English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 22/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Those who love me will keep my word, and my
Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14/21-27/:”They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’Judas (not
Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and
not to the world?’Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and
my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is
not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. ‘I have said these things to you
while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I
have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give
to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let
them be afraid.”
Titles For The
Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on June 21-22/2025
Ian’s threats to involve Hezbollah in its war with Israel confirm that it
is merely a terrorist arm under its command./Elias Bejjani/June 20/2025
Who was the target of Muhammad Khader al-Husseini in the Abbasiyeh raid?
Who is Muhammad Khader al-Husseini?
Tenenti: Freedom of movement is a prerequisite for implementing UNIFIL's mandate
Israeli Army: An Air Force naval vessel attacked a Radwan Force building in
Naqoura
IDF: We targeted Hezbollah missile launch pads
Dispute between the residents of Sultaniyeh and UNIFIL forces
Israel bombs the vicinity of Naqoura Port and transports a stolen bulldozer into
Lebanon
Abu Ali Khalil, the personal escort of the late Hezbollah Secretary-General
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike targeting him
while he was traveling from Iraq to Tehran.
Ex-Bodyguard of Nasrallah Killed in Israeli Strike in Iran
Israel says hit Hezbollah site in Naqoura after questioning member
Israel says Abbasiyeh strike killed Hezbollah commander for Litani sector
Lammy Reaffirms UK Support to Raggi, Urges Lebanese Neutrality
Lebanon follows up on safety of its nationals in Iran amid rising tensions
Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s aide, known as 'Abou Ali,' in Tehran
Emirates to Resume Flights to and from Lebanon Starting Monday
Southern Lebanon: Israeli Strikes, UNIFIL Patrol Intercepted
No army escort, no entry: Sultaniyeh residents stop UNIFIL patrol
No jobs, no future: Lebanon’s youth work multiple jobs—or leave
Joseph Aoun: Beirut Will Always Be the Pulse of Life
Cabinet Moves Ahead with Kleiate Airport Plans as Political Dispute Erupts
Khatchig Babikian: A Perfect Symbiosis of Lebanese and Armenian Identities
Lebanon’s Tense Summer: When Fear Meets Humor
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on June 21-22/2025
US has struck 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air
campaign
Trump says two weeks is 'maximum' for Iran decision
Israel-Iran war stretches into a second week without diplomatic breakthrough
Israel says delayed Iran's presumed nuclear program by two years
Israel says it's preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
Targeting of Quds Force shows growing breach in Iranian intelligence security
Israel struck Iran's Isfahan nuclear site again
Israel says it killed Iran's military coordinator with Hamas
Israeli military says it killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders
Iran FM warns US involvement in conflict would be 'very dangerous' as Israel
targets commanders
Israel-Iran conflict enters its second week with fresh attacks despite Geneva
talks
Israeli military says it killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders
Iran FM warns US involvement in conflict would be 'very dangerous' as Israel
targets commanders
Israel hits Iranian nuclear research facility and says it's preparing for
possibly long campaign
Putin says Russia has told Israel there's no evidence Iran wants nuclear
weapons, Sky News Arabia reports
Erdogan says he's 'optimistic victory will be Iran's' in blistering speech as
strikes continue
A deadly race for food: Palestinians in Gaza risk harrowing journey day after
day
Israeli-backed group seeks at least $30 million from US for aid distribution in
Gaza
Displaced Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees
chief
Putin says 'Ukraine is ours' and threatens nuclear strike - showing how he feels
about Trump
Titles For
The Latest English LCCC analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources
on June 21-22/2025
Thank You Mr. President, Thank You America, Thank You Israel/Dr. Majid
Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 21, 2025
What the world is getting wrong on Israel: An interview with Natasha Hausdorff/Special
to National Post/Dave Gordon/June 21, 2025
Israel vs. Iran: Why Riyadh is committed to de-escalation/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab
News/June 21, 2025
What is Netanyahu’s endgame?/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/June 21, 2025
An African credit rating agency? Easier said than done/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab
News/June 21, 2025
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June
21-22/2025
Ian’s
threats to involve Hezbollah in its war with Israel confirm that it is merely a
terrorist arm under its command.
