Sept. 9: Trump says he wants to know why ‘all of a sudden’ the UK and others sanctioned settlements

US bombs Iranian tankers after attempted missile strikes on warship; IRGC threatens response

The US has struck multiple Iranian tankers in response to more attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship, according to a US official, who speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

It marks the latest tit-for-tat strikes as Washington and Tehran lurch back toward fighting during more than six months of war.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy warns crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers.

The warning, carried by Iranian state television, says the US military targeted several Iranian oil tankers. It accuses Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting US forces and assisting in the attacks.

The IRGC warns tanker crews to abandon their vessels whether they are at anchor or docked, saying they “will be targeted.”

South Korea says potential troop deployment not part of Hormuz talks with France

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung discussed the Strait of Hormuz with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, but the talks concerned possible contributions to international efforts to ensure security and freedom of navigation, not troop deployment, Seoul’s presidential office says.

National security adviser Wi Sung-lac also says a review of South Korea’s potential role was not linked to US investment talks and that Iran has sought explanations over reports on a possible South Korean role.

Video from Israel shows Iranian missiles being intercepted in neighboring Jordan

Video footage from Israel shows missiles being intercepted over the skies over neighboring Jordan, as Iran retaliates for earlier US strikes on its oil tankers.

There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Iranian missile barrage.

דיווחים בירדן על פיצוצים בעקבות שיגורים מאיראן@OmerShahar123

(צילום: גל ברגר) pic.twitter.com/gRZL4sTKjJ

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 8, 2026

US says it destroyed 5 Iranian oil tankers after ballistic missiles fired at warship

US Central Command confirms striking Iranian oil tankers in response to the Islamic Republic twice targeting an American Navy warship with ballistic missiles in previous days, saying it destroyed five ships in Iran’s so-called shadow fleet.

A statement from CENTCOM says the targeted US Navy vessel “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed.”

CENTCOM forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and… pic.twitter.com/Gi8a2tloN1

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 8, 2026

Rubio warns more Iranian oil tankers will be sunk if attacks on US warships continue

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with reporters in Barranquilla, Colombia, September 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, Pool)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio warns Iran that the US will continue to strike Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for attempted attacks on US warships.

“Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” Rubio tells reporters during a visit to Colombia.

Jordan reports no casualties after Iranian missile attack, says most projectiles were downed

Jordan’s air-defense systems have destroyed 18 of 20 ballistic missiles originating from Iranian territory, the state news agency reports, citing the armed forces.

Two missiles fell in unpopulated areas and there are no casualties, the news agency reports the military as saying.

Monitoring and assessment operations were continuing, the agency reports.

Trump cheers ‘really big night’ for Germany’s far-right AfD in state election

US President Donald Trump hails what he calls a “really big” victory by Germany’s far-right movement after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party scored a dramatic upset in state elections.

“Wow! The Populist Party in Germany just had a really big night,” Trump posts on his Truth Social platform before going on to bash the country’s “absolutely horrible Immigration rules” — rules that are also decried by the pro-Trump AfD party, which won in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Yitzhak Rabin Center said to cancel National Security Ministry event over Ben Gvir’s planned speech

Itamar Ben Gvir seen holding a hood ornament taken from prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car, in an October 1995 interview. (Screen capture: YouTube/IBA)

The Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv has cancelled a conference to be held by the National Security Ministry because ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was due to speak, according to the Haaretz daily.

Sources cited by the newspaper say the center informed the ministry that the event was being scrapped to avoid having a political figure speak soon before the October 27 elections, but that the real reason for the cancellation was to prevent a speech by Ben Gvir.

As a teenage activist, Ben Gvir gained notoriety when he was filmed bragging about having stolen the emblem from then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car, shortly before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist.

“Just like we got to this emblem, we can get to Rabin,” Ben Gvir said at the time.

UK representatives at international Gaza coordination center reportedly given a week to leave Israel

A British flag can be seen in the background as US Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media, as US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner stand next to him, in Kiryat Gat, October 21, 2025. (AP/Francisco Seco)

British representatives from the international Gaza coordination center in Israel’s southern city of Kiryat Gat were informed they have seven days to leave the country, according to Channel 12 news, as part of the diplomatic response to the United Kingdom’s new ban on all dealings with West Bank settlements.

The network says the British consulate in Jerusalem will have to cease operations within 30 days, while UK diplomats based in Ramallah were also given a week to leave the country.

The TV report came as UK Andy Burnham issued his first public statement on the moves against Israeli settlements, which were announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, saying on X that “it is more important than ever that Britain stands for something.”

“We have called for years for a two-state solution in the Middle East, but we must recognize that those words are meaningless unless we back them up with action,” he writes. “For too long, we have been hesitant to act, fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel.”

Burnham asserts the “carefully judged, targeted steps that are not aimed at the Israeli people, but at the unacceptable policies of the current Israeli government,” while adding that he “will not stand by as the horrific suffering continues to grow and the prospect of a two-state solution — the best hope for peace and stability in the region — comes under attack.”

In a difficult and dangerous world, a decade on from Brexit, there is a risk that Britain loses the confidence to lead and stand up for its values.

I’m not prepared to let that happen. It is more important than ever that Britain stands for something.

We have called for years…

— Andy Burnham (@andyburnham) September 8, 2026

Iranian Guards say they attacked 2 US ships, 8 oil tankers in Hormuz after latest US strikes

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it attacked two US vessels and eight oil tankers in the Gulf in response to what it calls a US attack on five Iranian tankers, Iranian state media reports, citing a statement from the IRGC.

The IRGC says it attacked 10 ships attempting to cross what it describes as a “prohibited and unsafe” area of the Strait of Hormuz.

Briefed in advance, Trump didn’t ask UK to hold off on announcing settlement sanctions — official

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Steel Across America event with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation on the Ellipse, September 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump did not push back on British plans to sanction Israeli settlements when he was briefed on the proposal by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, a Western official tells The Times of Israel.

Burnham held a phone call with Trump earlier this week, during which he informed the US president of London’s plan to ban the import of goods from the settlements along with a host of other measures aimed at countering expansionist Israeli policy in the West Bank, the Western official says, confirming reporting by the Axios news site.

