Netanyahu's jet makes familiar flight as Trump weighs Iran strike

Benjamin Netanyahu's jet has departed Israel, heading out over the Mediterranean, as Donald Trump considers strikes on Iran.

The Wing of Zion state plane has previously left the country ahead of attacks on Iran.

However, officials denied that the movement was related to military action and said it was part of regular training. The jet flew to Crete on Wednesday before returning to Israel.

It comes as the US ordered the evacuation of air bases in the region, including an unspecified number from a site in Qatar by Wednesday evening.

Al Udeid, the largest American base in the Middle East, houses 10,000 troops and was targeted by Iran in June in retaliation for US strikes on its nuclear facilities. 

Trump has made a series of threats against Tehran amid a bloody crackdown on protests in the Islamic Republic, with at least 2,500 people slaughtered.

The President last night warned that if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei goes forward with hangings on Wednesday, he will take 'strong action.' Trump is said to have been briefed in recent days about his options, including strikes on nonmilitary sites in Tehran.

On June 13 last year, hours after Israel launched its attack on Iranian nuclear and missile sites, the Wing of Zion took off from Ben Gurion Airport. 

Ahead of Iran's April 13, 2024, strike on Israel, the Wing of Zion departed Nevatim Airbase, which was later targeted as hundreds of missiles and drones bombarded the country. 

Crete, the jet's destination on Wednesday, is a vital strategic crossroads for US and NATO forces operating in the Middle East.

Crucial to its importance for the Americans is Souda Bay, a naval base which hosts the only deep-water pier in the region capable of berthing a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. 

The jet's movements come amid a rapidly deteriorating human rights crisis inside Iran. 

Desperate relatives of a shopkeeper sentenced to death for taking part in anti-regime protests called on Trump today to intervene to save him. 

Erfan Soltani, 26, believed to be the first protester in the latest Iranian uprising to be given the death sentence, is expected to be hanged today. 

His family spent the night protesting outside the Ghezel Hesar prison, where the young man from Fardis in Karaj was being held in solitary confinement.

Somayeh, one of Soltani's cousins, told CNN: 'We need Trump's help by the second.

'I beg you, please do not let Erfan be executed, please.'

Trump last night warned Iran: 'If they hang them, you're going to see something'. 

But Iran ignored the US President's threats and vowed to fast-track executions after detaining 18,000 protesters as the regime continues its brutal crackdown on anti-government riots. 

The head of Iran's judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, signalled Wednesday that there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained, saying: 'If a person burned someone, beheaded someone and set them on fire then we must do our work quickly.'

Soltani is set to face execution today after he was tried, convicted and sentenced for taking part in a protest on Thursday last week.

Reacting to the news of her cousin's imminent execution, a distraught Somayeh said: 'I was in so much shock, I cried so much... I keep feeling as if I am in a dream.'

She described Soltani as someone who 'always wanted people to be at least free in the most basic aspects of life'.

'He has always fought for the freedom of Iran, and today we see him standing under the gallows,' she said.

She denied that Soltani had ever 'resorted to violence' during the protests, instead insisting that 'all the destruction' was carried out by the regime itself. 

'In order to execute young people, they fabricate accusations against them,' she added. 

She called on the US President to urgently intervene to help demonstrators, as they face the lethal crackdown perpetuated by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's theocratic government. 

'People trusted Trump's words and came to the streets,' she said.

Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the protests has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported. 

That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.