Month: July 2026

It is impossible for anyone outside the highest levels of the White House and Pentagon to know whether a massive attack on Iran will begin within the next 72 hours.

But something is clearly happening.

The evidence is no longer based merely on anonymous social-media accounts tracking aircraft or interpreting unusual military movements. President Donald Trump has publicly confirmed that he is close to deciding whether to launch an attack on Iran that could be “bigger than ever before.” American and Israeli officials have reportedly said expanded combat operations could begin within days.

Trump has also declared that the United States will attack Iran’s deeply buried Pickaxe Mountain facility “very soon.” The underground complex near Natanz is believed by Israeli intelligence to contain thousands of centrifuges moved into tunnels hundreds of feet beneath the mountain.

These are not vague warnings about unspecified future consequences. They are descriptions of targets, weapons and operations that appear to be under active consideration.

When the tribe built Petra, though, they developed a unique system of conduits, dams and cisterns to harvest, store and distribute rainwater for year-round use.

At certain times of year, the area around the city was prone to flooding. However, the Nabateans were able to effectively control these floods using dams and, therefore, the city’s water supply.

This meant that they could reside in the city even during periods of drought. It also improved the crop yields of Nabatean farmers.

For almost two weeks, American forces have conducted nightly attacks against Iranian air defenses, coastal radar installations, anti-ship missile positions, drone-launching facilities, military command centers and maritime infrastructure.

Reuters reported that these attacks were not simply retaliation for individual Iranian actions. They were also destroying capabilities the United States would want eliminated before undertaking more complicated operations deeper inside Iran.

That is what military planners call shaping the battlefield.

The arrival of the B-1B Lancer in the renewed campaign provides another important signal. A B-1 reportedly flew from a British base to strike Revolutionary Guard targets, marking its first use since the latest fighting began. The aircraft can carry up to 75,000 pounds of conventional weapons, including two dozen 2,000-pound bombs or up to 24 long-range JASSM cruise missiles.

A B-1 is not necessarily the weapon that would be used against Iran’s deepest underground chambers. Its importance is volume. It can deliver an enormous number of precision weapons against command centers, missile sites, aircraft shelters, military industries and infrastructure during a single mission.

A strike against Pickaxe Mountain would probably require a different package. During the earlier attack on Iran’s Fordow facility, the United States used B-2 stealth bombers carrying 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrators. Fighter aircraft suppressed Iranian air defenses while a submarine launched Tomahawk missiles against other targets. Decoy aircraft were sent in another direction to conceal the operation.

A new attack could follow a similar pattern, but on a much wider scale: stealth bombers attacking underground facilities, B-1s delivering large numbers of conventional weapons, fighters suppressing remaining air defenses, ships and submarines launching cruise missiles, and cyber and electronic-warfare operations attempting to blind Iranian communications.

Dozens of additional American refueling aircraft have also reportedly been positioned in Israel as the administration considers bombing Iran’s nuclear and strategic infrastructure. Refueling aircraft are essential when large numbers of combat aircraft must remain over distant targets for extended operations.

The United States may therefore be preparing for something considerably larger than another night of limited retaliatory strikes.

The most likely opening targets would be those capable of threatening American aircraft, bases and ships: air-defense batteries, ballistic-missile launchers, drone facilities, coastal missile sites, Revolutionary Guard command centers and military communications.

A second wave could strike Iran’s strategic infrastructure.

Trump has explicitly threatened to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant for every additional commercial vessel attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. His administration has also discussed strikes against nuclear facilities, energy infrastructure and the fortified Pickaxe Mountain complex.

More dangerous options have reportedly included deploying American troops to seize Kharg Island, through which much of Iran’s oil historically flows. That would be far more escalatory than an air campaign because it could require amphibious forces, special-operations troops and the continuing defense of captured Iranian territory.

A ground invasion of Iran still appears highly unlikely. A concentrated campaign intended to destroy strategic assets, punish the leadership and force Tehran to reopen shipping routes is much more plausible.

