normal healthcare, medically necessary healthcare.’

The House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes provisions that prohibit federal Medicaid and Affordable Care Act funding from being spent on ‘gender transition procedures for any age’ in all 50 states. 

In response, Democrats and left-wing groups have begun claiming the GOP’s spending package seeks to eliminate ‘medically-necessary care.’ 

However, according to APP President Terry Schilling, ‘it’s a lie’ and an effort to combat the prevailing notion among Americans that taxpayer funds should not be paying for transgender procedures. 

‘They’re deliberately obfuscating here, and it’s because they don’t have any good arguments,’ Schilling told Fox News Digital. ‘We shouldn’t be paying for any cosmetic sex change procedures with our tax dollars, and that’s what we’re cutting here. 

‘But they’re introducing and now ramping up these highly weaponized and high-powered words to confuse people and make it sound like we’re trying to ban normal healthcare, medically necessary healthcare.’

After Republicans in the House of Representatives passed their version of the GOP spending package last month, the Congressional Equality Caucus complained that ‘Congress should be working to make healthcare more affordable – not banning coverage of medically necessary care.’ 

‘House Republicans changed a previous anti-trans provision so it now cuts off federal Medicaid and Affordable Care Act funding for medically-necessary care for ALL transgender people — no matter their age,’ a press release from the pro-trans Human Rights Campaign said after the House passed its spending bill.

According to APP’s Schilling, arguments that Republicans are taking away ‘medically necessary’ healthcare from anyone are ‘just not true.’   

To make his point, APP’s Schilling pointed to one of the left’s frequent sources for transgender medical recommendations, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Schilling pointed out that WPATH’s guidelines and standards explicitly state there is no ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ to treating individuals with gender dysphoria.

‘These are not medically necessary [treatments]. It’s a lie. These are cosmetic,’ Schilling argued. ‘If you look at WPATH, even according to their own standards, transgender-identifying people don’t actually have to medically transition. They say there’s no one size fits all. Well, I’m sorry, but medically necessary means you need it in order to survive. You need it for your health. And they’re saying in their own writings that it’s not medically necessary, that it’s not a one-size-fits-all.’

Schilling added that they’re ‘arguing out of both sides of their mouth.’ 

‘We’re calling out the transgender industry, and we’re trying to stop them from confusing even more people as we pass a very, very good and important bill,’ he said.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Human Rights Campaign argued ‘gender-affirming care’ is considered ‘best practice’ and ‘evidence-based’ by every major medical association in the country, noting that studies have shown it significantly improves mental health outcomes for transgender youth.

‘Healthcare decisions should be made by patients, families, and doctors — not the American Principles Project,’ HRC said.

Schilling said he has run numerous polls and focus groups about whether Americans agree with taxpayer funds supporting individuals’ gender transitions, and he told Fox News Digital that the overwhelming sentiment from people across the political spectrum is that they should not.

‘Here’s where Americans are at,’ Schilling said. ‘They want to ban the procedures for anyone under 18. And, anyone over 18, they want you to pay for it yourself. That’s where they’re at, and that’s where [APP is] at, and that’s where Donald Trump is at. That’s where Republicans in the House and Senate are at.’

The Congressional Equality Caucus did not respond to requests for comment on this article. 

Former top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin and Alex Soros, son of billionaire left-wing donor George Soros, married in a lavish wedding in New York on Saturday that reportedly drew attendance from high-profile Democrats stretching from former Vice President Kamala Harris to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. 

The couple married in Water Mill, N.Y., at a Soros family estate on Saturday, according to the New York Times, which reported the swank Hamptons wedding drew private jets, fleets of black SUVs ‘and Clinton aides galore in a rare concentration of wealth and power.’ 

Democrat heavyweights including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Harris – as well as her husband Doug Emhoff – and Pelosi attended the wedding, the New York Times reported. Other celebrities and high-profile attendees included Vogue’s Anna Wintour, socialite Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, the outlet reported, citing attendees. 

‘I’m looking forward to being a witness to their marriage; to the celebration that we all are going to be part of; to seeing so many longtime friends gathered in one place to really enjoy being part of Huma and Alex’s start of their married life. And I think we all could use some fun, so I’m looking forward to all of it,’ Hillary Clinton told Vogue of the wedding in an article published Saturday. 

Soros, 39, is the chairman of the Open Society Foundations, which is a massive $25 billion nonprofit founded by George Soros, 94, and helps bankroll left-wing causes and politicians across the country. Abedin, 48, is the former longtime aide to Hillary Clinton and often called the former secretary of state’s ‘second daughter.’ Abedin was previously married to disgraced former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner. 

