Trump to Decide on US Involvement in Israel-Iran Conflict Within Two Weeks, White House Says
The White House has said that US President Donald Trump will decide within the next two weeks whether the United States will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict or not.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made this announcement at a press briefing on Thursday.
"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Leavitt quoted the President as saying.
The remarks come amid conflict between Israel and Iran. The conflict between Israel and Iran has entered its eighth day. The conflict escalated when Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' on June 13, targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities. In retaliation, Iran also launched several drone and missile attacks.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Israel-Iran conflict: If Donald Trump backs out of launching strike, will Israel use nukes to destroy Iran's Fordow facility?
To achieve its stated objective of dismantling Iran's nuclear programme, Israel must neutralise the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, a critical and highly fortified Iranian nuclear facility. But Israel's own arsenal lacks the conventional ordnance capable of destroying Fordow. Despite recent Israeli airstrikes targeting Fordow, the facility remains operational and undamaged due to its underground location and robust defenses, including surface-to-air missile systems deployed by Iran and Russia. Israel-Iran conflict Instead, the destruction of the facility will require multiple strikes using the US GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb delivered by US B-2 stealth bombers. A report by The Guardian claimed that the US military has reservations regarding the success of using a bunker-buster bomb. Two defense officials were reportedly briefed that only a tactical nuclear weapon could reach the facility. What if US backs out? President Donald Trump has been briefed extensively on the risks and benefits of attacking Fordow, recognising that disabling this facility is essential to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons in a short timeframe. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo However, he has not made a final decision on whether to join Israel's ongoing air campaign against Iran's nuclear sites, opting instead to wait up to two weeks to see if diplomatic negotiations with Tehran might succeed in halting Iran's nuclear program. But if in two weeks, Trump decides to back out from launching a strike, Israel may have only one way of destroying the facility -- going nuclear. Will Israel go it alone? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that Israel will not wait for US approval or a "green light" to continue its campaign against Iran's nuclear facilities. In a rare Hebrew-language interview, Netanyahu declared that Israel is fully committed to hitting all Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, and asserted that Israel has the capability to do so independently. If President Trump ultimately decides not to join Israel in military strikes against Iran within the next two weeks, it is plausible that Tel Aviv might escalate its tactics Are nukes on the table? The possibility that Israel might resort to using a low-yield nuclear weapon to destroy the Fordow facility has been a topic of speculation, given the difficulty of striking such a deeply buried site with conventional weapons. While Netanyahu has not explicitly confirmed the use of nuclear weapons, his statements about Israel's capability to destroy all nuclear sites suggest a readiness to deploy advanced and potentially extreme measures if necessary. Heather Williams, director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has said that while Israel might not have the conventional ordnance to destroy Fordow, it is believed to have the nuclear capability to do so. "Numerous Israeli leaders, including PM Yitzhak Rabin in 1987, have stated that Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the region, which Netanyahu has repeated. But if Israel did have low-yield nuclear weapons, these could deliver the necessary firepower to destroy Fordow. For example, the US GBU-57 has a yield of approximately the equivalent of 2 tons of TNT; whereas the lowest yield nuclear weapon was the US Davy Crockett, which had a yield of approximately 10 tons. " Williams further said that mere strong hint by Israel that it is considering using a nuke to take out the Fordow facility might be enough to coerce Iran to back down and return to negotiations. What is the Fordow facility? Fordow is located near Qom, about 30 kilometers northeast of the city, and is built deep inside a mountain, estimated to be 80 to 90 meters underground. This depth and the facility's hardened construction make it resistant to conventional aerial attacks and most bunker-buster bombs currently available to Israel. The Fordow facility spans approximately 54,000 square feet and houses around 3,000 centrifuges. It is unique in Iran's nuclear infrastructure as the only site where uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade levels have been detected by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has enriched uranium there up to 60 percent, with reports of uranium enriched as high as 83.7 percent, which is close to weapons-grade purity.
