Gaza Reconstruction; Ukraine Reconstruction -- ‘It’s all Business’

Alastair Crooke, 28 January 2026

Over the past two weeks, two important messages were conveyed to Iran, both of which were rejected.

One came from the US and the other from Israel. The former was: “We [the US] will carry out a limited attack and you should accept it; or at least, give only a symbolic response”. Tehran rejected this request, saying that it would consider any attack to mark the beginning of a full-scale war.

Israel’s message, delivered through one of the various mediators, was: “We will not participate in the American attack”. It asked Iran therefore, to not target Israel. This request also met with a negative response, together with the explicit clarification that were the US to commence military action, Israel would be immediately attacked. In parallel, Iran informed all states in the region that any attack launched from their territory or airspace, would result in an Iranian attack on whomsoever facilitated such US military action.