“There was no request to hold off,” says the Western official briefed on the call.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted at the lack of opposition from Washington when asked about the British sanctions on Tuesday.

While Rubio noted that the US would not join the UK in the move — which was followed by 11 other Western countries — he also avoided criticizing it.

“We were made aware that they are gonna make this decision. We heard their arguments as to why. We share the goal of stability. We don’t want to see an uptick in violence or tensions in the West Bank in a tenuous time in the region,” the top US diplomat said.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee — a longtime backer of the settlement movement — offered very different comments earlier in the day, which indicated that Washington was going to punish London over the sanctions package.

“If the Brits go and put some kind of boycott and sanctions on them, the repercussions are going to be significant,” Huckabee told BBC.

But a White House official later told Axios that Huckabee’s comments were not coordinated with the White House or the State Department, suggesting that they did not represent the administration’s actual policy on the matter.

The Western official notes that a more forceful US response may still come in the days ahead, even if it does not go as far as Huckabee suggested.

Yemen’s Houthis joining forces with Iran-backed Iraqi forces to threaten Saudis and the Gulf, officials say

Houthi supporters attend a rally against the Saudi-led coalition in Sanaa, Yemen, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

In July, Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iran-backed militias in Iraq after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, another Iranian terror proxy.

Now, regional officials tell The Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the two-day swarm attack, showing a new level of coordination.

Iran spent decades building up armed jihadist groups on Israel’s frontiers that suffered major losses in the wars following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught out of Gaza.

Regional officials and experts say Iran is now using the Iraqi militias and the Houthis to threaten Saudi Arabia and other American allies in the Gulf in order to drive up the costs of the war launched by the US and Israel in February.

It is a risky strategy. A wave of Houthi attacks yesterday on Saudi oil facilities has threatened to reignite full-scale war with the kingdom. Iraq has ordered militias to disarm by the end of this month, though powerful Iran-backed groups have refused to do so. A new American effort to economically isolate Iran could spark further escalation.

The Houthi involvement in the Iraqi drone attack is confirmed by two Saudi officials, citing intelligence, and a senior Iraqi security official. They say Houthi emissaries worked in an operations room run by Iraqi militias.

Saudi Arabia and the US responded with joint airstrikes that killed at least 20 Iraqi fighters, six Iranian advisers and at least one Houthi official. The death of the Houthi, not previously reported, is confirmed by a Houthi official and an Iraqi militia member.

A US military official says Houthis were killed in previous strikes in Iraq. The US is concerned about the Houthi presence there and their ability to launch attacks on other countries, including Saudi Arabia, the official says.

Two officials with the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of militias that is officially part of Iraq’s security forces, deny involvement in the attack on Saudi Arabia and deny that the Houthis have been operating under its auspices. The PMF includes powerful militias backed by Iran that sometimes act independently.

All the officials and the militia member speak on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to media. The Houthis do not respond to a request for comment.

Cooperation between the Iraqi militias and the better-organized Houthis has grown throughout the war in Gaza, when they coordinated attacks on Israel, according to the Houthi and regional officials. At the height of the war, Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi spoke of a joint operations room.

After the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Iran and its allies began firing on Gulf nations to broaden the conflict and inflict pain on major oil producers hosting American forces.

“The Houthis’ growing prominence during the Gaza war opened up a new horizon in Iraq. Many groups there became eager to support the Houthis, and in return, the Houthis started sharing their military expertise with Iraqi militias,” says Ahmed Nagi, senior Yemen analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think tank.

Now they are “squeezing Saudi [Arabia] like with pliers,” Nagi says.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Establishment candidate Pappas wins New Hampshire Democratic nomination to US Senate

US Rep. Chris Pappas speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, April 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

US Rep. Chris Pappas swiftly defeats progressive opponent Karishma Manzur in a Democratic Senate primary in New Hampshire, capping off one of several races in which criticism of Israel and AIPAC became prominent talking points.

The Associated Press called the race just an hour after polls closed, at 6 p.m., when 22% of the votes had been counted. As the night wore on, with 83% of the votes tallied, Pappas accrued 64.9% of the votes to Mazur’s 32.8%.

“Today, the voters of New Hampshire have sent a clear message: they’re fed up with what’s happening in our politics, and they’re ready for change,” Pappas tells supporters. “We’ve got to turn the page on Donald Trump’s reckless leadership, on corruption, on the rigged economy.”

Having secured the Democratic nomination, Pappas is seeking to fill the seat of three-term Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is not seeking reelection this year. As he and Manzur spoke to the press during the final weeks of the campaign, their messaging often included condemnations of Israeli leadership.

Israel featured heavily in the race, with both Pappas and Manzur attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pappas, however, supports Israel’s right to security and condemned the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, whereas Manzur questioned whether Israel was defending itself when responding to the attack.

“If you look at October 7 as the starting point, then you might say Israel is defending itself,” Manzur said. “But you should actually look at the 100 years of war between the two people.”

New Hampshire Democrats choose Pappas, a four-term congressman, as their Senate nominee at a time when their party is hoping to take control of both houses of Congress. Their selection of Pappas, seen as the establishment candidate, could play a pivotal role in November, in a swing state where many voters still split tickets.

Pappas will face former senator John Sununu, a Republican who received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement, in the general election. Sununu served one term in the Senate, from 2003 to 2009, immediately following three terms in the US House.

High Court begins hearing on election day voter tracking by political parties

Supreme Court Justice Yael Willner arrives for a hearing on a petition filed by the Likud faction against the Central Elections Committee’s decision to prohibit the real-time transfer of information on voters who have cast their ballots during Israel’s general election, at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, September 2, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The High Court of Justice begins a hearing over petitions against the Central Election Committee’s (CEC) decision to allow parties to use voter data to track who has and has not voted on election day.

The CEC voted on Sunday 19-11 to allow the practice, but the decision has been petitioned by activist Shahar Ben Meir on the grounds that it violates voters’ right to privacy.

Since 2019, political parties have been using voter data provided to them by party-appointed polling station workers to track who has and hasn’t voted, which enables them to call and message their likely supporters who have not yet voted to go out and vote.