The central danger is that Iran has already explained what it would do next.
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The Nabateans living and trading in Petra soon accumulated a significant amount of wealth, and an envious Greek Empire attacked the city in 312 B.C. This event marks the first reference to Petra in recorded history.

The Nabateans successfully fought back the Greek invaders by taking advantage of the mountainous terrain surrounding the city. The mountains effectively served as a natural wall, buttressing Petra.

However, the Greek incursion was not the last time the city would come under attack.

In fact, the Romans would invade Petra in 106 A.D., and ultimately forced the Nabateans to surrender. The Roman Empire annexed the newly gained territory and changed its name to Arabia Petraea.

They continued to rule over the city for more than 250 years until the middle of the fourth century A.D., when an earthquake destroyed many of its buildings. The Byzantines eventually took control of the region, and governed Petra for some 300 years.

Tehran has warned Gulf governments that American attacks on Iran’s electrical grid would produce “unlimited retaliation” against countries hosting American military forces.

Those threats cannot be dismissed as empty rhetoric. Earlier in the conflict, Iranian missiles and drones damaged Qatar’s enormous Ras Laffan energy complex, targeted Saudi facilities, set fires at Kuwaiti refineries and forced the United Arab Emirates to shut gas installations.

Iran could attempt to strike American bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It could simultaneously target electrical plants, oil terminals, refineries, pipelines and water-desalination facilities belonging to those countries.

Desalination plants are particularly consequential because several Gulf nations depend heavily on them for drinking water. Even limited disruption could create panic, force emergency rationing and place enormous pressure on governments that want no part in the war.

Israel would almost certainly prepare for renewed ballistic-missile attacks. Municipalities including Ramat Gan, Eilat and Karmiel have opened public shelters after local assessments concluded that the danger of Iranian missile fire over the weekend was no longer negligible. Israeli officials reportedly believe that an American attack against strategic Iranian infrastructure or senior regime figures could cause Tehran to bring Israel directly back into the conflict.

The shelter openings are therefore meaningful. But they are precautionary indicators–not proof that Israel has received the exact time of an impending American attack.

that is, over wicked men in it, who are in a state of darkness itself; and so Satan is called the prince, and god of the world, (John 12:31 ) ( 2 Corinthians 4:4 ) . The Jews use this very word, the apostle does here, of the angel of death; who is called darkness ^F6; and the devil is called by them, (Kvwx lv rv) , “the prince of darkness” ^F7; and mention is made by them of (amle ykwvx) , “the darkness of the world” ^F8; from whom the apostle seems to have taken these phrases, as being in common use among the Jews; who also use it of civil governors ^F9, and render it, as here, “the rulers of the world”, and say it signifies monarchs, such as rule from one end of the world to the other ^F11: some copies, and the Ethiopic version, leave out the phrase, of this world. It follows,

The site is considered significant by historians and archeologists alike because of its beautiful rock-cut architecture and innovative water management system, the latter of which made the region inhabitable, given that it is surrounded by desert and rugged, mountainous terrain.

Petra has also been referred to as the “Rose City” because of the color of the stones used in its buildings. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

 

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Iran may also retaliate indirectly by attempting to choke the world’s energy arteries.

The Strait of Hormuz is already heavily disrupted. Now the Houthis are attempting to threaten Saudi shipping through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb.

Reuters reports that Iran recently transported Revolutionary Guard commanders, military advisers and missile- and drone-related equipment into Houthi-controlled Yemen. Days later, the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi shipping and attacked Saudi oil tankers.

That creates a potential two-chokepoint crisis: Iran threatening traffic through Hormuz while its Houthi allies threaten traffic between the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Oil has already climbed above $100 per barrel. The two waterways together handle roughly one-quarter of global petroleum supplies, and insurers are sharply increasing the cost of sending ships through threatened areas.

A sustained shutdown could produce fuel shortages, inflation, disrupted supply chains and a major global recession. Predictions of an automatic worldwide depression, failed banks and the immediate collapse of civilization go well beyond what the evidence presently supports. But the economic danger is unquestionably severe.