Israel is on high alert for the possibility of any U.S. intervention in Iran as authorities there confront the biggest anti-government protests in years, Reuters reported citing three Israeli sources with knowledge of the matter.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in recent days and warned Iran’s rulers against using force against demonstrators. On Saturday, Trump said the U.S. stands “ready to help”, Reuters reported.

The sources, who were present for Israeli security consultations over the weekend, did not elaborate on what Israel’s high-alert footing meant in practice. Israel and Iran fought a 12-day war in June, in which the U.S. joined Israel in launching airstrikes.

In a phone call on Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the possibility of U.S. intervention in Iran, according to an Israeli source who was present for the conversation. A U.S. official confirmed the two men spoke but did not say what topics they discussed.

Israel has not signalled a desire to intervene in Iran as protests grip the country, with tensions between the two arch-foes high over Israeli concerns about Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

In an interview with the Economist published on Friday, Netanyahu said there would be horrible consequences for Iran if it were to attack Israel. Alluding to the protests, he said: “Everything else, I think we should see what is happening inside Iran.”

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has strongly criticised U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump and urged the world not to let the world order disintegrate into a “den of robbers” where the unscrupulous take what they want, Reuters reported.

In unusually strong remarks, which appeared to refer to actions such as the ousting of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro at the weekend, the former foreign minister said global democracy was being attacked as never before.

Although the German president’s role is largely ceremonial, his words carry some weight and he has more freedom to express views than politicians.

Describing Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a watershed, Steinmeier said the U.S. behaviour represented a second historic rupture.

“Then there is the breakdown of values by our most important partner, the USA, which helped build this world order,” Steinmeier said in remarks at a symposium late on Wednesday.

“It is about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers,” he said.

On Thursday, a poll for public broadcaster ARD indicated 76% of Germans surveyed now felt the United States was not a partner that Germany could rely on, an increase of three percentage points since June 2025. Only 15% felt Germany could now trust the United States, the lowest level recorded in the regular survey of attitudes, read the report.

By contrast roughly three-quarters felt they could rely on France and Britain.

The survey found 69% of Germans concerned about security in Europe, about the same number that thought NATO partners could not rely on the protection of the United States, the strongest member of the alliance.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would withdraw from dozens of international and U.N. entities, including a key climate treaty and a U.N. body that promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment, because they “operate contrary to U.S. national interests.”

Among the 35 non-U.N. groups and 31 U.N. entities Trump listed in a memo to senior administration officials is the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change – described by many as the “bedrock” climate treaty which is parent agreement to the 2015 Paris climate deal, Reuters reported.

The United States skipped the annual U.N. international climate summit last year for the first time in three decades.

“The United States would be the first country to walk away from the UNFCCC,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“Every other nation is a member, in part because they recognize that even beyond the moral imperative of addressing climate change, having a seat at the table in those negotiations represents an ability to shape massive economic policy and opportunity,” said Bapna.

The U.S. will also quit UN Women, which works for gender equality and the empowerment of women, and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the international body’s agency focused on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. The U.S. cut its funding for the UNFPA last year.

“For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law,” reads the memo. Trump has already largely slashed voluntary funding to most U.N. agencies.

A spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

TRUMP WARY OF MULTILATERAL ORGANISATIONS

Trump’s move reflects his long-standing wariness of multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations. He has repeatedly questioned the effectiveness, cost and accountability of international bodies, arguing they often fail to serve U.S. interests.

Since beginning his second term a year ago, Trump has sought to slash U.S. funding for the United Nations, stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and quit the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. He has also announced plans to quit the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.

Other entities on the U.S. list are the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, the International Energy Forum, the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms and the U.N. Peacebuilding Commission.

The White House said the dozens of entities that Washington was seeking to depart as soon as possible promote “radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength.”

It said the move is part of a review of all international intergovernmental organizations, conventions and treaties.

“These withdrawals will end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over U.S. priorities, or that address important issues inefficiently or ineffectively such that U.S. taxpayer dollars are best allocated in other ways to support the relevant missions,” the White House said in a statement.