After Ben Meir requested that Central Election Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg ban the practice due to privacy concerns, Sohlberg determined that the use of the data did violate privacy laws and forbade parties from doing so last month.

But the Likud party, which makes extensive use of the data on election day, petitioned the High Court, saying Sohlberg did not have the authority to ban it. The court accepted the position position and ordered the Central Elections Committee as a whole to make a decision, while strongly implying that they believe the practice does violate privacy laws.

The CEC, which reflects the composition of the Knesset, rejected Sohlberg’s decision and approved the use of the data on Sunday.

Ben Meir and others have now appealed that decision itself to the High Court.

IDF says it struck terror groups’ weapon depots and rocket-launching sites in Gaza

Three weapon depots and a rocket-launching site were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces.

The military says the weapon depots, belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups, were used to store dozens of weapons, including rockets and assault rifles.

Recently, according to the IDF, Hamas operatives were spotted arriving at the weapon depots and using the guns stored there for “guarding and establishing control over the Gaza Strip.”

In addition, the strikes yesterday also destroyed a rocket-launching pit that had been used during the war to fire projectiles at Israel, the military says.

The IDF says it will continue “to operate decisively to degrade the capabilities of terror organizations in the Gaza Strip while thwarting any attempt to rebuild capabilities or possess weapons intended to harm our forces.”

צה״ל ימשיך לפעול בנחישות לגריעת יכולות ארגוני הטרור ברצועת עזה ולסיכול כל ניסיון לשקמן או להחזיק באמצעי לחימה במטרה לפגוע בכוחותינו.

כוחות צה"ל בפיקוד הדרום פרוסים במרחב בהתאם להסכם וימשיכו לפעול להסרת כל איום מיידי pic.twitter.com/nfYp5IcYSG

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 9, 2026

Houthis report over 30 Saudi strikes on several Yemeni regions

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis report more than 30 Saudi strikes on several regions, a day after the rebels launched major attacks on their neighbor, injuring dozens of people.

“Saudi enemy aircraft launched 32 airstrikes on various areas across the governorates of Marib, Al-Jawf, Taiz and Hodeidah over the past few hours,” the rebels’ Almasirah television says.

There has been no official comment from Saudi Arabia about the Houthi report.

Saudi authorities previously said that Houthi attacks caused temporary shutdowns at oil sites and injured 73 people early Tuesday. The rebels reported Saudi airstrikes following the attacks.

Deadly fighting reignited in Yemen last week, when the Houthis launched a major campaign to seize territory near the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

The strait has become an increasingly important route for Saudi oil since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, choking Gulf exports.

The latest fighting in Yemen has killed more than 500 people, mostly combatants from both sides, according to an AFP tally based on sources from each camp.

Egypt told Israel before Oct. 7 that Hamas planned to ‘make the ground in Gaza tremble’ — report

Amid a report that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a warning from the United Arab Emirates about Hamas plans to carry out a major attack in the weeks before the October 7, 2023, invasion, new details emerge about previously reported Egyptian warnings in the same period.

According to Army Radio, the Shin Bet intelligence service presented Netanyahu with warnings it received from Egyptian counterparts about Hamas’s intentions to “make the ground in Gaza tremble.”

The Egyptians gave only that general warning, with no precise details.

According to the report, then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar assessed that the warning meant — at least in part — that Hamas wanted to include the issue of kidnapped Israeli researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in talks with Israel about a potential hostage deal. Hamas and Iraqi Shiite militia Kataeb Hezbollah — the group that was holding Tsurkov — had come to an agreement shortly before the warning that Tsurkov would be considered a Hamas asset for talks with Israel on releasing a large number of terrorists in exchange for the handover of two Israeli captives and the bodies of two IDF soldiers held in Gaza.

In the days after the October 7 onslaught, an Egyptian intelligence official said that Jerusalem had ignored repeated warnings that the Gaza-based terror group was planning “something big” — which included an apparent direct notice from Cairo’s intelligence minister to the prime minister.

Several merchant vessels said hit in Gulf and Gulf of Oman

Several merchant vessels in the northern Gulf and the Gulf of Oman have been hit by disabling fire during military activity in the region, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says.

The British monitor says it is unable to confirm any casualties or environmental impact.

Oil rises past $100 a barrel after the latest wave of Middle East attacks

The price of oil surpasses $100 a barrel for the first time in almost six weeks after attacks on oil facilities and ships in the Middle East threaten to debilitate an already weakened supply chain.

The most heavily traded contract for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, settles at $97.89 before jumping 2.4% to $100.29.

US benchmark crude gains 1.9% to $94.77 a barrel.

When oil prices spike, prices of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel also rise. That can increase the cost of traveling and of goods that must be transported quickly, like fresh food, or shipped long distances, like furniture and appliances.

Markets react after the US military reported striking five Iranian tankers in response to attempted missile attacks on a US Navy warship and after attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group ignited fires at oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Citing Cyprus trip, Herzog declines invitation to funeral of Norway’s King Harald

President Isaac Herzog was invited to the funeral of Norway’s King Harald today, but will not attend, his office says, citing a trip to Cyprus tomorrow.

Herzog will meet his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, during his visit.

Israel will instead be represented by Eytan Halon, Chargé d’Affaires and acting head of Israel’s embassy in Oslo.

After Harald’s death, Herzog wrote that he was “deeply saddened,” and extended the condolences of Israelis to “the people of Norway, the Royal Family, and the Government of Norway.”

King Harald V of Norway, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland, died in August at the age of 89.

Otzma Yehudit petitions to disqualify Ra’am from election over alleged terror ties: ‘Wolf in sheep’s clothing’

Left: Ra'am party head MK Mansour Abbas leads a faction meeting, at the Knesset on May 11, 2026; right: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir leads an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 15, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party files a request with the Central Elections Committee to disqualify the Islamist Ra’am party and its leader, Mansour Abbas, from running in the upcoming election, alleging that the party “rejects Israel’s existence as a Jewish state” and supports an “armed struggle” against it.

Last night was the deadline for parties to submit their candidate slates to the Central Elections Committee ahead of the October 27 election.

