Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz posited that "things are undoubtedly heating up, and Iran - over the last few weeks - has come under 'atomic' pressure. The economic sanctions are breaking the neck of the Iranian economy and there is now an additional, even more powerful wave of American sanctions. We are starting to see the Iranians lose their balance". Steinitz also assessed that "if there is some sort of conflagration between Iran and the U.S., between Iran and its neighbours, I'm not ruling out that they will activate Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad from Gaza, or even that they will try to fire missiles from Iran at the State of Israel".