Israel’s Defense Minister Says Military Ready to Resume Strikes on Iran, Tied to U.S. Approval

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel is prepared to resume the war against Iran and is “awaiting a green light from the United States,” according to AFP’s account of a video statement he issued Thursday, a public escalation that explicitly tied any renewed attack to U.S. approval.

In the same statement, AFP reported, Katz said Israel had already selected targets and threatened strikes against both Iran’s leadership and critical infrastructure. “The IDF is ready both defensively and offensively, and the targets have been marked,” AFP quoted him as saying. AFP also reported Katz saying: “We are awaiting a green light from the United States — first and foremost to complete the elimination of the Khamenei dynasty … and additionally to return Iran to the Dark Age and the Stone Age by destroying key energy and electricity facilities and dismantling its national economic infrastructure.” The wire coverage reviewed showed no immediate U.S. statement specifically endorsing or rejecting Katz’s remarks.

The comments came a day after President Donald Trump announced an indefinite extension of the ceasefire to allow further negotiations, according to Reuters and other contemporaneous reporting summarized in the research. That timing made Katz’s statement especially striking: while Washington had just moved to preserve a pause in fighting, Israel’s defense minister publicly framed renewed military action as ready to proceed once the United States approves it.

AFP situated Katz’s remarks within the broader war involving the United States, Israel and Iran that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes in late February 2026, on or around Feb. 28. AFP summarized that conflict as having killed several thousand people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, underscoring the scale of a war that has already exacted a heavy toll even during periods of attempted diplomacy.

Katz’s language also suggested that any new Israeli offensive would be broader and harsher than earlier rounds. “This time, when the attack resumes, it will be different and lethal, adding devastating blows at the most sensitive points — following the tremendous strikes the Iranian terror regime has already sustained — that will shake and bring down its foundations,” AFP quoted him as saying.

The significance of the statement was not only the threat itself, but the way Katz described the decision-making. Israeli officials have often signaled readiness to act against Iran, but Katz, in AFP’s account, put the United States at the center of the next step by saying Israel was waiting for American approval. Coming immediately after Trump’s ceasefire extension, the statement publicly increased pressure on the diplomatic track and underscored how closely any renewed Israeli strike is being linked to Washington.