They like to attack on Jewish holidays because, after all, they hate Jews,’ says DM; Tehran says it targeted US military sites in Gulf states, as Saudi Arabia accuses it of killing two crew members on a state-owned tanker traversing Hormuz
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By Agencies and ToI Staff2 September 2026, 4:37 pm
A man drives past a banner showing a portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in downtown Tehran, Iran, August 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that Israel was prepared to respond “with great force” if attacked by Iran during the upcoming Jewish holiday period, after the largest exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran since July.
Iran said it attacked US military targets in Jordan, Kuwait, Iraqi Kurdistan and the United Arab Emirates, after the US military on Tuesday said it had struck Iranian targets including air defenses and mine-laying capabilities in response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Later Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said one of its oil tankers was targeted in a deadly attack by Iran in the strait.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the Yedioth Ahronoth media group, Katz said that “for now,” Iran is “striking throughout the region except us.”Promoted: Sheba saved Shon’s lifeKeep Watching
“But there is a possibility that they will attack us. We are prepared for that defensively,” he said.
Israel is prepared for a possible attack from Iranian forces over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September, said Katz.
If Iran attacks, Israel will “respond with great force, independently of anyone else,” Katz said, adding that “our planes are ready to take off.”
“They like to attack on Jewish holidays because, after all, they hate Jews. Look at the many things that have happened in the past. But we are prepared both defensively and offensively, in coordination with the United States in this regard,” Katz said.
Israel and the US jointly launched the war on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
The fighting entered a truce in April, and the US and Iran signed an interim agreement with Iran in June, but the deal collapsed because of disputes over control of the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran launched a blockade early in the war. The US and Iran have since continued to exchange fire more sporadically.
US President Donald Trump denied on social media on Wednesday that he was seeking to force Iran’s leaders back to the negotiating table.
“I couldn’t care less if they sign a worthless, to them, agreement,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing. They are just playing out the inevitable.”
“When are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight?” added Trump, who at the start of the war urged Iranians to seize their government once the bombing stops, but later cautioned the regime would crack down on rebels.
Iran reports 11 killed in US strikes
Iranian state media reported multiple US strikes near the Strait of Hormuz overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, and cited the law enforcement chief of the southwestern Khuzestan province as saying US missiles had killed seven people and wounded eight in three separate locations in the region.
The statement came after Iran’s Red Crescent said late Tuesday that a US attack on a home hosting a wedding in the southern Sirik county wounded more than 50 people and killed at least four, including a small child.
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The incidents could not be independently verified. Iran’s West Asia News Agency aired purported footage of the targeted wedding site that showed rubble strewn across rooms and a courtyard of a home. A pair of strappy women’s dress sandals lay abandoned on a blood-soaked carpet.
“I am just glad the casualties weren’t even worse,” said Ali Molahi, identified as the father of the bride.
US Central Command denied targeting civilians, telling Reuters on Wednesday that the US military “never targets civilians, unlike the Revolutionary Guards.”
Following the reported attack on the wedding, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called the US “Satan” and appeared to reference Israel as “junior Satan.”
Writing on X, Ghalibaf cited other mass-casualty incidents caused by the US-Israeli strikes.
“Minab school: children massacred. Lamerd sports hall: kids slaughtered. Kuhestak wedding: children killed with families. If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it’s Satan. Shields a junior Satan that does the same? It’s THE Great Satan,” Ghalibaf said.
Iran’s military command said: “American evil in the region will be met with heavier, more widespread, and devastating responses, and any country that cooperates with the aggressive American army must accept its dangerous consequences.”
In a similar warning, Iran’s security chief declared that the US would now face a “new strategy from Tehran.”
“You will soon see that Iran’s new strategy on the battlefield, in diplomacy and in confronting the economic blockade will shatter your foundations,” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei warned on X.
In Kuwait, Iran said it had carried out a missile and drone attack on the vast US Ali Al Salem Air Base and targeted the accommodation of a US commander. Kuwait’s fire service said crews put out a blaze at a residential complex early on Wednesday after an Iranian drone struck the complex, causing damage but not casualties.
Bahrain, where Iran’s army claimed to have targeted radar sites at the Sheikh Isa US air base, said Iranian drones were intercepted and destroyed.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its ground forces also carried out combined missile and drone attacks on US bases in Erbil, in northern Iraq. The IRGC claimed to have killed several US personnel in Erbil. Neither Iraq nor the US confirmed the attack.
Iran also said two tankers had been struck by mines while US personnel steered the vessels through a channel in Hormuz that Iran says it closed.
Saudi Arabia’s national shipping company reported on Wednesday that two Filipino crew members were killed aboard an oil tanker in the strait two days earlier.
The kingdom’s foreign ministry later identified the culprit as Iran, and also condemned the Islamic Republic’s attacks on the other Arab countries.
Amid the fighting early Wednesday, the US State Department reissued a security alert to US citizens in the Middle East, urging them to exercise caution due to the “potential for unforeseen escalation.” The same alert was issued in July and August by US embassies in the Middle East, including in Israel.
“Americans currently in the Middle East should exercise heightened vigilance and be aware of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures and travel disruptions,” the alert said. “Americans traveling to or from the region should monitor information about airport and airline operations.”
“US diplomatic facilities, including outside the Middle East, have been targeted. Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions,” it added.
Stocks fall, even as US touts increased Hormuz oil flow
The overnight exchange of fire was the worst since July, when Trump abruptly halted two weeks of intense bombing of Iran after warnings from his military brass that they were using up munitions and running out of meaningful targets.
World stocks fell on Wednesday as the fresh US airstrikes on Iran pushed oil prices to five-week highs, stoking inflation concerns and extending a global bond selloff.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.3%, after sharper losses in Asia, where South Korea’s KOSPI dropped almost 4%, while the Nikkei 225 was down 2.9%.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, meanwhile, said 17 million barrels of oil transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. He claimed it was the highest amount of crude to traverse the strait since Iran blockaded it, choking off about a fifth of the world’s commercial oil shipments.
Despite Wright’s claim, preliminary shipping data indicated just four commodity vessels transited the strait on Tuesday, down from ten the day before and from the 10-day average of about 13.
The four vessels that transited were one very large crude carrier, one Panamax tanker, one Kamsarmax carrier and one intermediate tanker, initial data from shiptracker Kpler shows. The figures could change as some ships typically switch off transponders during the voyage.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
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