Israel’s security cabinet has ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran, as two supertankers burned in the Strait of Hormuz and Tehran warned that American bases from West Asia to Europe would become targets in any new war.
Key Points
- Israel Iran attack preparations — the security cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible strike on Iran.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said two supertankers carrying more than four million barrels of oil were hit by naval mines and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
- Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, warned that any new US war would make every military base involved a legitimate target.
- President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to return to waging war if a diplomatic track offered by Qatar fails to produce a deal with Tehran.
The Israeli order comes as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said its missile development will continue despite threats and sanctions, and that it would lift missile output. Iran has already lifted its self-imposed 2,000km limit on missile range and shown footage of an underground missile facility. President Trump said this week that the war was “effectively over” — a claim Tehran called “fake news”.
The flashpoint is the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large share of the world’s seaborne oil passes. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said two supertankers were hit by naval mines and caught fire while sailing through the strait. The US military said it disabled a bulk carrier, the M/V Huda, in the Gulf of Oman after it repeatedly ignored warnings and breached an American blockade to reach an Iranian port. UK maritime security firm Ambrey said an unknown projectile struck a merchant vessel on Wednesday, 14 nautical miles northwest of Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. US Central Command said American forces are enforcing a naval blockade of Iran while keeping the strait open for commercial shipping.
Warnings on both sides
Iran’s warnings have grown sharper as the pressure builds. Rezaei wrote that a new US war would make every military base involved, from West Asia to Europe, a legitimate target, and Iran’s parliament speaker said the Strait of Hormuz will never return to its status before the war. The United States moved military aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in eastern England this week amid reported threats from Iran — the second withdrawal from a British base in recent weeks.
Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke on Thursday with Qatar’s emir, thanking him for Doha’s de-escalation efforts, according to the Foreign Office. Qatar is offering the diplomatic track Trump has pointed to: the president has said he is prepared to return to war if that track fails to produce a deal with Tehran. Iran’s security chief says no talks with the US are ongoing, and a bid to end the war remains deadlocked.
Gaza: hospital strike and flooded camps
The tensions are also spilling over in Gaza, where the truce that took effect in October 2025 is fraying. Gaza’s Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza killed six people early on Thursday, including a general surgeon and a child, and wounded at least 28 more. The Israeli military said it targeted Muhammad Abu Ismail, the commander of Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade, in the strike on the Nasser Medical Complex. Health authorities say Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed 1,622 people since the truce took effect.
At the same time, torrential winter rains have flooded 70,000 tents across the Gaza Strip, leaving up to one million displaced Palestinians facing severe shelter shortages and health risks. At the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, President Erdogan called the war in Gaza an “ecocide” as well as a genocide, while Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the US and Israel of inflicting severe environmental damage during their attacks on Iran.
For background on Iran’s threats, see our report on Iran accusing the US of ‘diplomacy through threats’, and on Trump saying the US-Israel war on Iran is effectively over. More in our World News section.
Sources: Al Jazeera, “Iran war live: IRGC to lift missile output; Israel kills 6 in Gaza hospital” (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/liveblog/2026/11/12/iran-war-live-tehran-warns-of-wider-retaliation-israel-kills-in-gaza); The Times of Israel, “Erdogan calls Gaza war an ‘ecocide’ at UN climate summit” (https://www.timesofisrael.com/erdogan-calls-gaza-war-an-ecocide-at-un-climate-summit-israel-campaign-of-lies/amp/).