The US continues to be on alert for any attack against Israel by Iran or one of its proxy groups, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, adding that it remains prepared to defend its ally and American assets.
Iran has vowed to retaliate after a series of assassinations – blamed on Israel – of Hezbollah and Hamas figures in the region, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“Iran has made those threats and has said that they intend to retaliate and so we have to take that very seriously,” Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder said during a briefing.
“And so we will continue to remain postured, and we are well postured to be able to support the defences of Israel as well as protect our own forces.”
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin held two calls with Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant at the weekend, in which he “underscored the United States' ironclad resolve to support Israel's defence against threats from Iran and its regional partners and proxies”.
On Sunday, Israel struck Hezbollah in southern Lebanon with about 100 fighter jets in what it called “preventive strikes” against the Iran-backed group. Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel.
At least three people were killed in Lebanon and one in Israel in one of the biggest clashes in months of cross-border warfare.
For weeks, Hezbollah has said that it would retaliate against Israel over the killing of senior commander Fouad Shukr in late July.
The prospect of a widened Middle East war comes after 10 months of an Israeli military campaign in Gaza and amid stalled mediated efforts to end it.
The war in Gaza and its high death toll – with more than 40,400 Palestinians killed, according to local health authorities – have increased tension and led to armed groups launching attacks on Israel and US assets in the region.
The war started after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people on October 7.
Maj Gen Ryder said that the US is focused on ensuring that the conflict remains “contained to Gaza” and does not believe that the latest escalation will lead to a full-on war in the Middle East.
“You have seen the cross-border strikes between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah since October 8,” he said.
“What you saw over the weekend, of course, was a much larger scale than what we've seen previously, but it is, in our view, not a wider regional conflict at this stage.
"And so we're going to continue to stay very focused on de-escalation of tensions in the region and preventing it from becoming a wider regional war.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby earlier appeared on Israeli TV, during which he repeated US warnings to Iran not to escalate the situation and said that “we are going to be prepared to defend Israel if it comes to that”.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
The%20Crown%20season%205
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EImelda%20Staunton%2C%20Jonathan%20Pryce%2C%20Lesley%20Manville%2C%20Jonny%20Lee%20Miller%2C%20Dominic%20West%2C%20Elizabeth%20Debicki%2C%20Salim%20Daw%20and%20Khalid%20Abdalla%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWritten%20by%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPeter%20Morgan%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%20stars%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Stree
Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Movies
Director: Amar Kaushik
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurana, Abhishek Banerjee
Rating: 3.5
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
