<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/israel" rel="" target="_blank" title="Israel"><span>Israel</span></a><span> has raised its alert level and is stepping up military preparations amid growing indications of a potential joint </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="_blank" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span>-Israel attack on </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/iran" rel="" target="_blank" title="Iran"><span>Iran</span></a><span> in the coming days, two Israeli sources told CNN.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israel has for weeks been sceptical about the US-Iran negotiations and has been accelerating its operational and defensive planning despite the proclaimed progress in the second round of talks yesterday, according to the sources, one of whom is a military official.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The prospective offensive, if authorised by US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="_blank" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span>, is expected to exceed the 12-day war in June and will involve coordinated strikes by both the US and Israel, one of the sources said.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/isis-bride-banned-from-returning-minister-confirms-passports/89c77960-817b-4759-b7aa-6a7c1b2ff32c" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>'ISIS bride' banned from returning, minister confirms passports</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Israeli Prime Minister </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/benjamin-netanyahu" rel="" target="_blank" title="Benjamin Netanyahu"><span>Benjamin Netanyahu</span></a><span> has held several special security consultations this week to assess readiness and coordination, the sources added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are much closer than we were before (to an attack)," former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said today.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Speaking on Israel's Channel 12, he added that while he attended last week's Munich Security Conference, "I would think twice about flying this weekend."</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/israel-raises-alert-level-fears-of-us-israel-strike-on-iran/ee0f01a5-5540-48f7-9f20-303e12db5162" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/lake-tahoe-avalanche-eight-skiers-found-dead-rescue-ongoing/b321700e-c283-4240-9ad9-b34ed14eb5e6" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Eight skiers found dead after US avalanche disaster</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Meanwhile, the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee held a closed-door briefing with the chief of the Israeli military's Home Front Command.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth said that "we are in challenging days facing Iran," and the government and the public are "preparing for any scenario" of confrontation.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><strong><span>Trump's patience with diplomacy in question</span></strong></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>After passing notes for three-and-a-half hours Tuesday, Iranian and American negotiators departed their indirect talks in Geneva with an agreement to keep talking. What they're talking about, exactly, remains an open question.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's unclear if the two sides are focused just on Iran's nuclear program or other issues like the country's ballistic missiles.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Iran's top negotiator said only that they'd arrived at a "set of guiding principles." An American official was more circumspect, acknowledging "there are still a lot of details to discuss."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/mark-zuckerberg-to-testify-in-social-media-addiction-trial/c4f2e056-f4d5-42e1-b955-668aba56a378" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Mark Zuckerberg to testify in watershed social media trial</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The readout hardly eased growing fears of an impending regional war. Some officials have started to wonder how long Trump will allow diplomatic efforts to proceed. Adding to the sense of malaise, Iran conducted military exercises with cruise missiles and boats as the talks were underway, briefly closing the Strait of Hormuz.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump "reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end," Vice President JD Vance said in a Fox News interview, hours after the talks concluded Tuesday. He added that the two sides "agreed to meet afterwards" but that the Iranians have not acknowledged certain "red lines."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>So far, Trump has authorised the incremental back-and-forth that often defines high-stakes international dealmaking, dispatching his envoys Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner to foreign compounds to exchange papers with Iranian diplomats through an Omani intermediary.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Trump is also wary of being "tapped along" by an Iranian regime looking to play for time, according to people familiar with his thinking. His allies have warned him that could be Iran's intent, and Netanyahu emphasised that argument in an urgently scheduled meeting last week.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump is also acutely aware that every passing day without US military action is another day further from his initial promise – now nearly two months old – that he was coming to the assistance of Iranian protesters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>As the talks proceed, Trump has offered only loose deadlines.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I guess over the next month, something like that," he said when asked last Thursday if he envisioned a timeline. "Yeah, it shouldn't take, I mean, it should happen quickly."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>