Developments in the US war, Israel against Iran are the leading topic in the world press, writes BTA.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that he sees "breakthroughs" both in the Iranian government and "on the ground", writes the French newspaper "Le Monde".
Iran "is on the verge of being destroyed", its arsenal of drones and missiles has been greatly reduced, and Israel "is winning the war", the prime minister also said at his televised press conference, emphasizing that Iran can no longer enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles.
The destruction of these programs was a key goal of the American-Israeli offensive, the French publication reminds.
Netanyahu added that he was not sure "who is currently ruling Iran". "What we are seeing is that there is a lot of tension among those who are fighting for power," he stressed during his press conference.
Unlike Donald Trump, the Israeli prime minister did not rule out the possibility of deploying Israeli ground troops, Le Monde notes.
However, Netanyahu said that Trump had asked Israel to refrain from new attacks on Iran's gas fields, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Iranian attacks on liquefied natural gas facilities at the Qatari industrial site of Ras Laffan have reduced the country's export capacity by 17% and will take three to five years to restore, the country's energy minister said.
Netanyahu added that Israel had acted alone in its strike on a gas facility in Iran earlier this week.
The strike on the field was the missile attack that changed the course of the war, the British newspaper "Telegraph" wrote. Iranian media reported that oil tanks had been set on fire, but the real damage was elsewhere.
Wars escalate according to a certain, albeit unwritten, set of rules that both sides understand. If you hit military targets, we hit military targets; if you hit transportation infrastructure, we hit transportation infrastructure and so on. So it was not surprising that Iran immediately announced that it would strike oil and gas facilities in the Persian Gulf. Iranian drones have targeted targets in neighboring countries, striking energy infrastructure in Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Two Iranian ballistic missiles hit Ras Laffan in Qatar, the world's largest gas facility, causing an uncontrollable fire.
The retaliatory strikes on energy facilities, as expected, caused a surge in gas and oil prices on world markets.
So far, the United States has been careful not to attack Iranian energy facilities, the British publication notes, indicating that, according to analysts, the strike showed differences in the interests of Washington and Tel Aviv. Trump loves quick victories of the type he recently achieved in Venezuela, and has reportedly been looking for a "way out" for more than a week from the Middle East.
He faces an election in November, and with rising US gas prices, a slumping stock market and expected inflation, he is under pressure to end the war and bring US troops home.
It may be a coincidence, but the Israeli strike came just two days after Trump said the war "will soon be over," the Telegraph notes.
Netanyahu's interests are different:
He is waging war against what his politicians have long called the "head of the snake" – a regime that has long called for the destruction of Israel and funded terrorist groups to help it do so.
Nathan Brown, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said in an article this week that Israel's traditional security policy, based on "deterrence and diplomacy," has given way to "something harsher: a preference for domination, humiliation, and preventing the resurgence of adversaries" since the October 7, 2023 massacre. This is in stark contrast to the "stability" in the Middle East that almost every American administration has sought, at least in words, since the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, the Telegraph newspaper emphasizes.
Trump also wants to save America's long-term relationship in the Persian Gulf. But Israel's economy is largely isolated from the region, and from the beginning of the war, Israel has been the party escalating the conflict.
There has been no sign of remorse from the Israeli side after the gas field strike and the subsequent escalation - especially ahead of the upcoming general elections.
According to an Israeli military official, the attack on the gas field is part of the country's efforts to bring about the collapse of the Iranian regime by disrupting gas supplies to civilians at a tense time due to religious holidays. According to experts, Iran's water infrastructure is also extremely vulnerable, with a desalination plant already being hit. A senior Israeli defense expert told the "Telegraph" back in 2023 that the Israeli army has long had plans to destroy Iran's water supply system - also with the aim of bringing about regime change.
At the same time, the US president mocked Japan during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, recalling Pearl Harbor in connection with the war in Iran, notes the British newspaper "The Guardian". "Who knows more about surprise than Japan?" Trump asked in response to a question about why he had not warned his allies in Europe and Asia about the start of the war in Iran.
This provoked laughter, which suddenly died down when he asked "Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor", the British publication notes.
"This would be funny if it weren't so typical Trumpian", adds "The Guardian", pointing out that the meeting again showed Takaichi's ability to charm Trump, after his repeated complaints to the cameras and on the Internet that US allies, including Japan, had not heeded his request to help secure the Strait of Hormuz after he declared war on Iran. He said yesterday that the aid was not needed, but made other comments that suggested he still expected support, saying it was "appropriate for people to get involved."
For Japan, sending the Self-Defense Forces overseas is a politically sensitive issue - the nation is officially pacifist, and many voters support the US-imposed 1947 constitution, which renounces war.
Takaichi later told reporters that the two leaders agreed that ensuring the safety of the strait was paramount, but she had explained in detail to Trump the actions Japan could and could not take under its law.