The wedding included a live performance from Boyz II Men, the vocal harmony group behind hits such as 1991’s ‘Motownphilly,’ according to the Times, as well as toasts from Hillary Clinton, Wintour, and the Albanian prime minister. Abedin wore two custom wedding dresses over the course of the day, Vogue reported. 

The wedding’s menu reportedly included cuts of Wagyu beef, grilled prawns and chilled English pea soup. 

Soros popped the question to Abedin in July of last year, sharing the announcement on his Instagram page at the time. 

‘This happened…we couldn’t be happier, more grateful, or more in love,’ Soros wrote in an Instagram post, accompanied by a photo of him on one knee. 

Abedin told Vogue of her engagement: ‘I was shocked, not by the fact that he proposed, but it was the timing that made no sense. It was a very hectic, very chaotic day, and I was leaving for a trip the next day. I went to get my hair colored in the morning [and] I dropped something on my foot, so I was wearing sneakers.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Open Society Foundations on Sunday morning inquiring if representatives for the couple had any additional comment to include on the wedding, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

The United States Embassy in Jerusalem has issued a security alert stating that American government workers and their families in Israel remain indoors, as Iran has hit the Jewish state with drone and missile strikes.

The alert, first made on Saturday and then posted again Sunday morning, comes as Iranian strikes have so far killed at least 10 people in Israel and injured upwards of 180. 

‘As a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, the U.S. Embassy has directed that all U.S. government employees and their family members continue to shelter in place until further notice,’ The embassy’s alert, posted on its website and X, said.

‘Given the proximity of missile and debris impacts, the U.S. Embassy has offered employees living near the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv the option to voluntarily relocate to new accommodations further away,’ the alert continued.

Meanwhile, Israeli airspace remained closed, with arrivals and departures, according to a statement from an Israel Airports Authority spokesperson.

Iran’s bombardment of Israel came in response to Israel’s strikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets, which Israeli officials said were preemptive measures as Iran drew closer to developing nuclear weapons.

‘I’ll tell you what would have come if we hadn’t acted. We had information that this unscrupulous regime was planning to give the nuclear weapons that they would develop to their terrorist proxies,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X on Saturday. ‘That’s nuclear terrorism on steroids. That would threaten the entire world.’

Israel has also made clear that strikes against Tehran are far from over, issuing a warning to the people of Iran.

‘Urgent warning to all Iranian citizens: All individuals currently or soon to be present in or around military weapons production factories and their supporting institutions must immediately evacuate these areas and not return until further notice,’ the Israel Defense Forces said in an alert posted in Farsi. ‘Your presence near these facilities puts your life at risk.’

The IDF contrasted their approach with that of Iran, which has launched attacks at civilian areas.

‘This is the message we spread to Iranian citizens. While Iran chooses to strike without warning, we choose to warn a innocent [sic] people even if it means giving up the element of surprise,’ the IDF posted to X Sunday morning. ‘We warn them, in Persian, across many channels. Because human life comes first to us. That’s the difference between us and our enemy.’

Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Just hours following Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a direct appeal to the Iranian people and said: ‘This is your opportunity to stand up [to the regime].’

The regime’s standing not only with the international community, amid its vast support of state-sponsored terrorism, which has impacted neighboring nations from Syria and Yemen to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, coupled with years of internal unrest, could mean regime change is on the horizon.

‘We are in the midst of one of the greatest military operations in history,’ Netanyahu said Friday. ‘The Islamic regime, which has oppressed you for almost 50 years, threatens to destroy our country.’

The Israeli leader said Jerusalem’s goal in hitting Iran’s top military targets is to thwart the nuclear and missile threats that Iran poses towards the Jewish nation, which he argued weakens the regime and poses a unique opportunity for dissidents within. 

Minority groups make up some 50% of the Iranian population, and some Iranian specialists have argued that if the minority groups, which are frequent targets of oppression in Iran, were to unite against the regime, they could play a critical role in toppling the regime.

Iran has faced increasing opposition since the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman, who in September 2022 was arrested by Iran’s morality police and later died in a hospital due to her injuries.

Amini’s death sparked mass protests across the country, which Iran brutally clapped back at and continues to execute those arrested during the demonstrations. 

