The M-75s (or Fajr-5 missiles, depending on the report) that landed in an open space south of Jerusalem on Friday, in Kfar Etzion, were labeled by Hamas as “surprises.”

This is Hezbollah terminology. In Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah’s hands, the psychological potency of his threats have often been enormous.

During the first days of the 2006 Second Lebanon War he, too, promised surprises, and shortly thereafter on July 14 Hezbollah fired a C-802 surface-to-sea missile, striking and nearly sinking an Israeli Navy missile ship.

Hamas, however, stripped of most of its long-range weapons and of its supreme commander, appears to be flailing (though not cowed, by any means). The “surprises” landed in open space approximately 8 miles shy of Jerusalem, the very extreme limit of Hamas’s rocket range.

The rockets proved that Hamas is willing to fire at a city holy to Islam and at an area where many Muslims live but, as opposed to Hezbollah, it was unable to inflict damage.

More encouragingly, it is increasingly fabricating achievements.  Three hours before the rockets were fired, the organization claimed to have hit the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Thursday witnessed a flurry of false claims, including the killing of several soldiers on a jeep.

“This is a positive sign,” said Lt. Col Avital Leibovich of the IDF Spokesperson’s Office, noting that it spoke to a sense of desperation and a dearth of true achievements.

That said, Friday’s fire is also a show of defiance and an escalation.

Terror organizations, when facing the IDF, have a comparatively infinitesimal weapons supply. Their strategic goal, therefore, in terms of their ability to deter the IDF, is to use those weapons wisely, ratcheting up the pressure with each increase in range.

This is why Nasrallah promised to hit targets “ba’ad, ba’ad Haifa”(beyond, beyond Haifa) toward the end of the Second Lebanon War. This enabled him to respond to each massive Israeli increase in pressure by snaking his fire ever-further south, toward Tel Aviv.

Hamas seeks a similar achievement — to be able to continue firing rockets throughout the conflict — and in that way to deny Israel a tangible success, and to remain armed with at least one more escalation at all times.

Thus - foremost focus issues - 

1. Eradicating those new mid-long range rockets
2. Then how to bring Hamas and militants to ceasefire/negotiation (deterrence) terms - via attacks (causing enough pains), threats and diplomatic moves
3. Avoiding ground invasion (though the scale and exit’s swiftness is the issue) - because it simply brings in too much uncertainty/unpredictability (esp in terms of MENA/Muslim popular/public opinion, global/international opinion.) 

If 1 fails and actual Israeli casualties happen (depends on the scale) - then Israel might rush in, but it is not clear what ground invasion would really achieve - at all - at this point. Pursuing 1 and 2 with aerial strikes - should wait until that option is exhausted. 

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the ministers had banned the import of Iranian natural gas into EU nations.

The EU ministers also agreed to prohibit all transactions between EU and Iranian banks unless they were authorized in advance for humanitarian reasons and tightened restrictions on the Central Bank of Iran, according to the statement said.

They imposed more export restrictions ‘‘notably for graphite, metals, software for industrial purposes, as well as measures related to the shipbuilding industry.’’

The leader of the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah on Thursday claimed responsibility for launching a drone aircraft that was shot down over Israel earlier this week, saying the UAV had been assembled by Hezbollah men using parts provided by Iran. The rare admission by Hassan Nasrallah raises regional tensions at a sensitive time when the group’s backers, Syria and Iran, are under pressure.

Nasrallah said the drone was named the Ayoub, honoring both an Islamic prophet (of patience) and a “martyr” by the name of Hussein Ayoub.

Several hours earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed a finger at Hezbollah. ”We’re determined to defend our land, air, and maritime borders, just as when we foiled Hezbollah’s attempt to send a UAV into Israel,” Netanyahu said during a tour of the border with Egypt.

Can’t guarantee this is the most recent-est update. I saw this probably last night or this morning so it’s not freshest but hope it’s still not so old - and hope not so out of accuracy. 

The open forex market in Tehran was still largely paralysed, four days after Iran’s national currency dropped more than 40 per cent prompting protests in the capital’s symbolic Grand Bazaar.

Most official exchange shops were open in downtown on Sunday but refused to conduct any business at a rate of about 28,000 rials per US dollar, set by the Central Bank on Saturday in a bid to curb the currency’s plunge.

The main specialised websites tracking transactions on the market did not post any rates.

The few transactions happening under the table, however, were in the range of 30,000 and 32,000 rials per US dollar, witnesses said.

The US dollar rate being imposed on Saturday sought to strengthen the rial by 25 per cent after it plunged 40 per cent in value this week to around 36,000 in trade on Wednesday. But money changers froze all transactions, arguing they would lose money.

Sanctions are working - but needs one more round.

The Foreign Ministry report states that the international sanctions already imposed on Iran are having a deep effect on the country’s economy, according to the official, and may, according to some assessments, also be affecting the stability of the Iranian government. But the sanctions have not yet persuaded the government in Tehran to suspend its nuclear drive. Therefore, the report concludes that “another round of sanctions is needed,” the official said.

This document was leaked hours before Netanyahu’s UNGA speech to Israeli newspaper Haaretz

• Israel’s Foreign Ministry: Sanctions against Iran are having dramatic impact

and there are some wonderings about the timing - why it was released.

The timing of the leak to Haaretz raised questions among Israelis. It was unclear whether the Foreign Ministry, led by Avigdor Lieberman, was sending a pointed message of its own to counter the usually belligerent tone of Mr. Netanyahu, or whether the leak was coordinated with the prime minister and intended to send a more conciliatory message from Israel to Washington.

But in the end no one is really following I think. 

This entire ‘campaign re: War on Iran/its timing’ has turned into something highly irregular and disorderly. It stopped making sense at some point. (Except for unshakable core audience.)

It’s up to slightly-future historians to uncover what really went on between Israel and USA.

Though -