Return to the Middle East

TEHRAN, IRAN – JUNE 13: The view from a living room of a residential building that was destroyed in an attack by Israel on June 13, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. Early this morning, Iran was hit by a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting military and nuclear sites, as well as top military officials. (Photo by Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)

I just boarded my flight back to Israel. This will be my fifth assignment in the region since the October 7, 2023 attack, which changed the world as we know it.

But this time, everything feels different. It looks and seems as though the world has changed yet again, but the metamorphosis is incomplete. More is on the horizon and the days ahead are set to be highly consequential.

The same could be said last year, just ahead of the October 7 one-year anniversary. I remember standing on our balcony in Haifa when Israel and Iran traded blows. I watched as Iranian missiles passed through Syrian airspace and entered Israeli territory as the Iron Dome worked feverishly to make those interceptions.

You can read more about that experience in a dispatch I filed last year called “Riding Out Iran’s Attack.”

That was a day in which the whole region held its breath, yet wasn’t necessarily caught off guard. We knew it was coming. The Biden White House at the time was rather public about the fact that they knew Iran was preparing a salvo, giving Israel a few hours to prepare.

Call it a leak, call it good intelligence, call it whatever you like. The bottom line is that day was more about sending a message than starting a war.

What we saw Thursday of this week, however? A different story. I had been speaking with sources inside the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office throughout the day, and they were steering me toward the possibility of action next week. “Things might get busy,” one Israeli official told me, though it was unlikely anything would come before Shabbat.

Adding to that, the common line of thought was that nothing would kick off before the U.S.’s large-scale military parade Saturday or until the G7 Summit meetings wrapped up in Canada early next week.

Even into the evening hours, Israeli officials refused to change their Home Front command guidance to civilians, which is effectively the marching orders for individuals and the precautions they should take.

We were all caught off guard as Israel played this one close to the vest. They wanted to hit Iran hard and didn’t want anything to make the strikes less effective. With the dust settling, it’s clear Israel landed some big punches.

I am now trying to get back into Israel as quickly as possible before the window of opportunity shuts. The people on the ground there, I know, are describing today as “calm.” It won’t stay that way. They know better, and the whole world knows Tehran is weighing its options. Calculating its response. Preparing for its next step.

Yes indeed, the days ahead are consequential. The sun rose today, and its beating rays cast their glow upon a new world.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but NewsNation intends to be there. Our coverage continues on the ground in the Middle East.