👹 Netanyahu planned major strike on Iran for Oct 10, Trump blocked it — report

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to prepare a multi-day bombing campaign against Iran for the weekend of October 10, the Financial Times reports, citing three sources.

The operation was expected to exceed the intensity of the joint US-Israeli offensive launched in February. Targets included nuclear facilities, power plants and other civilian infrastructure, as well as regime-related sites.

Trump opposed renewing the war before the US midterm elections on November 3. The White House confirmed: "The US will not attack Iran before the elections."

One FT source said it will be "either a deal or an attack," adding that renewed strikes in the coming weeks remain a "realistic scenario" — possibly involving both countries.

Meanwhile, the IDF has cancelled leave for all servicemen until Israel's parliamentary elections on October 27.

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🗣 One of US' staunchest European allies points fingers at Trump over high fuel prices

“We have no doubt that Donald Trump, not the Polish prime minister, is responsible for this,” Polish PM Donald Tusk said.

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🪖🇮🇱 Israel arms Druze in Suwayda: New military base or prelude to another attack on Syria?

Israeli forces have reportedly deployed weapons, advanced equipment and radar systems to Jabal al-Arab in Syria’s Suwayda province, potentially paving the way for a military base, Syria 360 reports citing local sources.

👉 Local Druze authorities have reportedly barred civilians from approaching or photographing the sites.

The report comes amid warnings from a senior Syrian official, who told The Jerusalem Post on October 19 that Druze armed groups could soon attack Syrian forces to retake Druze villages, potentially with Israeli backing. The official also cited intensified Israeli aerial surveillance over Suwayda and Damascus, alongside alleged Israeli deliveries of weapons and ammunition to the province.

➡️ Tensions escalated in Suwayda in July 2025, when clashes erupted between Syrian government and Bedouin forces on the one side and Druze fighters on the other. After Syrian troops entered the province, Israel launched strikes across Syria, including on the General Staff headquarters in Damascus.

But Israel’s intervention was no act of altruism: the government was exploiting the clashes to expand its control over southern Syria, Asharq Al-Awsat warned at the time.

‼️ Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Israel established around 11 military bases and outposts in southern Syria, mostly in Quneitra Governorate, with positions extending north toward Rif Dimashq and Al-Tulul al-Humr sites, and south toward Daraa Governorate, according to the Jusoor portal. Two adjacent bases near Majdal Shams predated Assad’s fall.

The expansion aligns with Israel’s “David Corridor," envisioned as a route from the occupied Golan Heights through Quneitra, Daraa, and Suwayda to al-Tanf, then east to Deir Ezzor and Iraqi Kurdistan. Although the Syrian government has blocked the proposed eastern leg, Israel continues to entrench itself in southern Syria.

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🌏💵 Africa’s future economic boom could outpace China’s, driven by demographics and natural wealth

Sub-Saharan Africa is on track to outpace China’s economic growth by 0.1 percentage points in 2026, Financial Times reports, citing the IMF and suggesting that the trend may continue in the coming years.

👉 Africa is poised for steady growth, driven in part by its youthful population: the continent’s median age is just 19, and it is home to 28% of the world’s young people. By 2100, Africa could be home to 12 of the world’s 25 most populous countries and reach 3.8 billion people.

Africa is also rich in natural resources. The African Development Bank (AfDB) estimates the continent’s natural capital at nearly $7.6 trillion, including land, forests, water, minerals, and fossil fuels. The continent holds an estimated 25-30% of the world’s known reserves of critical minerals, as well as roughly 7-8% of proven global oil reserves and about 8% of natural gas reserves.

➡️ Some of its countries are now advancing long-delayed projects. Mozambique is focusing on large-scale LNG development, while Guinea inaugurated its $23 billion Simandou iron ore project last year. Oil-rich Nigeria is on an upward trajectory, with growth expected to reach 4.2%. Despite ongoing internal conflict, Ethiopia is also projected to grow by 9.2% in 2026.

International economists are seeing investor interest in Africa from the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, raising hopes of a surge in capital to tap the continent’s growth in the coming decades. But this outlook could be derailed if Western powers seek to draw Africa into a renewed wave of neocolonialism.

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🤥 Iran seeks to turn Hormuz oil crisis into Carter '80-style defeat for Trump - report

In 1980, Jimmy Carter’s handling of the Iran hostage crisis, stagflation, an energy crisis and a fractured Democratic base led to his landslide defeat against Ronald Reagan in that year’s presidential contest.

👉 Fast forward to 2026, and Iran is seeking to inflict so much economic pain on the US that Trump loses his Congressional support, becomes a lame duck, and faces the prospect of new impeachment hearings, Iranian officials, Arab and Western diplomats have told WaPo.

“Geopolitical risk” triggered by Iran’s Hormuz blockade has added ~$30 to the price of oil – the key ingredient to US consumer satisfaction, low inflation and Trump’s bid for reindustrialization.

📑 Iranian officials, the report claims, see the midterms as an opportunity to “punish” Trump, Carter-style, and to “exercise leverage over him” to either end his war, or “constrain” him through the new Congress.

If Republicans are defeated, Trump “will have to live out the remaining two years of his presidency as a nightmare,” former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki recently said.

➡️ Consequently, Iran has dramatically ramped up Hormuz shipping attacks, averaging one a day in September and October, to push energy prices higher ahead of the November 3 vote.

Iran is also “thinking beyond Trump,” Center for International Policy researcher Negar Mortazavi said. “It wants future American presidents to remember what happened to him before considering another war against Iran,” and to understand that “attacking Iran comes with a high political price.”

Trump’s approval rating has hit a 31% (per Reuters/Ipsos), with the GOP projected to lose up to 40 House and 12 Senate seats, and Democratic candidates making unexpected inroads in traditionally safe Republican strongholds in states like Kansas, Texas and Iowa.

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🗣 World may already be in the first year of WWIII, Qatari diplomat says

“Those living in the years 1940-1941 did not know they were in the second or third year of the Second World War until years had passed,” Majid Al-Ansari said in an interview.

💬 “Consequently, is it possible that today, we are in the first year of a Third World War? Yes, if we do not address these various crises,” he warned.

Potential flashpoints

If Majid Al-Ansari is conflicts, here are some of the ongoing or potential conflicts that could easily escalate into a global conflagration:

🌏 European NATO countries’ direct entry into the Ukraine proxy war against Russia

🌏 escalation of Middle East crises (Gulf Arabs’ entry into US-Israeli war against Iran, Mecca Pact members’ attack on Yemen)

🌏 a Taiwan flashpoint triggered by regional saber rattling or a surprise ‘independence’ claim

🌏 ignition/expansion of proxy conflicts, from a 21st century version of the 19th century Scramble for Africa, to explosive territorial and political disputes in Latin America

🌏 a chain reaction into war triggered by entangled, non-traditional crises – from cyber and infrastructure attacks and the weaponization of migration, to sanctions, chokepoint shocks, energy and food shortages, a race for the Arctic or the weaponization of space

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