For Israel, this coming November will be a turnaround month. With all due respect to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s West Bank annexation plans, Israel’s security forces are eyeing a far more distant issue, still the main strategic threat facing the country: The ayatollah regime in Iran.
Israel is awaiting the US presidential elections, and so are the Iranians. The tense waiting period is unlikely to see any changes in the war the two sides are waging against each other — Iran with Hezbollah’s backing and Israel with US support. Western and Israeli intelligence assessments place Iran on the edge of a precipice, with its foreign currency reserves forecast to run out at the end of the year. Iran’s economy is undergoing a rapid, painful downturn.