Opinion - Frontlines with Robert Sherman: Return to the Middle East
NewsNation National Correspondent Robert Sherman has found himself on the frontlines of some of the world's biggest stories: from Ukraine to Israel and across the United States. He shares what he's seeing on the ground. Subscribe to his newsletter: Frontlines with Robert Sherman here.
I just boarded my flight back to Israel. This will be my fifth assignment in the region since the October 7, 2023 attack, which changed the world as we know it.
But this time, everything feels different. It looks and seems as though the world has changed yet again, but the metamorphosis is incomplete. More is on the horizon and the days ahead are set to be highly consequential.
The same could be said last year, just ahead of the October 7 one-year anniversary. I remember standing on our balcony in Haifa when Israel and Iran traded blows. I watched as Iranian missiles passed through Syrian airspace and entered Israeli territory as the Iron Dome worked feverishly to make those interceptions.
After US-Iran nuclear talks crumble, what happens next?
You can read more about that experience in a dispatch I filed last year called 'Riding Out Iran's Attack.'
That was a day in which the whole region held its breath, yet wasn't necessarily caught off guard. We knew it was coming. The Biden White House at the time was rather public about the fact that they knew Iran was preparing a salvo, giving Israel a few hours to prepare.
Call it a leak, call it good intelligence, call it whatever you like. The bottom line is that day was more about sending a message than starting a war.
What we saw Thursday of this week, however? A different story. I had been speaking with sources inside the Israeli Prime Minister's Office throughout the day, and they were steering me toward the possibility of action next week. 'Things might get busy,' one Israeli official told me, though it was unlikely anything would come before Shabbat.
Adding to that, the common line of thought was that nothing would kick off before the U.S.'s large-scale military parade Saturday or until the G7 Summit meetings wrapped up in Canada early next week.
Even into the evening hours, Israeli officials refused to change their Home Front command guidance to civilians, which is effectively the marching orders for individuals and the precautions they should take.
How to watch the Army's 250th anniversary parade
We were all caught off guard as Israel played this one close to the vest. They wanted to hit Iran hard and didn't want anything to make the strikes less effective. With the dust settling, it's clear Israel landed some big punches.
I am now trying to get back into Israel as quickly as possible before the window of opportunity shuts. The people on the ground there, I know, are describing today as 'calm.' It won't stay that way. They know better, and the whole world knows Tehran is weighing its options. Calculating its response. Preparing for its next step.
Yes indeed, the days ahead are consequential. The sun rose today, and its beating rays cast their glow upon a new world.
Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but NewsNation intends to be there. Our coverage continues on the ground in the Middle East.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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New York Times
21 minutes ago
- New York Times
Two Major Energy Facilities in Tehran Hit in Israeli Strikes
Iran's latest wave of attacks on Israel took out Tehran's main gas depot and its central oil refinery in separate parts of the capital, engulfing its sky in smoke and flame early Sunday. The Shahran fuel and gasoline depot, which has at least 11 storage tanks, was hit and set afire during the Israeli attack that began on Saturday night, Iran's oil ministry said in a statement. Shahran is in an affluent neighborhood of luxury high rises. 'The fire is terrifying, it's massive; there is a lot of commotion here,' said Mostafa Shams, a resident of the area. 'It's the gasoline depots that are exploding one after another, it's loud and scary.' Separately in the city's south, Shahr Rey, one of the country's largest oil refineries, was also struck, according to Iranian state news media. Emergency crews were trying to contain the fire, and a resident of Tehran, Reza Salehi, said he could see the flames from miles away. Israel's targeting of Iran's energy facilities, a crucial source of export cash for the country as well as of domestic energy, represented a significant escalation in its military campaign against Tehran. Earlier on Saturday, Israel had struck two key Iranian energy sites, including a section of the South Pars Gas Field, which is one of the world's largest and critical to Iran's energy production. 'We have entered the second phase of the war, which is extremely dangerous and destructive,' Abdollah Babakhani, an expert on Iran's energy sector based in Germany, said on Saturday. But the multiple massive explosions targeting energy and fuel targets in and around the capital spread fear among residents. Israeli warplanes also struck sites in Tehran related to Iran's nuclear program, including experimental laboratories, according to two Israeli defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive operational details. Hamid Hosseini, a member of the energy committee of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, said Iran's municipality had been discussing moving the Shahran fuel depot from the residential area in northern Tehran for years, fearing an attack or an accident could be catastrophic. The attack on the depot set off massive explosions, according to an official at the oil ministry, who said the depots were exploding one after another and threatened to significantly damage residential neighborhoods in the area. The depot has about 8 million liters per day of gasoline entering its storage tanks and has a capacity to hold about three full days of fuel needs for Tehran, according to the ministry official. Israel did not immediately respond to request for comment on the strike.
