Israeli strikes kill more Iranian generals as US moves B-2 bombers

Petraeus emphasized that Trump’s move to give Iran a two-week deadline is not mere posturing. It reflects a deliberate and calculated buildup of US military forces in the region.

“The real reason behind the two-week window is to allow the second US aircraft carrier strike group to arrive in the region and for the US military to be fully positioned,” he said.

“This setup would effectively neutralize any attempt by the Iranian regime to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly 20% of the world’s crude oil passes," the former CIA director added.

Senior Revolutionary Guard commander Esmail Kowsari said last Saturday that Iran is considering closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in response to the Israeli war.

The strait, a key route for global oil shipments, has been at the center of past tensions. Iran has repeatedly threatened to block it, including in 2018 after the US withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal with Tehran.

Congressional approval for Iran attack

In his interview with Iran International, Petraeus said the White House is working to engage Congress and may use the 14-day window for winning the lawmakers' support for a possible attack on Iran.

“This period also provides time for congressional consultation — for debate, hearings, and potentially even a vote to authorize a strike. If the president clearly communicates that no ground invasion is planned and defines the mission objectives precisely, I believe Congress would support it," he said.

Petraeus said the Fordow enrichment facility, buried deep within a mountain in central Iran, first came to light during his time as CENTCOM Commander in 2009.

“We had developed and rehearsed a strike plan targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure,” he said. “We fired the actual munitions in exercises to ensure the mission could be carried out successfully — and we succeeded.”

Now, as tensions escalate, Fordow remains a critical concern.

“The central question is whether one bomb would be enough to destroy the facility, or if it would take two or three — or more. I firmly believe the United States can accomplish this mission.”

Petraeus added that success would depend on strike precision, geological factors, and penetration depth — but he expressed full confidence in US military capabilities.

A moment of strategic choice for Iran

Petraeus urged Iran’s leadership to recognize the gravity of the moment.

“Refusing to abandon the nuclear program, continuing uranium enrichment, and denying full and permanent access to IAEA inspectors will lead only to ruin — without achieving any meaningful strategic gain.”

He cautioned that continued defiance would bring further Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure, worsening the suffering of the Iranian people already burdened by sanctions and economic hardship.

"If Iran shifted from being a revolutionary state to a status-oriented one, focused on rebuilding its economy, investing in human capital, and leveraging its vast natural resources, the country could have an incredibly bright future.”

Petraeus also acknowledged the complexity of regime change scenarios, pointing to past failures in Libya, Iraq, and Yemen. But he suggested that even within the Iranian government, there may be pragmatic voices ready to move away from nuclear ambitions and support for proxy groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis.

“Perhaps now is the time for Iran to embrace a strategy of national renewal,” Petraeus added. “The opportunity is there — but so is the risk of catastrophic loss if the current path continues.”

“My direct message to Iran’s Supreme Leader is this: the time has come to do what your predecessors did at the end of the Iran-Iraq war — to drink from the ‘poisoned chalice.’ Either you change course now, or face the destruction of your country’s security, energy infrastructure, and nuclear program.”

The documentary draws on intelligence documents, gang member testimonies and expert analysis to piece together what it called a disturbing operational pattern: Iranian operatives offering incentives in exchange for targeting designated entities.

Among the top targets identified are Israeli interests and diplomatic missions and the London-based Persian language outlet Iran International.

Iran International, which has a broad viewership inside Iran, has long faced threats from the Islamic Republic, but the report appeared to provide previously unreported details on Iran's mobilization of street-level criminal networks to carry out attacks.

In one case, the documentary alleges, Tehran promised to eliminate a gang leader—Rawa Majid, known as the Kurdish Fox—if his enemies agreed to target Israeli interests or Iran International.

Plot origins

The connection began in early 2023, according to SVT, when Majid was briefly in Iran.

Citing Israeli intelligence sources, the documentary suggests Majid was presented with a choice: face imprisonment or cooperate with Iranian authorities. He allegedly chose the latter.

His first assignment was to carry out a grenade attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, but the grenade failed to detonate.

Shortly after, Iranian operatives contacted Majid’s rivals, including the so-called “Rumba” faction led by a man named Ismail Abdo.

The sources cited in the documentary say they were promised Iranian assistance in assassinating Majid if they agreed to strike targets such as synagogues, embassies or Iran International.

Repression: a new phase

Targeting perceived enemies has long been a hallmark of the Islamic Republic but its recruitment of criminal gangs to execute their plans is relatively new.

It indicates a shift in Tehran’s campaign to project force abroad, according to security experts interviewed in the SVT program. Unlike direct state operations, this method offers plausible deniability and minimal diplomatic fallout.

“Outsourcing violence to criminal gangs is a way for the Islamic Republic to do its dirty work abroad—cheaper, deniable, and far more dangerous,” one analyst told SVT.

