A little surprisingly, Wednesday's rhetoric by President Donald Trump was not answered immediately with more bluster by Iranian officials, and it wasn't until Thursday morning that Iran responded by reiterating earlier threats. But Trump was clear in his aggressive stance towards Iran, which is now morphing from military to economic.
After saying about Iran that "the deal didn't turn out the way they said it would be. You know, when they tell us one thing and do another,” the President continued to describe the new path that will be used against the Islamic regime. He wrote on his Truth Social account that "no one has given the Islamic Republic a greater opportunity for a deal than I have,” and announced an economic operation against Iran, which he said will be "the most crushing ever taken against any country.”
"This will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale. This will be economic D-Day, and we need all our allies to bring down the Iranian threat," said the president. He was also clear that any nation that allows economic relations with Iran will also face devastating economic consequences. This strategy seems a likely extension of what the U.S. has been claiming to already have been doing with Iranian economics as well as the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded late Thursday morning with a threat they have said often in the last weeks. "If war breaks out again, our weapons will be different, with the difference potentially manifesting in the production of warheads, precision, missile range or any other area. Iran has never stopped producing and developing weapons. All options in this area are open." Again, they pointed out that they have never, and will never, operate in good faith, and that their intent remains the destruction of Western culture in favor of a worldwide caliphate.
In a different area, Israel successfully damaged Syrian air force bases that were to be used by the Turkish air force and were exceptionally close to the Israeli border. There have been recent movements of Turkish military into Syria, and Israel is clear about the danger that would erupt at the border, God forbid. The U.S. spent Tuesday trying to de-escalate the situation, while Netanyahu said that Israel "will not tolerate Turkish military entrenchment in Syria that threatens the state. We made the message clear: Don't. Apparently they didn't hear it well enough, so we made sure they understood it better." Other officials on both sides pointed out that this may be an overreach by Erdogan, who has always wanted a renewed Turkish Islamic Empire.
The good news is that Turkey, like Syria, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, is mostly Sunni Muslim, whereas Iran and its proxies are Shiite, and there is traditional and ancient conflict between the two, so Turkey is more concerned right now with Iran. The not-so-good news is that the observant Sunni Muslims also have the same theological adherence to the Koran, and ultimately look to destroy Israel and the West in the creation of a worldwide caliphate of Sharia law.
But today is the 7th of Elul, a day of hope and cleansing, as it is the yahrzeit of the last of the "scouts" whose lack of faith kept us out of the Promised Land thousands of years ago. These were men who, despite seeing the miracles of the 10 Plagues, the crossing of the Sea, the giving of the Torah, and more, chose to embrace fear over faith. Today is a reminder that ours is not a blind faith, but a faith borne out by thousands of years of miracles. It is a time, as we prepare for Rosh HaShanah, for us to choose faith over fear.
May we all take today and base every choice we make upon faith; and reject, for at least this one day, the sickness of fear. And in so doing, may we all experience the inner peace that comes with "emunah shlema,” "complete faith.”
Chazak u'Baruch
Rabbi Michael Barclay
August 20, 2026
7th of Elul, 5786
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