Fox News Digital was told by Yigal Carmon, President of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), that members of the Ahwazis, a minority group in south-western Iran, which make up 6-8% of the population, have already been arrested by the regime amid its fears another internal rebellion could brew alongside war with Israel.

It is unclear if any demonstrations have yet begun or if their arrests were pre-emptively carried out. 

‘A regime change will be supported by many,’ Carmon said. ‘The fact is that only the minorities can bring a regime change because they are militarily organized.’

‘A coalition of non-Persian ethnic groups could topple the regime in a few months,’ he said. ‘Unlike the Persian anti-regime population, the non-Persian anti-regime population is militarily organized.’

Other minority groups, like the Kurds, who make up 10%-15% of Iran’s population and who live primarily in the northwestern border areas near Iraq and Turkey, as well as the Baloch people, who encompass another 5% of the population and live along Iran’s southeast border with Pakistan, also have a long history of opposing the regime, though they have also suffered brutal consequences. 

‘It has never been weaker. This is your opportunity to stand up and let your voices be heard. Woman, Life, Freedom Zan, Zendegi, Azadi,’ Netanyahu said.  ‘As I said yesterday and many times before, Israel’s fight is not against the Iranian people. 

‘Our fight is against the murderous Islamic regime that oppresses and impoverishes you,’ he added. 

Israel’s precision strike on Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure may open a rare strategic window for the Trump administration. With experts telling Fox News Digital the U.S. has an opportunity to pressure Tehran toward a nuclear agreement — one that could not have been achieved through diplomacy alone. 

The Israeli military told Fox News Digital that the operation in Iran was carried out by Israeli forces but in coordination with the United States. While U.S. troops did not participate in the attack, defense cooperation continued throughout the strike — and during Iran’s retaliation on Friday, when U.S. forces helped intercept Iranian missile attacks on Tel Aviv.

‘This was an Israeli operation,’ an IDF official said, ‘but we were closely coordinated with the Americans. There was real-time intelligence and continuous contact.’

Avner Golov, vice president of Mind Israel, told Fox News Digital ‘We’re not trying to pull the U.S. in — Israel is the right model for what a responsible ally looks like: doing the hard work, asking for minimal support, and delivering strategic value.’ 

He added, ‘No one wants a war. Israel achieved this result in just a few days. It was effective and disciplined. We don’t want to stay in a prolonged war — and certainly don’t want to drag the U.S. into one. Israel is the model — a way for the U.S. to stay globally influential through a partner that delivers results with minimal investment.’

Robert Greenway, director of the Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation, said, ‘The President’s messaging so far has been careful to distinguish that these attacks are unilateral Israeli actions — not U.S. attacks. That’s largely to prevent retaliation against American infrastructure. But if U.S. assets were attacked, we would become a participant — and Iran can’t handle Israel, let alone the United States.’

‘The President made it clear that he preferred a diplomatic solution,’ Greenway added, ‘I believe that was sincere, even though he knows the Iranians full well. He anticipated that the prospects might have been remote — but it was worth trying.’

Israeli analyst and journalist for Yediot Ahronot, Nadav Eyal, told Fox News Digital the operation reflects a deliberate ‘bad cop, good cop’ strategy — with Israel applying military pressure, and the U.S. positioned to extract diplomatic gains.

‘The president is basically saying this on the record: you’ve got hit by the Israelis. Now we’ve signed a good agreement, and we’re ready to sign an agreement. . . .’

Eyal added that some of the media coverage ahead of the attack may have been deliberately misleading, part of a broader psychological operation to confuse Iran’s leadership about the timing and scope of the strike.

‘We have information pointing to the possibility that much of the publications and some stories that were published pointing to after Sunday, after negotiations with Oman, and the fact that the Americans would play with this role that contributes another major cooperation, between Israel and the U.S., as to the strike.’

Avner Golov, vice president of Mind Israel, told Fox News Digital that the strike was the culmination of a broader Israeli campaign to neutralize three fronts: Hamas in Gaza, Iran’s proxy network across the region, and now the nuclear program inside Iran.

‘Since October 7, we’ve been fighting two wars — one on the Palestinian front in Gaza, and another against Iran, which has invested in a vast network of proxies, regional partnerships, and a missile and UAV program. Over the past year and a half, we’ve struck both of those arenas and gained superiority. Now, we’ve initiated an operation against the third strategic asset.’

Golov said this is the moment for the U.S. to step in and deliver a message that escalation will trigger American consequences — not just Israeli ones.

