Almost a week after Israel first targeted Iran’s nuclear sites, both Israel and Iran are targeting larger targets. Israel struck the Khontab nuclear reactor at the Iranian city of Arak, including a heavy-water research reactor still partially under construction. Israel also hit the nuclear site at Natanz again. Meanwhile, Iranian missiles snuck through Israel’s defenses and struck the Tel Aviv area, including near one of Tel Aviv’s embassy quarters. Iran also hit a hospital at the southern city of Beersheba.

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Will America drop the bomb? Speculation abounds whether America will intervene in Israel and Iran’s hot war. We just got a clue as to how President Donald Trump is leaning. Bloomberg reported: “Senior U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter.”

The situation is still evolving and could change, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private talks. Some of the people pointed to potential plans for a weekend strike. Top leaders at a handful of federal agencies have also begun getting ready for an attack, one person said.

The deciding factor is whether President Trump feels the gbu-57, America’s most powerful “bunker buster” bomb, can destroy Fordow, Iran’s most secure known nuclear site. Because the site is buried several hundred feet underground in mountainous terrain, the gbu-57 is the only conventional weapon capable of destroying Fordow. Axios called it “the world’s most powerful nonnuclear bomb.”

Read Mihailo Zekic’s feature story this morning to learn more about the pros and cons of President Trump ordering an attack on Fordow.

According to Axios, “Trump’s doubts Wednesday about the certainty of success are one reason he was still questioning whether to move forward with a strike. … Trump wants to make sure such an attack is really needed, wouldn’t drag the U.S. into a prolonged war in the Middle East—and most of all, would actually achieve the objective of destroying Iran’s nuclear program.”

One U.S. official told Axios: “We’re going to be ready to strike Iran. We’re not convinced yet that we’re necessary. And we want to be unnecessary, but I think the president’s just not convinced we are needed yet.”

Axios’s source claimed, “Pentagon officials told Trump they’re confident” the gbu-57 would get the job done. “But it’s not clear Trump was totally convinced.”

Commandos? Even if President Trump doesn’t go ahead with a strike, Israel may try one anyway. Israeli officials speaking to Axios claimed Israel may try a commando raid on Fordow. Israel told President Trump that while it may not have the bombs to hit Fordow, it may “do it with humans.”

Israel accomplished a smaller-scale version of this last year when it destroyed an underground missile factory in Assadist Syria.

Rift between Russia and China? In a surprising twist, the tight alliance between China and Russia is facing a test. Chinese state-affiliated hackers have launched aggressive cyberattacks targeting Russian government agencies, research institutes and critical infrastructure, exposing vulnerabilities in their partnership. As Russia faces economic strain and internal challenges, China may be seeking to assert dominance in their relationship.

Jeremiah Jacques has written an article about this development. “These developments provide more evidence that Russia and China’s so-called no-limits partnership has always been a marriage of convenience between two extremely self-interested and hyper-narcissistic nations,” he writes.

He shows how this development aligns with biblical prophecies, which foresee a complex dynamic between these Asian giants in the end time.

IN OTHER NEWS

Finland withdraws from anti-landmine treaty: Finland’s Parliament voted yesterday to leave the Ottawa Convention, which forbids the use of anti-personnel landmines. Finland joins Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which have either already done so or are planning to, amid fears of what their neighbor Russia is planning. Europe rearming as a response to Russian aggression is a trend Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry zeroed in on years ago.

Two dragons facing off: For two weeks, two Chinese aircraft carriers have been performing drills near Japan. The ships have sailed through Japan’s exclusive economic zone and some fighter jets have come close to Japanese surveillance planes. Japan is one of China’s most powerfully armed adversaries in the region. That China isn’t afraid to buzz Japan is another proof that its Pacific policy is steering the world toward war.

The weapons of World War III? Germany’s Rheinmetall and U.S. start-up Anduril Industries formed a strategic partnership yesterday to accelerate drone and rocket motor production in Europe. Together, they will develop European variants of Anduril’s Barracuda (a low-cost, mass-produced drone) and Fury (a high-performance, multi-mission drone). We are seeing ever more clearly what the weapon systems of the future will look like. “A prophecy in Revelation 9 describes the military equipment used in this warfare as swarms of locusts. Could these locusts be swarms of various aircraft coordinating their flight patterns through AI?” Mr. Flurry asked in “The Unknown Future of Artificial Intelligence.”

Unscathed by tariffs: China has increased its exports to Europe and Asia—more than making up for decreased exports to the U.S. Where will this trade realignment lead? Our In Brief answers.

Staring into the eyes of a “caveman”: Two papers published in Science and Cell this week announce the claim that scientists have discovered the first skull of a so-called Denisovan human. Paleontologists are claiming this is a massive leap for science. But as our article “The Prehistoric World vs. Genesis” explains, there isn’t much difference between modern man and “Denisovans” in the first place.