Elias Bejjani/June 20/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144400/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdCw97P8fYE
A recent statement by a senior Iranian official made one thing unmistakably
clear: "If the United States enters the war, Hezbollah will join the battle and
attack Israel".
"We note with sorrow and disappointment that not a single Lebanese official had
the courage to respond to this blatant Iranian statement—an insult and
humiliation to all of Lebanon’s leaders, foremost among them the Presidents of
the Republic and the Council of Ministers. They swallowed their tongues and
remained silent, like the Sphinx."
This declaration strips away every remaining illusion and reaffirms what many
have long asserted—Hezbollah is not Lebanese, nor is it a “resistance” movement.
It is a fully integrated military brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC), created, trained, and funded to serve Tehran’s regional agenda.
From its very inception in 1982, Hezbollah has been nothing but an extension of
Iran’s military apparatus. Its existence was never intended to defend Lebanon or
liberate Palestine, as it falsely claims in its propaganda. Instead, it was
established to serve as Iran’s frontline defense in case the Islamic Republic
came under Israeli or American attack. The recent Iranian statement was not a
mere opinion—it was an official order, a reminder that Hezbollah’s allegiance
lies with Iran, not Lebanon.
The Myth of Resistance and the Reality of Subordination
Hezbollah’s slogans of “resistance” and “liberation” are nothing but deceitful
rhetoric meant to cover its true mission: acting as a loyal servant to Iran’s
expansionist ambitions. It has never had an independent Lebanese decision-making
process. Every move, every war, every escalation has been carried out under
direct orders from Tehran.
Let us not forget the main terrorist operations Hezbollah has carried out both
in Lebanon and abroad at the behest of the Iranian regime:
The 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
The 1983 attack on the Multinational Force headquarters in Beirut, killing 241
U.S. Marines and 58 French soldiers.
The hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985.
The global terror operations in Argentina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and beyond.
Its 2006 war with Israel, launched without any Lebanese consensus, which
devastated Lebanon and served Iranian interests.
Hezbollah's Betrayal of Lebanon’s Shiite Community
Far from being a protector of Lebanon’s Shiites, Hezbollah is their greatest
enemy. It has taken the Shiite population hostage, using its youth as cannon
fodder in Iran’s foreign wars—in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, and the West Bank. It
silences dissent within its community, crushes opponents, and enforces a culture
of fear and blind allegiance to the Iranian Supreme Leader.
Lebanon’s Shiites never chose Hezbollah. This militia was imposed on them by
Iran, aided by a complicit Syrian regime, that was occupying Lebanon, and
through internal coercion. A powerful example of this coercion was the Battle of
Iqlim al-Tuffah in the late 1980s, where Hezbollah, backed militarily by both
Iran and even—ironically—Israel, crushed the Amal Movement militarily. Later,
Amal leader Nabih Berri was forced to submit to Iranian authority and align his
movement with Hezbollah's project.
This dark chapter illustrates that Hezbollah’s rise was not organic, and
certainly not democratic. It was the result of a deliberate Iranian occupation
of Lebanon’s Shiite community—and by extension, the entire country.
A Cancer Eating Away at Lebanon
Hezbollah is not just a threat to Lebanese sovereignty—it is a cancer consuming
the Lebanese state from within. Its grip over government institutions, its veto
power in politics, and its arsenal of weapons all make it a state within a
state—one that reports directly to Tehran.
Its continuous threats of civil war are hollow, born out of desperation.
Hezbollah today is weaker than it wants the world to believe. But as long as it
holds onto its weapons and remains above the law, Israel will be forced to
finish the job if the Lebanese Army fails to disarm it.