‘Ultimately, what we want is for the U.S. to say to Iran: ‘Israel struck your nuclear and military targets, avoided civilian infrastructure and didn’t touch the regime. If you now escalate … take into account that we’re in this now, and it’s a different game altogether.’’

He emphasized that the military victory must now be sealed with a political event — ideally, one that drives Iran back to the negotiating table. ‘The nuclear issue can’t be solved by a single military event, but this creates a solid foundation for a political one. Coordination with the U.S. is absolutely crucial.’

Greenway told Fox News Digital, ‘Having taken the strike, as the President said, perhaps this does open the door to continued negotiation. There are obviously different circumstances now. Iran has less capacity than it did yesterday — and will have even less tomorrow.

‘Each day that passes, every strike that lands, Iran has less to offer in resistance. At some point, I think there’s a good possibility they’ll choose to negotiate.’

The strike also revealed U.S. involvement on the defensive front. As Iran launched missiles toward Israeli cities, U.S. forces helped intercept them — a move officials say demonstrated American commitment without triggering escalation.

‘As a practical matter, this is our best collective opportunity to do as much damage to Iran’s nuclear program and to their offensive retaliatory capabilities as possible’, Greenway said. ‘From a strictly military standpoint, this is a window of opportunity.’

Trump withdrew from the original Iran nuclear deal during his first term, citing its failure to prevent Tehran’s long-term nuclear weapons ambitions. While he has insisted Iran will never be allowed to obtain a bomb, recent reports suggest he may support a revised deal that allows uranium enrichment for civilian purposes.

Golov said the numbers now favor the U.S. if it acts swiftly. ‘We’ve optimized our numbers and are hitting theirs. Eventually, the Iranians will have to agree to the American proposal — and that proposal should be on the table now.’

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) hit the Isfahan nuclear site in Iran on Friday night, a location where uranium moves beyond enrichment to the ‘reconversion’ process of building a nuclear bomb. 

‘The strike dismantled a facility for producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium, laboratories, and additional infrastructure,’ the IDF said on Friday. 

On Friday evening, video footage posted by Iranian media showed Iranian air defenses attempting to intercept a fresh wave of Israeli attacks on the site, adding it to a list of nuclear sites targeted that includes the key Natanz facility.

The IAEA has confirmed that a nuclear facility in Isfahan was struck by Israel. In a statement on X the IAEA posted that four critical buildings ‘were damaged in yesterday’s attack, including the Uranium Conversion Facility and the Fuel Plate Fabrication Plant. As in Natanz, no increase in off-site radiation expected.’

‘Isfahan’s uranium conversion facility is at the heart of Iran’s quest for domestic fuel cycle mastery,’ Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy’s Iran program, told Fox News Digital. 

At Isfahan, uranium is converted into a state suited for gaseous enrichment. 

‘Crippling this capacity at Isfahan would disconnect the dots between Iran’s diverse nuclear industry and potentially handicap future efforts to prepare uranium for enrichment.’ 

Direct bombing of a facility that stores nuclear fuel represents a major blow to Iran’s nuclear program – but also risks radioactive spills. Israel avoided hitting Iran’s supply of near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel at Isfahan, the New York Times reported. 

‘All these developments are deeply concerning,’ the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement on the attacks. ‘I have repeatedly stated that nuclear facilities must never be attacked, regardless of the context or circumstances, as it could harm both people and the environment.’ 

Israel has now targeted over 200 sites in Iran in its move to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capability. 

Iranian media reported on Saturday that Israel had struck near the northwestern Tabriz refinery, reporting three missile strikes in locations near western Iran. 

The Israeli military said that initial strikes had taken out nine nuclear scientists, in addition to top generals in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and dozens of others. 

Iran’s counter-strikes have killed three Israelis. 

Experts have long warned that Iran is weeks away from enriching uranium to a weapons-grade 90%, and Israeli intelligence sources suggest Iran had moved beyond enrichment into the early production phase of a nuclear weapon.

The IAEA has warned of Iran’s ‘rapid accumulation of highly enriched uranium’ and said the regime has been opaque about providing details on its use. 

Israel’s ongoing military campaign on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure could mark not just a military escalation but a strategic shift, according to retired Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin. 

The former head of Israeli military intelligence and one of the architects behind the legendary 1981 strike on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor said Israel should expand its sights not just military targets, but political ones. 

‘Israel took the decision that, on one hand, it’s time to end the leadership of the Axis of Evil — the head of the snake,’ Yadlin told Fox News Digital. ‘At the same time, deal with the main problems there. Which is the nuclear.’