Politico
27 minutes ago
- Politico
Israel Fights Also for Us
When a society can no longer distinguish between good and evil, between victim and perpetrator, it gives up. This dynamic is one of the great constants of human history. It is a lesson people in free societies — and people in totalitarian societies who yearn to be free — should keep in mind during the climactic showdown underway in the Middle East. Israel has struck a blow to prevent Iran from developing nuclear bombs — weapons that it might credibly use toward its stated goal of removing Israel from the planet. Make no mistake: This is not simply a matter of regional security. Nor should it be a proxy for whether one supports or opposes the current Israeli government's policy on Gaza or other subjects. This conflict is a central front in a global contest in which the forces of tyranny and violence in recent years have been gaining ground against the forces of freedom, which too often are demoralized and divided. In a world full of bad actors, Iran is the most aggressive and dangerous totalitarian force of our time. Its leaders seek to weaken and destroy free society, democracy and human rights with Russian and Chinese support. In Iran, women are systematically oppressed and abused. Homosexuals are murdered. Those who think differently are imprisoned and tortured. In Tehran, the cynical abuse of the civilian population in Gaza as human shields is also cold-bloodedly conceived and financed. According to official state doctrine, the primary goal of the mullahs in Tehran is the annihilation of the State of Israel. Ayatollah Khamenei has described Israel as a 'cancerous tumor.' And clocks in the streets of Tehran celebrate countdowns to the 'destruction of Israel.' But Israel is only the first target. Once Israel falls, Europe and America will be the focus. Radical Sunni and Shiite Islamism has been preparing for this for decades. The fatwa against Salman Rushdie, 9/11, the attacks in Paris, the caliphate of ISIS — each event was a warning sign. Only those who did not want to see the signs are surprised today. The attacks are directed against our values, our way of life. It is therefore surprising that Israel is not being celebrated worldwide for its historic, extremely precise and necessary strike against Iranian nuclear weapons facilities and for the targeted killing of leading terrorists, but that the public response is dominated by anti-Israel propaganda. The intelligence and precision of Israel's actions are not admired but are instead used here and there to perpetuate blatantly antisemitic stereotypes. This attitude is characterized not only by racist undertones, but also by a strange self-forgetfulness. If the perpetrator-victim reversal that has been repeatedly observed since Oct. 7 applies even in the most obvious case — Iran — then this can only be interpreted to mean that we are in the process of losing the culture war, which in reality has long since become a war of civilizations. And we seem to have no problem with that. It is what Michel Houellebecq called 'submission' in his visionary novel 10 years ago. As someone who has 40 years' experience as a journalist and publishing executive, I believe every government should be questioned critically about all the details of its policies — above all on matters of war and its consequences. But those details should not be allowed to obscure larger historical truths. Perhaps a German of my generation has a useful vantage point. Born in 1963, I grew up in a country and continent still shadowed by World War II and its crimes, including an effort by Germany to eradicate Jews across Europe. The first half of my journalism career saw freedom on the march. The Soviet Union collapsed, authoritarian governments across Eastern Europe were routed, Germany was reunited under democracy. The second half of my career, however, with authoritarianism on the rise in all directions — with governments hostile to the very idea of journalism, as well as democracy, pluralism, rule of law and basic standards of decency. These unwelcome developments highlighted how fragile the triumphs of the late 20th century may be in the 21st. The contest between free societies and murderous tyrants is enduring. That's why warnings of dangerous escalation that can be heard from politicians in the West are particularly misplaced. The argument is as stale as it is false. Those warning of escalation are to blame for Vladimir Putin being on the verge of winning his terrible war of conquest in Ukraine. And those warning of escalation are to blame for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. This could have been prevented with decisive resistance from the West in the first days of the attack. Dictators decide for themselves when to escalate. Usually when they do not encounter enough strength and resistance. This also applies to Iran. If Israel does not achieve its goals — destruction of the nuclear facilities, maximum weakening of the terrorist regime and, ideally, the removal of the mullahs — the world will quickly look very different. China will seize this historic opportunity to annex Taiwan sooner than expected. Largely without resistance. The moment is favorable. Because America and Europe cannot win a three-front war and therefore cannot fight it. But if the anti-democratic triangle — China, Russia, Iran — succeeds in this coup, a different, non-democratic world order will prevail. That is why America and Europe, in their own interests alone, must stand united with Israel and do everything in their power to ensure that this historic liberation is achieved. This morning, my son asked me a question: 'In the near future, will Israel become more like us, living in peace, or will we become more like Israel?' It depends. It depends on us.
