Day 838 - US amasses firepower in region amid Iranian tension
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
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Summary
Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.
Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
Following Iran's foreign minister's direct threat against the US, Fabian reports on the buildup of potential US offensive and defensive firepower in the region, including an aircraft carrier and fighter jet squadrons.
As the IDF continues its nearly daily strikes against Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, Fabian discusses Israel's tacit agreement with the US that allows it to act against anything it considers an immediate threat, and the Lebanese government's ongoing efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
The IDF reported a 27% rise in settler violence in the West Bank in 2025, says Fabian, who breaks down elements of the report, including the rise in the severity of the settler attacks alongside the decrease in Palestinian terrorism, attributed to the army's sustained offensive activity against terror cells.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
US Central Command announces arrival of F-15 squadron in Mideast amid tensions with Iran
IDF: Settler violence rose by 27% in 2025, severe attacks spiked by over 50%
IDF targets Hezbollah tunnels, rocket launch sites in Lebanon
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IMAGE: In this Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, photo made available by U.S. Navy, a helicopter lifts off of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as it transits the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln sent to the Mideast in May over tensions with Iran transited the narrow Strait of Hormuz for the first time on Tuesday. The ship previously had been in the Arabian Sea outside of the Persian Gulf. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Stephanie Contreras/U.S. Navy via AP)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times Visuals Daily Briefing. It is Wednesday, January 21st, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with military correspondent Emmanuel Fabian. Mani, how are you? |
| 0:14.3 | Hi, Jessica. Good morning. It is day 838 of the war. In the headlines right now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted U.S. President |
| 0:22.9 | Donald Trump's invitation to join the Board of Peace, the Executive Committee of World Leaders, |
| 0:28.3 | overseeing Gaza's reconstruction. Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister issued a, what could be seen |
| 0:34.5 | as a direct threat against the U.S. after his invite to the World Economic |
| 0:39.2 | Forum in Davos was rescinded over the killing of the reported thousands of protesters in the |
| 0:45.8 | weeks of rallies in Iran. We will discuss some aspect of that, the buildup of U.S. firepower in the |
| 0:53.7 | Middle East amid the ongoing tensions |
| 0:56.4 | with Iran. We'll also talk about recent Israel Defense Force statistics regarding the rise |
| 1:02.2 | of settler violence in the West Bank in last year in 2025, and a bit about the ongoing |
| 1:08.7 | strikes in Lebanon against Hezbalah. Stay with us. |
| 1:13.6 | We the Holocaust survivors are a rapidly diminishing group. |
| 1:21.6 | We are in the last moments of being able to share with our young people our first-hand testimonies. Time is rapidly running out. |
| 1:30.3 | Each year sees smaller numbers of survivors able to accompany students on the March of the Living. |
| 1:37.3 | Marching with students and survivors from many countries in those terrible places |
| 1:42.3 | allows our students to learn and understand through stories |
| 1:46.0 | and eyewitness accounts about our resilience, our strength and our determination. |
| 1:52.8 | This Yomashoa, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, many survivors like Ava want to march |
| 1:59.2 | at the International March of the Living in Auschwitz. |
| 2:02.6 | They need your help. |
| 2:04.9 | To sponsor a survivor on the March of the Living, go's start with Iran, U.S. firepower. We had in a story that's pretty high up on the page right now, just a little bit about those movements. |
| 2:36.8 | American fighter jets, American aircraft carrier, moving westward towards the Middle East from Asia. |
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