Kathrine Frich
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz promised new operations “with even greater force”
When a delicate peace shatters in the Middle East, the fallout often spreads fast.
Leaders exchange warnings, missiles cross borders, and public anger boils over into the streets. That familiar cycle is back in full force right now.
Going up in flames
Protesters in Iran took their fury out on a massive, block-style effigy of Donald Trump.
The figure was designed to look like a giant Lego character wearing a red tie, and it was so large that a crane had to hold it upright.
Video footage captured a man lighting the feet with a torch according to Daily Express. Another sprayed an accelerant. The plastic giant quickly burned and collapsed to the ground as crowds chanted in Farsi.
The visual fits the mood. A fragile regional peace has collapsed entirely. Early on Thursday, the United States launched fresh airstrikes against Iranian targets.
Firing across borders
Tehran quickly answered the American bombings by firing at US allies. Missiles targeted Kuwait and Qatar. Air raid sirens also sounded multiple times in Bahrain.
Sirens then rang out in Jordan, where Washington stations troops and aircraft. At the same time, an Iranian official claimed the US struck the area surrounding Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
President Trump had declared the ceasefire effectively over just hours earlier. He blamed Iranian attacks on shipping vessels in the Strait of Hormuz for the breakdown.
A deadly exchange
The human cost of this renewed fighting is already mounting. Iran’s Health Ministry reported 14 people dead and 78 wounded from two days of American strikes, noting that most casualties were military members.
Amid the chaos, the country laid Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to rest in Mashhad on Friday. He died during the initial wave of the conflict.
Now, regional allies are bracing for an even wider war.
Preparing for worse
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz promised new operations “with even greater force” as the situation unravels.
He was very clear about his military goals. “The army is ready and on alert for a resumption of fighting, in order to regain air superiority and strike again… in Iran, to eliminate threats, including a third time if necessary,” Katz said.
Things took another dark turn off the battlefield. The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel recently warned Trump about a renewed Iranian plot to assassinate him.
Sources: The Daily Express, X, The Wall Street Journal, Iran Health Ministry