Yadlin didn’t say how long he thought the conflict would drag on. While he didn’t openly call for regime change, Yadlin suggested the IDF take out regime targets ‘beyond the military level.’

‘It’s not a one-day operation. It seems more like a week, two weeks. But when you start a war, even if you start it very successfully, you never know when it is finished.’

‘I hope that the achievements of the IDF, which are degrading the Iranian air defense, degrading the Iranian missile, ballistic missile capabilities, drones capabilities, and maybe even some regime targets beyond the military level that Israel started with, will convince the Iranians that it is time to stop. And then they will come to negotiation with the Trump administration much weaker.’

While Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially insisted it was not involved in the initial strikes on Tehran, President Donald Trump seemed to suggest he hoped Israel’s strikes would pressure a weaker Iran to acquiesce at the negotiating table.

The two sides are at loggerheads over the U.S.’s insistence that Iran cannot have any capacity to enrich uranium and Iran’s insistence that it must have uranium for a civil nuclear program. 

‘The military operation is aimed, in my view, to a political end, and the political end is an agreement with Iran that will block a possibility to go to the border,’ Yadlin said.

‘We need a stronger agreement’ than the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, he said. 

Yadlin, who in 1981 flew one of the F-16s that destroyed Iraq’s nuclear facility in a single-night operation, made clear that Israel’s latest campaign is far more complex.

‘This is not 1981,’ he said. ‘Iran has learned. Their facilities are dispersed, buried in mountains, and protected by advanced air defenses. It’s not a one-night operation.’

He added, ‘There are sites that I’m not sure can be destroyed.’

He said the recent attack was the result of years of intelligence gathering – and brave Mossad agents on the ground in Iran. Israel lured top Iranian commanders into a bunker, where they coordinated a response to Israel’s attacks, then blew up the bunker. 

‘All of the intelligence that Israel collected, from the time I was chief of intelligence 2005 to 2010, enabled this operation against the Iranian nuclear program to be very efficient, very much like the good intelligence enabled Israel to destroy Hezbollah. Unfortunately, the same intelligence agencies missed the seventh of October, 2023.’ 

Indeed, Israel’s past preventive strikes — 1981’s Operation Opera and the 2007 airstrike on Syria’s suspected reactor — were rapid, surgical and designed to neutralize a singular target. In contrast, Yadlin suggested the current campaign could last weeks and involve broader goals.

‘It’s not a one-day operation. It seems more like a week, two weeks. But when you start a war, even if you start it very successfully, you never know when it is finished.’

The operation is being framed by Israeli defense officials as a continuation of the Begin Doctrine, established after the 1981 Osirak strike, which declared that Israel would never allow a hostile regime in the region to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Yadlin himself is a symbol of that doctrine. As one of the eight pilots who flew into Iraq over four decades ago, he helped define Israel’s policy of preemptive action — a legacy that is now being tested again under radically different circumstances.

‘This campaign,’ Yadlin emphasized, ‘is unlike anything the country has done before.’

A senior Israeli intelligence official exclusively told Fox News on Saturday, ‘We have more surprises coming up’ for Iran following the initial wave of strikes during ‘Operation Rising Lion.’ 

The high-ranking source, speaking to Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst, said Israeli intelligence projected Iran would have an arsenal of 8,000 ballistic missiles over the next two years and that this was part of the reason a decision was made to launch the operation. Right now, Israel believes Iran has about 2,000 missiles.   

‘We cannot end this operation knowing that we will be in the same spot two years from now,’ the official said. ‘Everything is going as planned. Actually, better than planned.’ 

The official added: ‘We have lots of surprises. Not just the ones we already did. We have more surprises coming up.’ 

Forty Iranian air defense systems have been hit since the beginning of the operation, which is based on three goals — targeting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and removing the Iranian existential threat against Israel.

During the initial strike against a meeting of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air force officials, Israeli intelligence assessed that 30 commanders were killed. 

‘It’s a historic achievement,’ the official said. 

Israel now expects more incoming Iranian missiles in the days ahead that will cause casualties and destruction.   

However, the bulk of the conflict with Iran could largely be over in a matter of days.   

‘I think we can finish it in days… It’s a good thing that we have the U.S. by our side,’ the official said. 

The official also told Fox News that the U.S. is ‘fully coordinated’ with Israel, yet declined to go into specifics.  

‘The way the U.S. is standing beside Israel is unprecedented,’ he said. ‘We feel it.’