Among the evidence cited in the 39-page request is a Registrar of Associations report on “Aid 48,” a nonprofit affiliated with Ra’am, which the petition says “details transfers of funds and cooperation” between the nonprofit and “terrorist organizations.” Otzma Yehudit alleges that Aid 48 and another Ra’am-linked nonprofit, “Humanitarian Deeds,” transferred millions of shekels to terror groups.

The petition further alleges that Ra’am has an “ideological connection to the Muslim Brotherhood” and claims that Abbas himself is a member of the Islamist organization. Abbas has denied being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It also points to past statements by Abbas as evidence of what it calls a “method of speaking in two voices,” accusing him of adopting a moderate tone for Israeli audiences in order to avoid disqualification while conveying a different message to Arab audiences.

“The wolf in sheep’s clothing must be thrown out of the Knesset,” says Otzma Yehudit leader and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, himself a frequent past target for potential disqualification. “It is time to enforce the law and disqualify the terrorist organization called Ra’am and the man who heads it, Muslim Brotherhood member Mansour Abbas.”

The allegations concerning Aid 48 follow a Justice Ministry letter published last year stating that it had found grounds to seek the nonprofit’s dissolution after an investigation concluded that it had transferred funds to organizations proscribed over alleged terror ties.

Iran claims Sunni cleric killed in country’s northwest by ‘Zionist-American separatist groups’

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say that a Sunni cleric has been killed in a northwestern province, labeling it an attempt by separatist groups to sow divisions between Sunnis and Shias.

It is not immediately clear when the incident took place, but the Guards claim the cleric, Mohammad Nezhati, was “unjustly martyred in a brutal terrorist crime committed by Zionist-American separatist groups.”

The Guards add that Nezhati was also a member of the volunteer paramilitary Basij force, which operates under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran’s military.

The term “separatist groups” is often used by Iranian authorities to describe Kurdish opposition groups based in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which Tehran has long accused of links to the United States and Israel.

“This crime was not only an attack on a prominent figure, but also a desperate attempt to create division among Muslims, undermine unity between Shias and Sunnis, and deprive society of security and peace,” the Guards say in a statement.

Iran has been at war with the United States since February 28, when US-Israeli attacks killed the country’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Shia-majority Iran has sizable Sunni communities, particularly in its western and southeastern provinces.

IDF arrests 3 Palestinian Authority cops for operating in West Bank’s Area C, beating off-duty reservist

The Israeli military says it apprehended three Palestinian Authority police officers who illegally set up a blockade in Area C of the West Bank and detained and assaulted an off-duty reservist last month.

In the incident on August 23, the armed Israeli settler was stopped by the PA officers on a road near the Palestinian town of Beitunia, and allegedly beaten by them. The PA officers took the man in their cruiser toward Ramallah, but shortly after that handed him over to Israeli forces.

The roadblock had been set up by the PA officers in Area C of the West Bank, which is supposed to be under full Israeli civil and security control.

The IDF says the PA officers had “overstepped their authority to operate in these areas,” and Israeli security authorities “described the incident as a serious overreach by the [PA] security forces, endangering the life of the Israeli civilian and using aggressive and severe force against him.”

The army says that three PA officers were detained this week over their involvement in the roadblock and the assault on the Israeli man, and they are now being questioned by the Shin Bet.

“The IDF maintains security coordination in accordance with the directive of the political leadership. At the same time, the IDF will not tolerate any deviation from procedures,” the military adds.

מנגנוני הביטחון של הרשות הפלסטינית מסרו לכוחותינו יהודי לאחר שנכנס בטעות לכפר ביתוניא ממערב לרמאללה, וברשותו נמצאו רובה M16 ואקדח pic.twitter.com/fKVgFCabZO

— כל החדשות בזמן אמת (@Saher_News_24_7) August 23, 2026

UK’s Miliband calls Israeli response to sanctions ‘damaging,’ rejects chief rabbi’s claim that British Jews have been put in danger

In this video grab taken from footage broadcast by the UK Parliamentary Recording Unit (PRU) via the Parliament TV website in the House of Commons on September 8, 2026, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband delivers a speech on an import ban of goods from West Bank settlements. (PRU/AFP)

UK Foreign Minister Ed Miliband rejects British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis’s position that new sanctions announced by London yesterday will harm British Jews.

“I don’t agree with the chief rabbi,” Miliband tells the BBC, arguing that he is not singling out Israel, but can’t sit by and watch the suffering of Palestinians without doing anything.

“This is truly a dark day for British Jews,” wrote Mirvis after Miliband announced that the UK would be imposing sanctions on West Bank settlements.

“Today our Government has chosen to ignore the deep concerns expressed by so many of us,” Mirvis continued. “The measures announced amount to little more than political flag bearing for mendacious anti-Israel rhetoric and those who harbour a dangerous obsession with the Jewish State. These measures will succeed only in bolstering the very extremism they seek to target.”

Miliband calls Israel’s countermeasures announced yesterday “regrettable and damaging,” and says Israel closing down the British consulate in East Jerusalem is “damaging for the Palestinian people.”

Asked about Jews who will feel less safe in synagogue over Rosh Hashanah this weekend, Miliband, who is Jewish, responds: “I don’t go to synagogue.”

“We all have a responsibility to call out and act on antisemitism, and I could not be clearer and could not have been clearer yesterday about our responsibilities as a society,” Miliband continues.

Miliband denies that the timing of the sanctions is connected to Israeli elections, while arguing that Israel’s government is making the country more isolated.

Asked whether they will apply to Israeli banks, Miliband says London is “seeking to have an impact on the services provided to expand the occupation.”

He says he is “confident” the country will succeed in implementing the sanctions.

Miliband says that the UK’s “important intelligence and security relationships with Israel” will continue.

All 5 desalination plants shut last week due to algae have reopened at least partially

General view of a water desalination facility near Rishon Lezion, central Israel, September 2, 2026. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

All five of the desalination stations that were closed ten days ago because of algae accumulation off the Mediterranean coast are now operating at least partially, with the plant in Hadera operating fully, as it has done since the start of the crisis.

The Energy Ministry and Water Authority confirm that the needs for drinking water and agricultural water are being fully met, but ask local authorities and the public to use water “judiciously,” especially for irrigating parks and gardens, given the continued dependence on pumping from groundwater sources and reservoirs such as the Sea of Galilee.

