Axios

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani weighed in Wednesday on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, saying he doesn't "think that a country would dare commit such a crime without the protection of America," reports Reuters, citing Iranian state media.

The big picture: Saudi Arabia is key to the U.S. pressure campaign against Iran, a regional enemy of the Saudis and a target of some of the Trump administration's most hawkish rhetoric. As one well-wired Republican told Axios' Mike Allen, "Constraining Iran is the priority and Saudi is a critical ally in that effort. That 'trumps' the horrible human rights violation."

Israeli government officials believe French President Emmanuel Macron will propose his own Middle East peace initiative if President Trump doesn't release his plan in the first few weeks after the November midterm election.

Why it matters: Israeli Foreign Ministry Political Director Alon Ushpiz made that prediction during a closed-door, classified hearing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 2 Knesset members who attended the hearing told me. Trump said a few weeks ago he would release the plan in 2–4 months — meaning between the end of the midterms and the end of 2018.

National Security Adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that President Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris on Nov. 11, the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending World War I.

The big picture: Bolton was in Moscow to meet with Putin about Trump's decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty, a move the Kremlin says "will make the world more dangerous." During his last meeting with Putin, Trump drove global headlines for days by appearing to accept Russia's denials about interfering in the 2016 presidential election over the findings of the U.S. intelligence community.

Update: President Trump said on Monday, Nov. 5 that the two would "probably not" be meeting in Paris, but that they will meet at the G20 summit in Argentina, taking place Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

The Russian-owned Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics supported the development and injection of the TRITON malware that intruded in an industrial plant last year in Saudi Arabia, according to a new assessment by cybersecurity firm FireEye.

Why it matters: FireEye assessed last year that the attack was intended to cause physical damage by preventing Schneider Electric equipment from operating properly, and given how widely the equipment is used, it means the attack could potentially be deployed around the globe, per the New York Times. FireEye doesn’t go so far as to peg Russia responsible for the malware itself, but it does explain that Russia is behind the intrusion that allowed the malware to be injected and that the institute supported the malware’s testing.

The Pentagon’s Cyber Command is launching its first operation against Russian election interference by sending direct messages to Russian individuals informing them that their efforts to sow misinformation online are being tracked, the NYT reports.

Why it matters: It’s the first reported overseas cyber operation launched to protect U.S. elections. The midterm elections are exactly two weeks away.

Go deeper: Lawmakers criticize Trump’s plan to levy sanctions for foreign election meddling

Team8, a cybersecurity firm run by former Israeli military intelligence, and several Fortune 500 companies, including Walmart, Moody’s, Microsoft's venture capital arm M-12, Cisco, and SoftBank, announced Tuesday that they have formed a coalition with $85 million in capital backing to launch new technology and cybersecurity companies.

The big picture: The coalition wants to build out infrastructure that has cybersecurity built in by design and not as an afterthought, to better deal with the growing cyberthreat landscape. And Team8 has a track record in this space, having incubated and launched four companies before — Sygnia, Hysolate, Illusive Networks, and Claroty.