The inclusion of Iran International among the targets underscores the gravity of the threat faced by its journalists, who have previously faced surveillance, harassment and cyberattacks.

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  Iran turns to Hells Angels, criminals to silence critics globally - Washington Post

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  UK police working with Iran International to counter threats, commander says

"I really think this is going to end by a negotiation,” said Abrams, who served as US Special Representative for Iran from 2020 to 2021.

"They're going to lose this nuclear weapons program, and the question is whether they do it the hard way or the easy way."

Even if the Islamic Republic refuses to surrender, Abrams said more Israeli strikes—followed by a possible US attack targeting an underground nuclear facility—would eventually lead to negotiations, much the way talks settled the Iran–Iraq war.

Eliminating the underground Fordow site in central Iran would likely hinder Tehran’s ability to quickly rebuild its nuclear program but it may not necessarily prevent it from using suspected secret sites to produce nuclear weapons, a prominent nuclear expert said this week.

According to Richard Nephew, a former negotiator during the Obama administration, the United States and Israel must acknowledge that Fordow is not the only pathway for an Iranian nuclear weapons program.

Iran, he argued in a Washington Institute thinktank report, may have other centrifuges available, including at secret sites, and is “probably already at work.”

For his part, Abrams said Fordow is essential to Iran’s program and a necessary military objective, but not a total solution without a broader diplomatic or military campaign.

Abrams was a prominent advocate of preemptive military action against Iraq during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Weapons of mass destruction alleged to be held by Baghdad were never found and the invasion led to a civil war which killed several thousand US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

Trump’s two-week window is ‘strategic’

"Khamenei will soon have that choice: preserve the regime—or risk its collapse under American attack," said Abrams.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump would decide within two weeks whether to authorize a military strike on Iran.

Trump has previously given himself two-week deadlines on other major decisions—particularly related to the Russia–Ukraine war—and then failed to meet them.

Questions about how Trump will handle the conflict between Israel and Iran have swirled over the last week, and the president has yet to give a straight answer.

Based on Abrams' tenure as Trump’s Iran envoy, he sees this two-week window as a psychological negotiating tactic to throw his adversaries off balance.

It also provides the president with time to explore more options, he added, to see where negotiations may head, and to assess what Israel can accomplish on its own inside Iran.

If Israel is unable to destroy Iran’s fortified Fordow nuclear facility, Abrams believes Trump will likely order a US airstrike using bunker-buster bombs, without deploying troops. That window also allows the US to position its military assets and to give Iran a final chance to negotiate.

“He is moving planes and ships, particularly aircraft carriers and carrier task forces from far away into the Gulf area, the Eastern Mediterranean area, and it takes a week or 10 days,” Abrams told Eye for Iran. “So I don't read into this that he's decided not to do anything.”

“It's a way of giving yourself options until the very last minute.”

Trump’s inner circle

During his tenure as special representative on Iran, Abrams viewed influencing trusted inner-circle figures—like Pompeo during Trump’s first term—as the most effective way to shape Trump's decisions.

Trump’s decision-making is shaped by a small group of trusted advisors, not outside pressure or foreign leaders. Those around him—especially top generals and intelligence officials—play a key role in what happens next.

Currently, his trusted circle, according to Abrams, includes Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio, Generals Kane and Kurilla, and CIA Director Ratcliffe—all of whom remain deeply committed to preventing a nuclear Iran.

“I think he's paying a lot of attention to these two top generals—General Kane, who's the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Kurilla, who's the head of CENTCOM, both very experienced four-star generals,” Abrams said.

The generals do not make their opinions known, but from what Abrams gathers, they tend to have a more aggressive stance on Iran and its proxies.

As tensions escalate and the clock on Trump’s two-week window ticks down, all eyes are on Fordow—and on Tehran’s next moves.

In the wake of mass evacuations from Tehran and other cities, a wave of grassroots support has emerged.

Iranians across social media are offering shelter, food, and medical help. Families far from the strikes are hosting refugees, doctors are providing free virtual consultations, and volunteers are caring for the elderly, infirm, and even abandoned pets.

“This is the least I can do now,” wrote Yasser Saiedy, an Iranian cardiologist based in Germany, offering remote consultations on X.

Others share stories of restraint—people letting others buy bread first, rationing water, making sure no one is left behind. Acts of solidarity, unfolding in the shadow of devastation.

A war without warning

Israeli airstrikes have hit Tehran and other cities with little or no notice, drawing criticism from many Iranians and some international observers.

One strike on Tehran’s District 18, near Mehrabad Airport, came just over an hour after a 2:00 AM warning. Activists noted the area’s high population of child laborers and street children.

“Under no circumstances is the death of children justifiable,” wrote Hamed Farmand of the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents. “Just as the death and starvation of Palestinian children has no name other than murder and genocide.”

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Iranian authorities have also faced criticism for failing to sound sirens, issue warnings or war-time guidelines through state media.