Washington Post
32 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump watches the parade of his dreams
President Donald Trump got the parade he always wanted Saturday — a grand demonstration of military might and patriotic zeal that took place along the National Mall on his 79th birthday. But it fell on an overcast day that capped one of the most tumultuous weeks of his presidency — with troops deployed on the streets of the country's second largest city, bombs launched in the Middle East and, less than 24 hours before the parade began, a targeted killing of a state lawmaker and her spouse in Minnesota. Amid all that domestic and foreign turmoil, the procession of weapons, like so much else in America's politics, was subject to divergent interpretation. Supporters saw a celebration of stability and order while Trump's detractors saw the promotion of violence and authoritarian power. Trump got the parade started after being greeted by a 21-gun salute and the strains of 'Hail to the Chief' as he took his seat in a reviewing stand. A group nearby began singing 'Happy Birthday,' marking either his 79th or the Army's 250th — it was unclear. But the cheering for the president was not quite the overwhelming celebration that occurs at his political rallies. He looked on as troops dressed in historical uniforms passed on horses, bombers did flyovers overhead, and members of the Golden Knights parachute team fell from the sky. He applauded at moments, rose and saluted the troops passing by at others. Later in the evening, he was expected to deliver a speech and swear in recruits. Parade-goers leaned on metal barricades and sprawled onto the grass, although crowds along the parade route by the Washington Monument were relatively thin. Even bleacher seating for VIP guests, positioned directly across from a riser for news cameras, remained half-empty throughout the program. Americans' differing reactions were evident even before the troops began marching, tanks began rolling and helicopters flew overhead — with deep divisions over whether any of it was a good idea. Paul Brown, a 57-year-old Army veteran, traveled two days earlier from Adams County, Ohio, and spent the day on the National Mall dressed in an Afghanistan war veteran hat and a T-shirt featuring a photo of the president that read 'Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president.' 'We absolutely got somebody in there who gives a s--- about the military,' Brown said of Trump being in office. 'These parades should have been going on for years.' Around the country, protesters were out, including at spots that have been important to Trump, including his Trump Tower in New York and his Mar-a-Lago vacation home in Palm Beach, Florida. 'I feel the erosion of democracy. I feel taken away from due process,' Debbie Ziev, a 79-year-old attending her first protest, said on the historic boardwalk in Atlantic City, where Trump built hotels and casinos. 'I felt strongly about Vietnam, but I think I feel more strongly about [Trump] going forward, with my children and grandchildren, because he's ruining the country. He's dividing us. He's causing people not to talk to each other.' Nearly two-thirds of American adults, 64 percent, said they opposed using government funds to throw the military parade, according to a new poll from NBC News Decision Desk powered by SurveyMonkey. The results tracked along party lines, with most Democrats and independents — 88 percent and 72 percent, respectively — opposing the use of government funds for the parade and 65 percent of Republicans supporting it. The parade was designed to compete with the grandeur that Trump witnessed in foreign countries and carry the muscular showmanship he's cultivated over the years. He craves the pomp, loves the circumstance, and revels in the attention. 'We want to show off a little bit,' he said Tuesday. Throughout the week leading up to the parade, the military has been at the center of almost everything. Even the musical Trump watched at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night, 'Les Misérables,' featured a political uprising and armed rebellion, with Trump openly unsure of which side's main character he most identified. It was a week where he oversaw the militarization of parts of the country and the politicization of parts of the military. And it came on a day with clashes of culture, as streets and squares around the country were filled for a 'No Kings' day of protest, and hours after a new spasm of political violence, in which a gunman fatally shot the top Democrat in the Minnesota House in what Gov. Tim Walz (D) called a 'politically motivated assassination.' Throughout the day, Trump remained in the White House and held a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin, where over an hour, Trump later said, he received birthday wishes and spoke about the conflict between Israel and Iran. On the National Mall, there were displays of military equipment and fitness competitions among soldiers, all staged as part of the 250th anniversary of the Army. But elsewhere, both in the Washington area and around the country, demonstrators were flocking into public spaces and holding 'No Kings' signs to denounce what they view as Trump's authoritarian tactics and his disregard for the Constitution. The military parade Saturday night was done with direct input from Trump. He had specifically requested aircraft and other equipment, aiming to capture the full might of the armed forces, according to White House officials. The event was set to be one of the grandest since he took office for his second term, a spectacle that federal government and military officials have spent months attempting to fulfill an ambitious and grandiose vision for celebrating the country and its military. His inauguration was moved indoors due to cold weather, and he was returning to the National Mall for the first time in years. His viewing stand was near the Ellipse, not far from the event held on Jan. 6, 2021. It fulfilled a desire that he initially expressed more than eight years ago when he was taking office the first time. 'We're going to show the people as we build up our military,' Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post before his first inauguration in January 2017. 'That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we're going to be showing our military.' But he was largely rebuffed by past military leaders, who worried about costs and said it ran against an American tradition of avoiding public displays of martial strength. Those kinds of displays, they pointed out, were more common in authoritarian regimes, such as the former Soviet Union's Red Square celebrations or North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's missile processions. The year-long planning effort, which grew significantly in ambition over the past few months, culminated one week after Trump's decision to send in National Guard troops in California to quell protests over his immigration policies. Earlier in the week, he threatened to deploy the military elsewhere in the country if additional anti-ICE protests erupted. Trump also traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Tuesday for an event that was meant to kick off the week's celebration of the Army's birthday, with military demonstrations and flyovers. But it turned into a political rally that some military officials later said made them uncomfortable and concerned. With a crowd of camouflaged soldiers behind him, Trump said that those who burn the U.S. flag should be jailed, even though that runs afoul of First Amendment protections established by the Supreme Court. He taunted the news media and he ridiculed his political opponents, triggering boos of agreement from the crowd. 'You think this crowd would have showed up for Biden?' Trump said at one point, to laughter and boos. 'I don't think so.' The event at Fort Bragg was organized by America250, the same group overseeing the parade, and Saturday night was the next opportunity to see whether anything had been learned from earlier in the week. Elahe Izadi in Atlantic City contributed to this report.