The algae that continues to disrupt desalination reportedly originated in the Nile Delta.

Under normal circumstances, desalination meets some 80% of Israeli municipalities’ potable water needs.

Panama-flagged tanker struck by drone in Iraqi waters, port officials say

A Panama-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil was struck today by a drone in Iraqi territorial waters, two port officials say.

Iraqi rescue boats extinguished a fire aboard the tanker, New Andros, and there are no reports of casualties, port officials tell Reuters.

Iran’s IRGC says maritime restricted zone to extend into Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say a maritime restricted area will extend from Chabahar in Iran into parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, with its precise coordinates to be announced.

The announcement follows comments on Sunday by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who was quoted by state media as saying Iran would establish a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days.

Iran condemns US attacks on tankers as threat to regional security

Iran’s foreign ministry strongly condemns US strikes on its oil tankers, describing the attacks the previous day as a threat to regional security.

“The aggressive actions by the United States against Iranian commercial vessels not only increase the dangers of tensions in the region but are also considered an overt threat to regional and international peace and security,” the ministry says in a statement, adding that Iranian forces have targeted US military facilities in the region in “self-defense.”

Lebanese media reports 1 killed in Israeli drone strike on motorcycle

Lebanese media reports one killed in an Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle on a road between the towns of Harouf and Zebdin in southern Lebanon.

There is no immediate comment from the IDF.

الطيران المسير استهدف دراجة نارية على طريق عام مرج حاروف – زبدين pic.twitter.com/6jKP69Ydk6

— Mulhak – ملحق (@Mulhak) September 9, 2026

Gazan media reports IDF strike on building; no immediate Israeli comment

Palestinian media reports an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City’s Shati camp a short while ago, following a warning issued by the military.

The IDF has not yet commented on the strike.

???? فيديو | مشاهد توثق اللحظات الأولى لاستهداف طيران الاحتلال منزلًا في شارع حميد بمخيم الشاطىء غربي مدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/6dkN9Aag1q

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) September 9, 2026

Iran said to step up work at Pickaxe Mountain, with US working to devise means of striking underground site

This June 15, 2026, photo from Planet Labs PBC shows Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, upper right, and the construction at Pickaxe Mountain directly to the south of it. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Iran has greatly stepped up its activity this year at an underground site in Natanz known as Pickaxe Mountain, which Western intelligence has flagged as a likely site meant to store nuclear material, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank.

The center says in a statement that an analysis of six years of multisource imagery “reveals a clear three-phase activity signature across the five key points of interest and the roads connecting them, indicating a site that has shifted from active excavation toward probable internal construction and continued exterior reinforcement.”

“Together, these images reveal more road activity at Pickaxe Mountain in 2026 than at any point in the site’s history. There is a clear surge in construction activity in 2026 that corresponds to the raising and hardening of the portal accesses, paving of the internal road network, reinforcement around access areas, and the flattening and removal of excavation spoil,” it says.

However, the statement stresses that “this assessment can neither refute nor substantiate the Israeli intelligence claim that Iran moved centrifuges into Pickaxe Mountain.”

“The continuous construction, the absence of an increased internal security posture, and the lack of observed nonconstruction vehicles and equipment suggest the underground facility is not yet capable of enrichment work, if that is the intended purpose. Further analysis of daily activity would be needed to establish the site’s pattern of life beyond its current construction footprint.”

There are signs the United States is trying to develop a means of striking the deeply buried site despite serious challenges that currently make it virtually untouchable, CNN reports, citing a Pentagon document about a “live-fire test designed to validate classified capabilities against rapidly emerging threats” that three sources say is linked to the potential bombing of deep underground facilities.

Report: 10-year-old boy died from IDF gunfire in Gaza yesterday

Hamas-controlled media outlets in Gaza report that Obeida al-Eid, a 10-year-old boy, died yesterday after being shot by IDF troops in the al-Mawasi area of the Strip.

According to the reports, he was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

The Times of Israel cannot independently verify the report and the IDF has yet to respond.

#شاهد| صلاة الجنازة على الطفل الشهيد عبيدة أسامة شيخ العيد، الذي ارتقى جراء إصابته بنيران الاحتلال داخل خيام النازحين في مواصي خانيونس pic.twitter.com/kHVI0yapeZ

— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) September 9, 2026

At least 14 killed in explosion at weapons depot in Syria’s Idlib, state TV says

At least 14 people were killed and 11 wounded in an explosion at a temporary depot for weapons and remnants of war near the Syrian city of Sarmada in Idlib, state television reports.

UN nuclear watchdog board lifts Syria noncompliance complaint, diplomats say

A picture taken on September 8, 2025 in Vienna, Austria shows the UN District's Vienna International Centre, home of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), during its Board of Governors meeting. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

The UN nuclear watchdog’s board of governors lifts a longstanding noncompliance complaint against Syria after Damascus led agency experts to key nuclear sites, diplomats say.

The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “adopted by consensus” a text stating that a 2011 resolution finding Syria in noncompliance with its obligations was “terminated,” noting the current government’s cooperation, two diplomats tell AFP.

Poll: Israelis rank cost of living, security as top election issues; only 22% say head of party important

Workers prepare ballot boxes for the upcoming Israeli elections, at the Central Elections Committee warehouse in Shoham, before they are shipped to polling stations, October 12, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The top two sets of issues that will influence Israelis’ votes in the election next month are the economy and the high cost of living, and foreign policy and security, according to a poll published today by the Israel Democracy Institute.

The third and fourth considerations, for Jewish respondents, were the related issues of conscription — generally understood to be the question of whether Haredi men must serve in the military — and religion and state, which often relates to the Chief Rabbinate’s control over marriage and conversion, as well as religious restrictions and practices in the public square.

According to the poll, 41 percent of respondents ranked the economy and the high cost of living as one of their top two considerations, followed by foreign affairs and security at 38%.

Among Jews, conscription was ranked by 27%, followed by religion and state at 26%. Among Arab respondents, fewer than 10% ranked crime in Arab society as one of their top two considerations.

