BREAKING: Donald Trump has now shifted his position in the past few hours and is now reportedly considering a major preemptive strike on Iran, after giving significant weight to intelligence and assessments presented by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, per Haaretz’s correspondent in the Israeli Knesset. Comes days after Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel earlier this week and held talks with Netanyahu. Meanwhile, the US just ordered the complete evacuation of its embassy staff and families from Saudi Arabia, with families in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain also ordered to leave immediately.

BREAKING: The U.S. is now ordering the complete evacuation of its embassy in Saudi Arabia, with all American staff and their families instructed to depart immediately, according to a diplomatic source cited by AFP. The evacuation order reportedly extends to the families of embassy staff in the UAE, Jordan, Qatar, and Bahrain, signaling a major escalation.

BREAKING: Iran now announces that any attack, joint or separate, by the U.S. or Israel will be treated as an all-out war, with a senior security official saying that Tehran has made a “definitive decision” to respond “without any limits or restraint” and has placed its military on the highest alert, per Press TV. The warning comes as Netanyahu reportedly continues pushing for a strike on Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure before Israel’s October 27 election, despite Trump halting a planned multi-day bombing campaign at the last minute to avoid a wider war ahead of the U.S. midterms. Israeli media reports that Netanyahu is now weighing an attack without Washington’s backing. Tehran is making its position clear: if Netanyahu launches a unilateral attack, Iran says it will treat it as a joint U.S.-Israeli operation and retaliate without limits or restraint.

BREAKING: Israel almost launched a multi-day bombing campaign against Iran’s military, nuclear, and energy infrastructure, but the operation was halted at the last minute because Trump opposed starting a major war before the U.S. midterms, per the Financial Times. The IDF was fully prepared to strike on the weekend of October 10, with targets including civilian infrastructure, nuclear sites, and decapitation strikes. Netanyahu, trailing in the polls, wanted the strikes to rally his base before Israel's October 27 election, while Trump blocked it to avoid an energy price surge that would hurt Republicans on November 3. Reports also suggest Netanyahu might attack Iran as early as this week before the election without Trump’s approval.

BREAKING: Iran has rejected U.S.-backed Pakistani proposals for negotiations, with SNSC Secretary Mohsen Rezaei ruling out talks until Washington fulfills Tehran’s seven conditions, per the Tehran Times. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf delivered the same blunt message to Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir during his mediation visit to Tehran: “We have no new message.” Reports of a US-Iran diplomatic breakthrough are completely false and designed to manipulate the oil market — and that actually worked.

BREAKING: Iranian officials are deliberately dragging out negotiations with Washington to completely crush Donald Trump’s hopes of a diplomatic victory ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, per senior Iranian officials cited by Reuters. Tehran believes keeping the conflict unresolved and refusing major concessions could intensify political pressure on Trump as the war drives up energy prices. “Iran is preparing for renewed Israeli and US attacks, not for a deal with America to end the war,” one Iranian official said. Iran also says its military remains at the highest state of alert, preparing for the possibility of renewed attacks.

BREAKING: The U.S. and Israel are now signaling preparations for another potential wave of attacks on Iran as the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth secretly flew to Israel today to meet Benjamin Netanyahu and Emirati officials at Ovda Air Base, discussing a possible resumption of major combat operations against Iran just eight days before Israel's election, per two sources cited by Axios. The meeting took place at the base where US refueling aircraft, fighter jets and personnel are deployed. Meanwhile, the IDF has ordered a military-wide leave suspension starting Thursday and raised alert levels to the highest state, with command centers staffed at wartime strength.

BREAKING: Iran now announces it has shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Strait of Hormuz, with the IRGC saying the aircraft was the 54th American MQ-9 destroyed and was intercepted by a new advanced air defense system under the country's integrated air defense network, per ISNA. The announcement came as anti-ship missiles and drones were launched from Hormozgan Province toward the Strait of Hormuz, with explosions reported in the waterway. Heavy GPS jamming has also returned to the Persian Gulf, while local reports from Bandar Abbas described two massive explosion waves and seismic tremors around 04:10 and 04:12 local time.‌‌

BREAKING: Iran's IRGC is now threatening to completely cut off the world's internet, with spokesman Hossein Mohebi saying seven major cables run under the Strait of Hormuz that global data depends on, warning: "we are reminding them of this so that the enemy knows," per Fars News. The threat follows Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf's announcement of a "Persian Gulf Data Authority" and SNSC Secretary Mohsen Rezaee's warning that over $2 trillion in data centers would be destroyed if war resumes. The significance is the target itself. These cables carry roughly 99% of intercontinental data and trillions in daily financial transactions. A successful strike could wipe out 70% to 90% of the Gulf's internet connectivity, crippling global commerce. Iran is making it clear: if the US strikes its energy infrastructure, the next target will be the digital backbone of the global economy.

BREAKING: Heavy Israeli fighter jet activity has been tracked over the Syrian-Iraqi border tonight, with IAF aircraft flying simulated attack runs to keep Iranian air defenses on high alert and make it harder for Tehran to distinguish training from a real strike package. The flights mirror the exact pattern of activity observed in the days before the previous two wars, with the Israeli Air Force carrying out sorties over Iraq and Syria almost every night since last week. This sustained traffic forces Iran's air defense network to constantly activate radars and scramble interceptors, creating a "cry wolf" effect designed to mask the true launch of an offensive.

BREAKING: Iran has reportedly targeted a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in an attempt to directly hit and destroy the warship in the northern Arabian Sea with advanced anti-ship cruise missiles, as the destroyer was approaching Iranian waters. Multiple U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets took off from USS George H.W. Bush and reportedly launched strikes against IRGC Navy targets at Konarak in southeastern Iran in response. Multiple ballistic missiles have also reportedly been launched from Iran's Isfahan and Qom provinces.

BREAKING: The U.S. has reportedly struck Iran’s Konarak Naval Base on the country’s southeastern coast, hitting a 35mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon with two projectiles around 1 a.m. local time on October 19 and wounding two Iranian Navy personnel, per an Iranian Navy spokesperson cited by Al Jazeera. The spokesperson said the projectiles were fired by American forces, while local reports recorded two explosions in the Konarak area. The strike may have involved a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone firing an AGM-114 Hellfire missile after the cannon opened fire. The last reported U.S. strike on Iranian soil was on September 1, nearly seven weeks ago. Iran is now likely to respond, potentially marking the beginning of a new round of direct U.S.-Iran military confrontation.

BREAKING: Iranian officials are now openly declaring that the time for nuclear weapons has come, with a growing faction demanding Tehran weaponize its enrichment program and withdraw from the NPT to establish a complete deterrent against future U.S.-Israeli attacks, per the Financial Times. Iranian officials now argue that negotiations alone have failed to prevent repeated attacks. Hassan Ghashghavi, a spokesperson for parliament’s National Security Committee, said Iran’s new Supreme Leader could issue a new ruling on nuclear weapons and “nobody can stop him from doing so.” One insider estimates support for acquiring a bomb has surged from “almost zero to over 50%.”