Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 18.02.2026
Last night, the US vice president said that the United States “very much wants to resolve this in talks,” but made it clear that “the president has all the options on the table. The president retains the ability to say that he thinks diplomacy has reached its natural end. I hope we won’t get there, but it’s up to the president to decide.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that in an attempt to move forward in the negotiations, senior Iranian officials raised the possibility that Iran would suspend its uranium enrichment activities for three years, transfer part of the stockpile of enriched material outside Iran’s territory to Russia, and close economic deals with the United States.
The American newspaper reported that part of Iran’s uranium stockpile is apparently buried at the nuclear sites that the United States bombed last June.
Against the backdrop of the negotiations between the United States and Iran, the Zionist Political-Security Cabinet is expected to convene on Thursday evening, but already today, Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Shai Clapper is expected to deliver a confidential security briefing to members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, centered on preparations for the launch of missiles and UAVs by Iran toward Israel.
Despite reports of progress in the negotiations, Israel claims that the talks were not encouraging, and that despite some progress on the nuclear issue, the ayatollahs’ regime refuses to discuss the issue of ballistic missiles and aid to Iranian-linked organizations, so war is still possible.
At the high-tech defense conference of Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, in cooperation with the Association of Engineers, Architects and Academics in Israel’s Technological Professions, former Home Front Command Maj. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg addressed the ongoing tension. “It’s no secret, all the citizens of the country are aware of the fact that Israel is covered by a missile threat from Dan to Eilat,” he said.
Brig. Gen. (res.) Itzik Bar, head of the National Emergency Authority, added, “This is a new situation, I don’t know yet how many countries are in such a reality, which are either in a state of routine or in a state of war – and we are in a state of readiness for war with Iran.”
It is quite clear that Trump prefers to reach an agreement with Iran, first of all, all the countries in the region are against war and are pressuring him not to embark on this dangerous adventure. Second, the chance is that a war in Iran will last a long time and will take the lives of American soldiers, which will rebuild the masses of the American people. Third, Iran participated in the naval exercise, Russia and China participated in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to halt oil shipments to the United States and Europe, which would exacerbate the economic crisis.
It seems that Israel is the only country that hopes that the United States will start a war and that Israel will join it, since it is incapable of fighting Iran alone. Moreover, a war with Iran is likely to lead to the outbreak of the intifada in the West Bank.