For years, Israel’s political camps have been sorted into blocs that oppose or support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But that emphasis wasn’t reflected in the poll, which found that only 22% of respondents ranked the identity of the head of the party as one of their top two considerations, placing it fifth of the six issues surveyed.

In last place among Jews was an issue that dominated Israeli politics and society for much of 2023 before the Hamas-led October 7 attack that year: the judicial overhaul. Only 18% said it was one of their top two considerations.

Much of the discourse in the campaign has been about the October 7, 2023, attack and its aftermath, which appears to have led Israelis to place much more emphasis on security when responding to the poll. Before the 2022 election, IDI found that only 11% of respondents ranked security and foreign affairs as their top issue.

Killer of Aisha Rabi, Palestinian woman slain in 2018, sentenced to 13 years in prison

Aisha Rabi, a 47-year old Palestinian woman, who was killed after a stone smashed through the windshield of the car she was traveling in with her husband and nine-year-old daughter on October 12, 2018. (Photo by FAMILY HANDOUT / AFP)

The Lod-Central District Court sentences the Jewish extremist convicted of the October 2018 killing of Aisha Rabi, a 47-year-old Palestinian mother of nine, to 13 years in prison.

He is also ordered to pay NIS 258,000 ($85,500) in compensation to Rabi’s family, the maximum sum provided under the law.

The individual, who was just shy of his 16th birthday at the time, was convicted in March this year on charges of manslaughter committed as an act of terrorism, throwing stones at a vehicle under aggravated circumstances as an act of terrorism, and deliberately damaging a car as an act of terrorism.

Rabi was killed after the youth, whose name is not disclosed because he was a minor at the time, hurled a large rock at the windshield of her car near the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank. Also in the car were her husband, who was driving, and her 9-year-old daughter.

The youth departed from the Pri Haaretz yeshiva in the settlement of Rehelim, where he studied, accompanied by several other students, on the evening of October 12, 2018, according to the indictment.

The group arrived at a hilltop between the Rehelim Junction and the Tapuah Junction, overlooking Route 60 — the West Bank’s main north-south artery — where the convicted youth then hurled a rock weighing roughly two kilograms (4.4 pounds) at Rabi’s vehicle, resulting in her death.

The youth denies that he killed Rabi, but has expressed regret over the incident, the court notes.

In handing down the sentence, the court notes that the attack was an act of terrorism, making it a more severe offense and increasing the likelihood of tensions spiking in the West Bank between Israelis and Palestinians.

The court says, however, that the youth had been just 15 years and 10 months when he carried out the attack, and that he has taken significant steps on the way to rehabilitation since the incident, including various types of therapy, and has changed the environment in which he lives.

“The defendant cut short the life of a woman — a wife and mother of nine children, a daughter to her parents and a sister to her ten brothers and sisters, innocent of any crime — and this before the eyes of her husband and her (then) 9-year-old daughter,” a summary of the sentencing issued by the court quotes the judges as writing, who add that Rabi’s killing was “a criminal and cruel act.”

Thousands, including prominent Jewish figures, sign letter rejecting genocide charge against Israel

Illustrative: A pro-Israel counter-protester at an anti-Israel demonstration in Times Square, New York City, January 1, 2025. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

More than 5,000 people, including a collection of prominent Jewish and pro-Israel voices, have signed a letter rejecting the charge that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, according to the group organizing the initiative.

Signatories include former British premier Boris Johnson, former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt, media mogul Haim Saban, actress Debra Messing and dozens of other authors, entertainment figures, Jewish organizational leaders and activists.

The letter is a project of the Creative Community for Peace, which opposes antisemitism and anti-Israel boycotts in the entertainment industry. The letter rejecting the genocide charge comes amid ongoing controversy over remarks by actor Mark Ruffalo, a harsh critic of Israel, who recently criticized the Oracle software company’s work with the Israeli military, and the Ellison family’s expanding media interests, and accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.

Those accusations are frequently leveled by Israel’s staunchest critics, who cite the tens of thousands of civilians killed in the Gaza war, launched with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in Israel, in which terrorists killed 1,200 and took 251 hostage.

The letter rejects those charges.

“We the undersigned are outraged and sickened by the latest blood libel to be inflicted on the Jewish people: the lie that Israel committed ‘genocide’ in Gaza. We reject this accusation with contempt,” the letter says. “There is a vigorous debate within the Jewish community over aspects of how this war was fought, and that is a sign of moral health. So is our pain over every innocent life lost. But we must unite in repudiating the lie of genocide.”

The letter cites the conditions of the war, fought in an urban environment, as well as Hamas’s fighting from civilian areas, and Israel’s efforts to evacuate civilians before strikes.

“A crucial difference between war as tragedy and war as genocide is intent. In this war, only one side intended to commit genocide, and that is Hamas,” the letter states. “To accuse Israel of genocide, the massacre of October 7 has been systematically downplayed, while Israeli actions have been distorted and amplified.”

8 Muslim states, including UAE, call for countries to follow UK sanctions on settlements

A group of eight Muslim-majority countries, including Israel’s ally the United Arab Emirates, praise the United Kingdom’s announcement that it will impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the West Bank and call on other countries to do the same.

Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE put out a joint statement expressing “the hope that this decision will help mobilize the international community to take similar actions in line with international law and hold accountable settlement organizations and individuals engaged in illegal settlement activities.”

The foreign ministers also call for the “full and immediate implementation” of US President Donald Trump’s 20-point postwar plan in Gaza, and call for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem, an idea Israel rejects.

Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to close aide Natalie Harp and others

US President Donald Trump and aide Natalie Harp (R) exit Marine One on the Ellipse near the White House on August 16, 2026. (Mandel NGAN/AFP)

US President Donald Trump gave tens of thousands of dollars in cash gifts last year to executive assistant Natalie Harp and three other close aides working in the West Wing, according to financial disclosures released by the White House.

The payments raise ethics concerns because federal employees are generally barred by statute from receiving compensation beyond their government salaries.

Harp, communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris each received $45,000, described in their disclosures as “Cash Gift for Holidays.”

The payments were equivalent to roughly one-third of the aides’ federal salaries of $150,000 per year, according to the White House annual personnel report to Congress. Walt Nauta, another aide who works as the director of Oval Office operations, received $20,000 in cash, the disclosures show. His annual compensation is $175,000.

