A report published on Wednesday by The Jerusalem Post has directly contradicted assertions made by the Financial Times, which claimed that Israel had finalized plans to execute military strikes in Iran on October 10 but stood down following objections raised by U.S. President Donald Trump.
1+According to sources with close knowledge of defense deliberations, Israel substantially elevated its operational alert levels during that window. Still, it did so exclusively out of concern over a prospective Iranian assault planned around the anniversary of the October 7 massacres. The military was not ordered, structured, or mobilized to execute an offensive strike inside Iranian territory.
The report notes that since the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took effect on April 7, Israeli defense forces have been placed on heightened wartime readiness on multiple separate occasions. This elevated posture was designed to facilitate rapid retaliation should intelligence detect imminent Iranian launches, or in the event President Trump decided to initiate a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against the Islamic Republic.
1+One such alert period took place in the days surrounding October 7, when the Israeli defense establishment identified tangible indications that Tehran might exploit the symbolic anniversary of Hamas’s invasion to initiate a new round of confrontation with Israel. However, contrary to the narrative published in the British press, the sources affirmed that neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, nor any political leadership entity ever instructed the IDF to prepare an offensive, preemptive strike against Iran.
Security officials emphasized that the posture differed fundamentally from the operational preparations carried out before direct military clashes with Iran in June 2025 and early 2026, when the government issued explicit directives to prepare and launch strike assets. The sources stressed that distinguishing between elevated defensive vigilance against an Iranian attack and tactical readiness for an Israeli strike is a critical operational fact.