“It still hasn’t occurred to anyone to sound a siren or even issue a radio warning,” Tehran resident Sahar Karimi posted on X. “Ordinary people are dying, nobody cares?”

The government has released no official death toll, but rights groups report over 320 civilian deaths, including dozens of children.

Outrage and despair

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) condemned the violence on Wednesday, denouncing “the deliberate targeting of civilians” and calling for an immediate ceasefire and a path to diplomacy.

London-based human rights lawyer Shadi Sadr called Israel’s evacuation warnings a form of forced displacement.

“The forcible displacement of a civilian population is a crime against humanity under international law. Full stop,” she wrote.

Frustration deepened after US President Donald Trump urged people to evacuate Tehran—a suggestion many called detached from reality.

Nobel Peace Laureate Narges Mohammadi responded promptly, reminding those ordering people to flee that Tehran is not only home to millions of people, but thousands of schools, hospitals, and businesses.

“Which of them are we meant to carry on our shoulders to save from death and devastation,” she asked in an Instagram post. “Do not destroy my city. End this war.”

No side feels like home

As the war drags on, many Iranians—at home and in exile—say they can’t side with either party to the conflict.

“This was not our war,” Sadr wrote, “but it is increasingly becoming ours, as our loved ones are being taken hostage by two criminal states.”

In the early days, some Iranians welcomed the strikes, hoping for a quick end to the regime.

“You know what is the worst nightmare of every Iranian now,” an exiled activist posted on X, “that US and Israel, having started this destruction, do not finish it, leaving the people of Iran to the hard and brutal days that the Islamic Republic will unleash upon us once it is over.”

In Tehran—in the midst of it all—perspective and tone is slightly different.

“They thought it would end with (supreme leader Ali) Khamenei’s death and the regime collapsing,” Abbas, a 46-year-old office worker in Tehran, says in a message on an encrypted app. “But as war drags on, they’ll realize that that was never a priority for Israel.”

President Donald Trump is weighing a US strike, while Israel says it will act alone within days if necessary. Here's a brief summary of events leading to Friday.

Underground site in crosshairs

• Trump is determined to disable Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility by force or diplomacy, CBS and Axios reported.
• Trump will decide within two weeks whether to order a strike, the White House said Thursday.
• Two Israeli security sources told Iran International that Israel will strike Fordow within 48–72 hours—with or without US support.
• The Guardian reports Trump is unconvinced the GBU-57 bomb can destroy Fordow; Pentagon warned only a tactical nuke would guarantee success—something Trump is not considering.
• CIA Director Ratcliffe reportedly described Iran as “on the one-yard line” of building a bomb.
• NYT says Iran may seek a nuclear weapon if Fordow is hit or Khamenei is killed.

Israeli strikes continue

• Israel targeted an industrial complex in Rasht and other targets in Gorgan
• Satellite images confirmed heavy damage to Arak’s reactor dome.
• Israeli officials’ remarks fueled the speculations that Israeli was poised to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei
• Netanyahu said regime change in Iran is up to its people, but could result from the war.
• A building housing top officials was targeted in northern Tehran.

Iran vows to retaliate, launches more missiles

• Khamenei appeared in a defiant video rejecting Trump’s calls to surrender, saying any US attack would cause “irreparable damage.”
• Tehran warned of retaliation on US soil if Washington intervenes, but left door open to diplomacy
• Iran reiterated it may pursue nuclear weapons if Khamenei is assassinated or Fordow is hit.
• New salvos Thursday hit a major hospital in southern Israel
• IRGC media reported attempts to mobilize Qom clerics for compromise with Israel.

Tehran shaken, losses mount

• Rights groups say more than 300 have been killed in Iran, including nuclear scientists and IRGC members.
• Strikes have hit almost every Tehran district, prompting mass flight.
• Air defenses activated again Thursday night amid new Israeli strikes.
• Targets included the Intelligence and Foreign ministries and key military sites.
• Funerals and martyr posters are now common across the capital.

US prepares, denies offensive role

• The USS Ford strike group and over 30 refueling tankers are in the region.
• Satellite images show US military aircraft being removed from a base in Qatar.
• Trump’s G7 exit and social media posts stirred speculation about imminent US action.

Diplomacy intensifies but stalls

• US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Abbas Araghchi have held multiple phone calls.
• UK foreign minister to deliver US message to Iran in Geneva Friday; France and Germany joining.
• UN chief Guterres welcomed the talks but said violence must end now.
• Iran told Guterres it will keep fighting until the UN acts against Israel.
• Hezbollah’s deputy chief said the group is “not neutral” and backs Iran.

Global fallout escalates

• Russia evacuated nationals; Czechia closed its Tehran embassy.
• Germany urged Israel to show restraint in military operations.
• Oil prices spiked; Iran faces the worst internet blackout since 2019.
• Iran threatened Israeli Channel 14 with military action.
• Iran arrested over 160 people for alleged online support of Israel.
• Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi called for a ceasefire and international peace push.