The Washington Post first reported the gifts yesterday.

“A White House staffer is not your Fifth Avenue doorman,” Richard W. Painter, a law professor who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer between 2005 and 2007 under President George W. Bush, writes in a social media post.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle says the gifts complied with ethics rules.

“The President has a longstanding practice of giving Christmas gifts to people in his orbit, including at times employees and aides, both in government and in his time in the private sector,” Ingle says in a statement. “The gifts at issue here have nothing to do with any of these individuals’ official government duties, and therefore are entirely permissible under relevant legal and ethical standards.”

Harp and Nauta are among Trump’s most trusted aides, with near-constant access to the president during long days on the road or at the White House.

UN nuclear watchdog board refers Iran to UN Security Council, diplomats say

The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors has voted to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear “non-compliance” in a diplomatic move to pile pressure on the Islamic Republic, two diplomats tell AFP.

The resolution seen by AFP is adopted by 23 votes in favor, three votes against and eight abstentions, they say. Russia, China and Niger vote against it.

In a statement, Iran calls the vote “biased” and “political.”

Lebanese army says Israeli escalation threatens framework deal

Lebanese army soldiers patrol at the entrance to the southern village of Zawtar Al Gharbieh, Lebanon, July 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanon’s army accuses Israel of a deadly escalation in the country’s south in recent days that it says threatens a framework deal between the countries and the military’s efforts to implement it.

The army says in a statement that continued Israeli attacks in recent days “threaten existing understandings and arrangements, and hinder the army’s efforts to establish stability” in the region.

‘Complete fiction’: Blinken denies Haaretz report that he urged waiting on immediate hostage deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the Atlantic Council in Washington, on January 14, 2025. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state at the time of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, denies a report in Haaretz that he urged Qatar’s prime minister to “wait” on mediating an offer from the terror group on the day of the attack to release the civilian hostages it had abducted.

Blinken calls that report “complete fiction” in a post on X.

The report was part of a bombshell Haaretz article claiming that the president of the UAE warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an imminent Hamas attack shortly before October 7, and that the premier did not relay the warning to Israel’s security brass. Netanyahu has denied that report and threatened to sue Haaretz.

Haaretz reports later in the article that by the evening of October 7, when the scope of the massacre was beginning to come clear, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani called Blinken and said, “There are hundreds of hostages in Gaza, and among them, in my estimation, dozens of civilians. They need to be released now. I offered the Israelis to mediate a quick deal for their release, but they are not interested.”

The article says Blinken responded, “Let’s wait,” and added, “I will speak with Netanyahu personally.”

Blinken also reportedly said he would travel to Israel in three days.

“Right now, the situation is complex,” Blinken said, according to Haaretz. “Israel is still under attack, and there’s no one to talk to. We will wait three days.”

But Blinken denies that report in a post on X, highlighting the first quote and writing, “For the record, this is false. Complete fiction.”

For the record, this is false. Complete fiction. https://t.co/dnQSLClKGt

— Antony Blinken (@ABlinken) September 9, 2026

Iran’s Fars news agency says explosion heard around southern Jask coming from sea

Iran’s Fars news agency says an explosion was heard in the southern areas of the port city of Jask, coming from the sea, adding that no details are available regarding the source or the cause of the explosion.

Palestinian man said arrested for allegedly hitting teenage settler with tractor

A Palestinian man was arrested for allegedly ramming a 16-year-old settler with a tractor northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank this afternoon, according to first responders and Hebrew media.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service says it picked up the 16-year-old next to the Maale Mikhmas settlement and rushed him to the Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital in Jerusalem with light wounds.

The teenager was reportedly taking livestock out to graze when he was hit by the tractor.

Police say officers accompanied by IDF soldiers came to the scene of the alleged ramming, on the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Rammun, and that a preliminary probe indicated it came after “an altercation developed between the two sides.”

The alleged driver fled and was later located by the IDF and arrested by police for interrogation at the Binyamin station, police say, adding that “the investigation is ongoing.”

The police statement says the person who was wounded was Israeli but does not specify the nationality of the suspect.

Palestinian media also reports that IDF forces raided several nearby Palestinian communities and shut down the central Route 60 to Palestinian drivers in the area, causing a traffic snarl.

According to Palestinian media, at least three Palestinians were arrested in the IDF raids, including a young man from the hamlet Deir Dibwan whose tractor was also confiscated.

Pakistan warns Iran to rein in Houthis as Riyadh strikes back

Houthis chant religious slogans as they celebrate Eid al-Ghadir, the day on which they believe Islam was completed as a religion by the appointment of Ali as Prophet Muhammad's successor, in Sanaa, Yemen, June 4, 2026. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Pakistan has delivered a Saudi warning to Iran to rein in its Yemeni proxy, the Houthis, after they stepped up attacks on the kingdom, in a coordinated effort to prevent the crisis from spiralling, Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources tell Reuters.

The Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in nearby cities yesterday, wounding 73 people, in one of the biggest attacks on Saudi Arabia since the start of the Iran war in February.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree says that Saudi warplanes carried out 54 airstrikes across various Yemeni provinces over the past 12 hours, adding that they would “not go unanswered and unpunished.”

The escalating conflict, which represents a second theater of war to threaten global energy supplies, comes as Iran and the United States wage their biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping in the Gulf region since their war began.

Pakistan’s warning to Iran carries significant weight because of its defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

While officials in Islamabad stress any military role would be confined to defending Saudi territory, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says attacks spilling into the kingdom could trigger a joint security arrangement involving Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad.

“An aggression on one country will be considered an aggression on all three countries,” Asif says on Pakistani TV. “There is no ambiguity or doubt… Unprovoked aggression or spillover… into Saudi Arabia will definitely make this agreement operational.”

The Pakistani defense ministry, foreign ministry and the military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Sa’ar speaks with UK’s far-right Nigel Farage, thanks him for slamming settlement sanctions

Nigel Farage (left) and Gideon Sa'ar. (Henry NICHOLLS / AFP, AP/Petr David Josek)

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar posts on X that he spoke to Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s far-right Reform UK party, to thank him for opposing sanctions on West Bank settlements imposed by the UK government.

