As military strikes continue across Iran and Israel, two men continue to grapple for control of a situation threatening to dissolve into outright war.

Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it has developed strong economic and military ties with Iran.

By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Iran once ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the boy who cried wolf for his constant public warnings about Tehran's nuclear programme, and his repeated threats to shut it down,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised the possibility of strikes in a phone conversation with President Trump, according to two U.S. officials. Trump responded that he would like to see diplomacy run its course before turning to military options.

Benjamin Netanyahu has said for three decades that the central threat to Israel’s existence is Iran’s nuclear program. At least twice over that period, he came within inches of carrying out an attack on it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will sit down for an interview airing Sunday with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, his first since Israel's strikes on Iran.

Mr. Netanyahu said Israel was facing “difficult days, but great days” ahead. He also repeatedly invoked the Holocaust — the annihilation of European Jewry — as a reason not to treat a nuclear Iran lightly. “Together, with God’s help, we will ensure Israel’s eternity,” he said.

Israel will strike ‘every site and target of Ayatollahs’ regime’, says Netanyahu - Netanyahu claims to have set Iran’s nuclear program back ‘by years’

Netanyahu vows to strike 'every target of Ayatollahs' regime' as UK moves RAF jets - Iran warned Israel’s allies, including the UK, that it will target their regional military bases if they help shoot down Iranian missiles,