Israel signals readiness to strike Iran again as talks begin in Oman

Israel’s leaders kept the threat of renewed strikes alive as Abbas Araqchi arrived in Oman to discuss the Strait of Hormuz, narrowing the space for diplomacy just as Washington pushed for a public Iranian pledge to keep the waterway open. The overlap underscored how quickly talks could collapse if attacks on shipping resumed or if Tehran refused to guarantee safe passage.

Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said on July 9 that Israel was prepared to resume military action against Iran if needed and would do so “with even greater force.” Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also publicly signaled that Israel was ready to return to war at a moment’s notice. Those warnings gave negotiators a short runway: any fresh strike on shipping, or any sign that Iran was using the Oman channel to stall while keeping pressure on maritime traffic, could bring Israel back into the fight.

The talks in Oman centered on a narrow but strategically critical issue. Washington wanted a public Iranian commitment that the Strait of Hormuz would remain open to shipping, after tanker traffic through the choke point had fallen to a near standstill amid the violence. U.S. forces had already struck southern Iran in response to attacks on shipping and maritime infrastructure, a reminder that maritime disruptions were no longer a side issue but the core trigger for escalation.

A U.S. official said Washington remained closely coordinated with Jerusalem, which means any diplomatic opening in Oman will be judged against Israel’s readiness to act again. That coordination matters because the leverage on both sides is limited: Iran can inflict immediate economic pain through the Strait of Hormuz, but Israel has shown it can quickly widen the conflict with direct force. The result is a high-risk standoff in which one failed exchange, not a grand bargain, could decide the next phase.

The threat environment is already charged by Iranian-linked assassination fears. The Justice Department said in 2024 that an Iranian national and IRGC member plotted against John Bolton, and the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program has offered up to $20 million in some Iran-linked national security cases. On July 11, Donald Trump said he had left standing orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran at levels it had never seen before if Tehran carried out an assassination attempt, with Vice President JD Vance to make the final call if Trump were incapacitated.