“I thanked him for his and his party’s support for Israel,” Sa’ar writes. “He told me he was pleased to have addressed the Reform Friends of Israel event at the party conference in Birmingham last week, and assured me unequivocally that, in government, Reform UK would reverse the damage done to the UK-Israel relationship by the Labour Government and its policies.”

Britain’s government announced yesterday a ban on imports from Israeli settlements, accusing settlers of “ethnic cleansing” through a surge of attacks on Palestinians.

France and Canada also said they were imposing trade curbs on Israeli settlements.

In response, Farage says a Reform government “would undo the damage caused by Labour.”

But he also says that he raised with Sa’ar the issue of the Falklands, the British islands in the South Atlantic over which Argentina’s President Javier Milei has stepped up his country’s claims.

“I emphasized the Falklands issue to him and its importance to the British people, though I understand Israel’s relationship with President Milei,” Farage says.

Various Israeli leaders and commentators, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recognize Argentinian sovereignty over the Falklands in retaliation for British sanctions.

Syria condemns Netanyahu’s ‘illegal’ entry into its territory

Syria condemns Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entry into its territory after he visited Israeli troops stationed in southern Syria earlier today, calling the move “provocative and a blatant violation” of its sovereignty.

“The Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns the illegal entry of Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into Syrian territory and his tour of Mount Hermon, in a provocative move and a blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and of international law,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.

Trump says Iran war will end right after US midterm elections in November

US President Donald Trump talks with reporters after an emergency inflatable slide deployed on Air Force One before before Trump arrived to board at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, September 9, 2026. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

US President Donald Trump predicts that the war with Iran will end “immediately after” the US midterm elections on November 3 because Tehran is trying to influence the vote, but would not be able to hold out more in the face of US economic pressure.

“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” he tells reporters before departing for a Republican convention in Dallas.

The US war with Iran has recently entered its seventh month with no immediate end in sight.

Today, Iran said it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers.

Trump says he wants to know why ‘all of a sudden’ the UK and others sanctioned settlements

Asked by a reporter about the recent decisions by the UK, France and Canada to sanction West Bank settlements, US President Donald Trump says he will speak to Israel as well as those countries to learn more about the decision.

He is asked if the US opposes the sanctions, and does not give a direct answer.

“I’ll be speaking to Israel, I’ll be speaking to them, and I’ll find out what’s their thinking,” he says. I understand exactly what’s going on but I want to find out why, all of a sudden, has that happened.”

????WATCH: Trump on the sanctions from the UK on Israel: “I'll be speaking to Israel, I'll be speaking to them, and I'll find out what they're thinking…I understand what's going on. But I want to find out why all of a sudden has that happened." pic.twitter.com/Og5sKI1Y2F

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) September 9, 2026

While Trump claims he just saw the announcement and that he doesn’t know what sparked it, a Western official told The Times of Israel that British Prime Minister Andy Burnham actually briefed him on the sanctions package ahead of time and that the US president did not caution against it.

Burnham also publicly laid out what led his government to announce the sanctions on Tuesday, highlighting unchecked settler violence as well as Israel’s recent advancement of the highly controversial E1 settlement construction project.

Spain’s intel agency issued warnings of plans to breach border before Ceuta crisis

Migrants return to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Sempere)

Spain’s national intelligence agency issued multiple warnings before the Ceuta border crisis about a potential mass crossing of migrants from Morocco into the Spanish exclave in late July, according to declassified documents released by the government.

The trove of files, which includes letters, transcripts of WhatsApp conversations, internal charts and reports from multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies, appears to undermine what Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said about the level of prior warning the government had before the sudden influx took place.

Major protests in Spain have taken place in response to the arrival of the migrants, with critics blaming Sánchez’s government for the crisis.

On July 29, a day before more than 72,000 people began pouring into the Spanish exclave neighboring Morocco, Spain’s intelligence agency sent an alert via WhatsApp to the Spanish government’s delegation in Ceuta about “a call on social media for an assault on the fence and by sea tomorrow at 8 p.m.”

“There are two different groups with a total of 180,000 followers,” the declassified WhatsApp message from the intelligence agency said, “just to give you an idea of the reach of its spread.”

That same day, Spain’s national intelligence agency issued similar warnings about “several groups on Facebook and WhatsApp encouraging these attempts” in messages to Spain’s Civil Guard police force.

Spain’s leader has defended his government’s handling of the crisis and has been careful not to criticize or accuse Morocco’s government of orchestrating the incident. That has sparked further criticism, with opponents saying Sánchez is pandering to the Moroccan government.

A spokesperson from Sánchez’s office rejects the idea that the declassified documents showed that there was prior warning about a mass crossing of the scale that took place between July 30 and 31.

“The published documents show that the information available prior to the massive influx did not make it possible to anticipate the magnitude the crisis ultimately reached, nor to gauge the necessary response sufficiently in advance,” the spokesperson says.

Zelensky’s plane almost hit by drone yesterday, Norway PM says

In this handout photograph taken on January 29, 2026 and released on January 30, 2026 by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) chairs a meeting with journalists at his office in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

The plane carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Oslo for the funeral of the king of Norway was nearly struck by a drone when taking off from Moldova yesterday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere tells public broadcaster NRK.

“His plane was almost hit by a drone as it was about to take off from Moldova. That is the reality he is facing,” says Stoere, who does not say what his source was for the information or how close the drone came.

Officials in Moldova make no comment on Stoere’s statement regarding Zelensky’s plane.

Arrivals and departures at Chisinau airport were suspended for a time yesterday in connection with two Russian drones that entered Moldovan airspace. Several flights bound for the capital landed at airports outside Moldova or were forced into holding patterns, according to data from Flightradar24.

One drone landed in a field, triggering a fire, while the second carried on into Romanian airspace.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu denounced the intrusions as a “serious threat to people’s lives” and also condemned an attack on a border crossing with Ukraine that killed two people.

Zelensky attended the funeral of King Harald V of Norway today, marching behind his coffin along with other heads of state in central Oslo. He left Norway soon after the funeral was over.