Hindustan Times
30 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Iranian hackers hijacking home security cameras to spy within Israel
Iran is tapping into private security cameras in Israel to gather real-time intelligence about its adversary, exposing a recurrent problem with the devices that has emerged in other global conflicts. Earlier this week, after Iranian ballistic missiles tore through high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv, a former Israeli cybersecurity official went on public radio to issue a stark warning: Turn off your home surveillance cameras or change the password. 'We know that in the past two or three days, the Iranians have been trying to connect to cameras to understand what happened and where their missiles hit to improve their precision,' Refael Franco, the former deputy director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, said on Monday. He now runs the cybersecurity crisis firm Code Blue. A spike in cyberattacks has accompanied the war between Israel and Iran, with a pro-Israel hacking group known as Predatory Sparrow claiming responsibility for disrupting a major Iranian bank and a breach that struck an Iranian crypto exchange. Iran's state-run IRIB News reported that Israel had launched a full-scale cyberattack on the country's critical infrastructure. A spokesperson for the Israel National Cyber Directorate, a government agency, confirmed that internet-connected cameras were increasingly targeted for Iran's war planning. 'We've seen attempts throughout the war, and those attempts are being renewed now,' the spokesperson said on Monday. Photos of impact sites in Israel, though circulating on social media, are under an official blackout. It isn't the first time Israel's foes have used the devices to spy. For instance, Hamas hacked into private security cameras ahead of its invasion on Oct. 7, 2023, said Gaby Portnoy, who recently completed a three-year term as director of the Israel National Cyber Directorate. 'The intelligence gathering that Hamas did from private cameras in the Gaza periphery was a disaster,' Portnoy said in an interview. 'Thousands of cameras were hacked over the years, both public and private, and were used to collect intelligence.' Similar tactics have been used by Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia 'likely used access to private cameras at key locations, such as near border crossings, military installations, and rail stations, to track the movement of materials,' according to a joint cybersecurity advisory in May by the US National Security Agency and other Western intelligence agencies. 'The actors also used legitimate municipal services, such as traffic cams.' Ukraine banned surveillance cameras in 2022 amid a warning that Russia was using them to plan airstrikes. The next year, Ukraine's government called on the owners of street webcams to stop broadcasting online. 'Russia is exploiting vulnerability of modern webcams to launch missile attack at Ukraine and adjust them in real time,' according to a government statement at the time. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission in 2022 banned Chinese-made surveillance equipment over national security concerns. The private surveillance market is fast growing around the world: it's projected to reach $89 billion in 2030, up from $54 billion in 2024, according to a study by MarketsandMarkets Research. Relatively cheap and ubiquitous, private security cameras are often easy to access and hack, and they can provide foreign intelligence services with information on where troops are located, or help adversaries figure out where to drop bombs. While researchers have been warning about the vulnerabilities in security cameras for over a decade, some in the industry say they can be contained by investing in higher-end systems that offer regular firmware and software updates and by following proper installation procedures. 'Higher-grade security camera systems from vendors that take cybersecurity seriously will offer extensive configuration settings allowing for more device and communications customization,' Geoff Kohl, the Security Industry Association's senior director of marketing, said in an email. At the same time, users should 'presume your security video systems could be targeted,' he added. Most consumers prioritize price over the security of a surveillance system, even though a weakly protected camera can be a 'stepping stone' into overtaking the broader network, said Peleg Wasserman, a security architect at a global energy firm. 'They don't look at the security features of the device they're buying. So for the vendor there is no incentive to beef up security of such systems.' 'Consumers need to remember that they're not the only ones who may have access to this camera,' Wasserman said. 'I've seen people that put a camera outside the home without knowing that they're also filming their neighbors, for example, or a sensitive object or even giving a panoramic view of a city which may be useful for targeting.' In addition, private surveillance cameras often come with a default password — sometimes as simple as 1-2-3-4 — which is rarely changed by the user, according to experts. Some systems automatically stream the footage on the internet. While Chinese-made cameras have taken over a large part of the private surveillance market, other systems have weak protections. A study by BitSight Technologies Inc. this month found live footage from 40,000 security cameras is accessible on the internet, including 14,000 in the US. For countries at war, this data leakage can be an Achilles' heel. In 2022, the Israeli cyber agency warned that 66,000 personal cameras in Israel were using a default password and could easily be overtaken by hackers. That warning was largely unheeded, including in the southern towns that were invaded by Hamas in the attack that killed over 1,200 and saw 250 abducted. After the Hamas attack, the Israeli government issued nonbinding directives urging citizens to strengthen the information security on their personal security cameras, many of them Chinese-made, including adding two-factor authentication. It also obtained legal approval to remotely shut off traffic cameras and personal devices reflecting out on sensitive areas, such as borders or critical infrastructure, according to Portnoy, the former director of the Israel National Cyber Directorate. That came after it detected increased attempts by Israel's adversaries to breach highway cameras to monitor troop movements. Portnoy said Hamas had hacked private cameras for years to collect intelligence and monitor civilian and military movements while planning the attacks. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the US and many other governments. An analysis of the military's secure border cameras after the war began found they not breached by Hamas, according to Portnoy. But private security systems from the kibbutzim nearby that were later invaded were compromised, he said, citing footage found in Gaza by the Israeli military. Franco, in an interview before the outbreak of the latest Israel-Iran conflict, said cameras that farmers installed in agricultural fields along the border to prevent theft inadvertently showed soldiers' positions along the Gaza security fence. Most people are unaware of the potential dual use of CCTV when they try to bolster their personal security without proper safeguards, whether in towns, kindergartens, offices or private homes, according to Franco. 'You try to protect yourself and meanwhile you are exposing yourself,' he said. Since Israel launched its attack on Iran's nuclear program on Friday, Iran has retaliated by firing hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones. More than 200 people have been killed in Iran by Israel's strikes, according to the Iranian government. In Israel, the government says 24 people have been killed and over 800 injured. More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
India.com
40 minutes ago
- India.com
Israel-Iran War Tensions: Iran Fires Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missiles
LIVE Blog Israel-Iran Conflict | Live Updates: The conflict between Israel and Iran has entered its eighth day. The conflict erupted after Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion' on June 13, targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities. In retaliation, Iran also launched several drone and missile attacks. Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.
