Two Former Israeli Ministers Back Military Solution to Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

Leader of the opposition and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a media statement as he leaves the prime minister's office after receiving a security update with Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid regarding the Iran nuclear deal in Jerusalem, Israel, 29 August 2022. (EPA)
Leader of the opposition and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a media statement as he leaves the prime minister's office after receiving a security update with Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid regarding the Iran nuclear deal in Jerusalem, Israel, 29 August 2022. (EPA)
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Two Former Israeli Ministers Back Military Solution to Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions

Leader of the opposition and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a media statement as he leaves the prime minister's office after receiving a security update with Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid regarding the Iran nuclear deal in Jerusalem, Israel, 29 August 2022. (EPA)
Leader of the opposition and former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a media statement as he leaves the prime minister's office after receiving a security update with Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid regarding the Iran nuclear deal in Jerusalem, Israel, 29 August 2022. (EPA)

Israeli government and opposition leaders have brought the issue of Iran and confronting its nuclear project and all its military activities into their campaigns for the upcoming elections.

Two former ministers said that the “military option” is the only solution to confront Tehran, and that the Iranians “know that current prime minister, Yair Lapid, is not fit to lead Israel in such a war.”

According to the ministers, Israelis prefer a strong leader like former prime minister and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Lapid and Netanyahu held a meeting on Monday to discuss the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the talks between Iran and world powers which appeared to have advanced in the past week.

After the briefing with Lapid, Netanyahu said he was “more concerned about Iran” than before the meeting. He accused Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz of failing to prevent a “disastrous Iran nuclear deal.”

Furthermore, he accused the government of “childishly working on a dangerous issue.”

He indicated that Lapid “is primarily committed to the US administration, not Israel's interests.”

“Iran has witnessed three decades of international efforts to deter its nuclear program and its military projects to dominate the Middle East. Yet no methods of action have worked so far,” said Yoav Galant, former minister of construction and housing.

“The only solution to stop it is to go to a military operation or to seriously threaten a military operation. Nothing else works. Everything else is just talk,” he added.

Former minister of strategic affairs, Yuval Steinitz echoed Galant’s statements on military pressure being the only way to get Iran to abandon its nuclear and regional ambitions.

“The world must admit that its diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions have failed to influence Iran to change its aggressive course, and there are no longer any pressure tools other than military pressure,” he told local radio on Tuesday.



Ukrainian Drone Attack Sets Russia’s Major Kirishi Oil Refinery on Fire, Governor Says

A handout still image taken from a video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service and made available 06 November 2026 shows Russian servicemen monitoring the skies against Ukrainian drones at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout)
A handout still image taken from a video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service and made available 06 November 2026 shows Russian servicemen monitoring the skies against Ukrainian drones at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout)
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Ukrainian Drone Attack Sets Russia’s Major Kirishi Oil Refinery on Fire, Governor Says

A handout still image taken from a video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service and made available 06 November 2026 shows Russian servicemen monitoring the skies against Ukrainian drones at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout)
A handout still image taken from a video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service and made available 06 November 2026 shows Russian servicemen monitoring the skies against Ukrainian drones at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (EPA/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/Handout)

A Ukrainian drone struck the Kirishi oil refinery, Russia's second-largest, in an overnight attack that set it on fire, the governor of the northwestern Leningrad region said on Monday, adding that one woman had died in the attack.

The region is a major export outlet ‌for grain and ‌oil in the Russian part of the ‌Baltic ⁠Sea.

The attack is ⁠the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, which Kyiv has stepped up since the end of October after an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump failed to take hold in a meaningful way.

Ukraine has targeted the Kirishi refinery several times before. ⁠The refinery has a capacity of 20 ‌million metric tons, or about ‌400,000 barrels per day.

Unverified social media video showed what looked ‌like a major blaze at the facility.

The governor, Alexander ‌Drozdenko, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that authorities had contained the fire at the refinery and were dealing with the aftermath.

He added that a woman had been ‌killed by drone debris that fell on the roof of her apartment building in the ⁠town of Vsevolozhsk.

Drozdenko ⁠said air defense forces had downed 113 Ukrainian drones in total overnight and that the attack had also damaged an apartment in the town of Kirishi.

The refinery, formally known as Kirishinefteorgsintez, is located about 800 km (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Trump has blamed Ukraine's refinery attacks for rising diesel and gasoline prices in the United States, where soaring fuel costs helped rival Democrats to win Tuesday's midterm legislative elections. Trump has since said that his decision — with Israel — to attack Iran played a major role in causing fuel prices to spike.


Building Fire Kills 14 in China’s Northern City of Taiyuan

Firefighters work at the site of a fire at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, November 8, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a fire at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, November 8, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
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Building Fire Kills 14 in China’s Northern City of Taiyuan

Firefighters work at the site of a fire at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, November 8, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)
Firefighters work at the site of a fire at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, November 8, 2026. (cnsphoto via Reuters)

A fire on Sunday at a high-rise building in Taiyuan, the capital of China's northern province of Shanxi, killed at least 14 people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

State media said 25 people were still in hospital, nine with serious injuries, citing authorities after the fire broke ‌out on Sunday ‌evening in the building ‌on ⁠a busy downtown ⁠main road.

Smoke billowed over the 40-storey structure as firefighters poised on cranes outside fought flames that spread upward from a lower annex, video images circulated online and verified by Reuters showed.

The ⁠fire appears to have ‌started around the ‌fourth floor of the annex before spreading ‌to the eighth and ninth floors, ‌which house a hotel, the state broadcaster said.

The entire building is a mixed-use commercial and residential property with several hotels, short-term ‌rental apartments, smaller venues as well as tutoring centers, the report ⁠said.

The ⁠fire was put out after about two hours and authorities said rescue operations wrapped up by 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night, with 38 people taken to hospital.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire in the northern manufacturing hub, state media added.


Kremlin Denies that Europeans Will Participate in Abu Dhabi Peace Talks

FILED - 19 December 2024, Russia, Moscow: FILE PHOTO - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual end-of-year press conference. Photo: Kremlin Press Office/dpa -
FILED - 19 December 2024, Russia, Moscow: FILE PHOTO - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual end-of-year press conference. Photo: Kremlin Press Office/dpa -
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Kremlin Denies that Europeans Will Participate in Abu Dhabi Peace Talks

FILED - 19 December 2024, Russia, Moscow: FILE PHOTO - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual end-of-year press conference. Photo: Kremlin Press Office/dpa -
FILED - 19 December 2024, Russia, Moscow: FILE PHOTO - Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual end-of-year press conference. Photo: Kremlin Press Office/dpa -

The Kremlin said on Monday that peace talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi this week would take place between Russian, Ukrainian and US ‌delegations in ‌a three-way format, ‌not ⁠including European officials.

Kremlin ⁠spokesman Dmitry Peskov's comments to reporters appeared to conflict with a statement on ⁠Sunday by French Foreign ‌Minister ‌Jean-Noel Barrot, who ‌said French representatives would ‌be present at the November 10-11 meeting, where the sides are ‌set to discuss ending the war ⁠in ⁠Ukraine, post-war security pacts and de-escalation.

Peskov said the Ukrainians and the US both had their own communication channels with European counterparts.