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Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said on Sunday that his country “has not yet accomplished its mission in Iran.”
Katz again accused Tehran of seeking to possess a nuclear weapon, which the Islamic Republic has always denied.
“With regard to Iran, the mission is not yet accomplished,” Katz said.
He added, "Iran is trying to resume its efforts to obtain nuclear weapons, along with other dangerous efforts that expose the State of Israel to real danger."
Israel launched two wars against Iran, the first in June 2025 that lasted 12 days, and the second in partnership with the United States in February 2026, which caused the outbreak of a large-scale conflict in the region?
Over the past few weeks, outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened new strikes against Iran. According to Israeli media reports, these threats, which coincided with the approaching legislative elections on October 27, sparked disagreements between Netanyahu and Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who refused to launch such strikes at this time.
It is unclear whether US President Donald Trump is also ready to launch new strikes on Iran, especially after the US midterm elections in which his Republican Party suffered a major loss.
American officials, led by Trump, confirmed that the war on Iran and its repercussions were a major reason for this electoral defeat.
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On Friday, Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu and the foreign intelligence service (Mossad) attempted to carry out a strike against Iran on the eve of the Knesset elections, but Washington learned of this and stopped the operation.
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The US Central Command (Centcom) announced that it will form a “task force” aimed at obstructing Iran’s access to weapons systems and illicit materials through land trade routes and the Caspian Sea, in a move that the Revolutionary Guard promises to thwart.
The American measure aims to expand the scope of trade restrictions that the United States applies to Iran.
For months, Washington has imposed a naval blockade on the Islamic Republic, and has placed this within the framework of a response to Iran’s obstruction of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran has been doing since February 2026 following the outbreak of the American-Israeli war against it.
Central Command announced in a statement on Saturday that its commander, Brad Cooper, had issued directives “to form a task force to support the US government’s efforts aimed at preventing Iran from using land routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials.”
The statement added, "Admiral Brad Cooper directed the formation of the Iron Gate Task Force, a task force that includes approximately 20 civilian and military personnel," to work "in coordination with other US government agencies to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials, and illicit revenue flows across Iran's land borders and the Caspian Sea."
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard, Hussein Mohebi, told the semi-official Fars News Agency on Sunday that the United States cannot achieve its goals of besieging Iran’s economy and closing its trade routes, because Tehran has made preparations and has close contacts with its neighbors.
Mohebi added, "The Iron Gate plan is nothing but a play on words... The Americans cannot achieve their goals of imposing severe economic pressure to cause an economic collapse in Iran, through this approach."
The statement quoted Cooper as saying that the establishment of the force “reinforces the success of our strict blockade imposed on Iran at sea,” and will contribute to “further restricting Iran’s ability to finance terrorism, rebuild weapons factories, and renew its military arsenal.”
The task force will be based in Florida.
The Caspian Sea is surrounded by Russia, which has close cooperative relations with Iran, in addition to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. On the land level, Iran shares long borders with Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan.
Centcom said that the naval blockade, which began in April, prevented Iran from exporting “crude oil worth more than $25 billion,” stressing the continuation of “strict enforcement operations at sea against all ships entering or leaving Iranian ports.”
The pace of hostilities between Iran and the United States has decreased since a ceasefire agreement in April. But the two sides have exchanged blows intermittently at various stages since then.
As of the summer of 2026, the administration of US President Donald Trump has intensified its economic pressure on Iran, which is already subject to wide-ranging sanctions.
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