The Only Solution: Removal—By Peace or by Force
Hezbollah’s continued presence poses an existential threat to Lebanon, not just
to its sovereignty, but to its future. The only path forward is to dismantle
this Iranian militia—whether through internal peaceful disarmament or, if
necessary, through military confrontation. There is no other way.
If Lebanon’s leaders continue their shameful submission and cowardice in the
face of Hezbollah’s tyranny, then Israel—or any other force—will eventually be
compelled to neutralize this threat themselves.
The price of inaction is the continued occupation of Lebanon by a foreign proxy,
and the endless suffering of its people.
In summary, Hezbollah is not a resistance movement, nor is it Lebanese. It is
Iran’s foreign, armed, jihadist-terrorist proxy—a tool of war and destruction.
Its removal is not a choice, but a national and moral obligation.
Who was the target of
Muhammad Khader al-Husseini in the Abbasiyeh raid?
Janubiya/June 22, 2025
The young man Muhammad Khader al-Husseini, known as "Sayyid Kazem," from the
town of Janata in the Tyre district of southern Lebanon, was martyred when the
car he was traveling in was targeted on the main road at the Abbasiyeh Forest
junction. Field information confirmed that an Israeli drone carried out the
precise bombing, destroying the car and killing al-Husseini instantly.
Who is Muhammad Khader al-Husseini?
The Israeli army claimed in an official statement that "Muhammad Khader al-Husseini
is the commander of Hezbollah's firepower in the Litani sector..." It explained
that during the war, al-Husseini launched numerous rocket attacks toward "the
Nahariya, Haifa, and other cities inside Israel." More recently, he worked "to
rebuild Hezbollah's artillery forces, which constituted a flagrant violation of
the understandings between Israel and Lebanon." In a statement published on
Hezbollah's pages, it said, "With pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance
announces the happy martyrdom of the Mujahid Muhammad Khader al-Husseini "Sayyid
Kazem" from the town of Jannata, south Lebanon." It added, "You are invited to
participate in his blessed funeral on Saturday, June 21, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the
town of Jannata."
Tenenti: Freedom of movement is a prerequisite for
implementing UNIFIL's mandate
Janoubia/June 22, 2025
UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement to the National News
Agency that "at approximately 2:00 PM today (June 21), more than 50 civilians
stopped a UNIFIL patrol in the vicinity of Sultaniyeh, northwest of the town of
Tebnine." He added, "The crowd was hostile, but no weapons were observed." The
patrol commander was able to calm the situation, and the peacekeepers returned
safely to their base after coordination with the Lebanese Army. Tenenti stressed
that “freedom of movement is a fundamental condition for implementing UNIFIL’s
mandate. This includes the ability to operate independently and impartially, as
set out in UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Any restriction on this
freedom—whether UNIFIL operates with or without the Lebanese Army—constitutes a
violation of that resolution.” A number of residents in the town of Sultaniyeh
in the Bint Jbeil district today intercepted a UNIFIL patrol, preventing it from
continuing its movement in Wadi Sultaniyeh. The patrol was not accompanied by a
Lebanese Army patrol, as stipulated in the established rules of engagement for
international forces in the area.
Israeli Army: An Air Force naval vessel attacked a Radwan
Force building in Naqoura
Nidaa al-Watan/June 22, 2025
Israeli Army Spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on the X platform: “Last night,
an Air Force naval vessel attacked a military building belonging to the Lebanese
Army. The Radwan Force of Hezbollah in the Naqoura area of southern Lebanon.
He added, "The building was criminalized based on intelligence information
obtained following an investigation into a Hezbollah member several weeks ago.
The Radwan Force used this building to carry out terrorist attacks against
Israeli citizens, which constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings
between Israel and Lebanon."
IDF: We targeted Hezbollah missile launch pads
Nidaa al-Watan/June 22, 2025
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee reported in a post on his Twitter account
that, "The IDF is attacking military sites and missile launch pads belonging to
the terrorist Hezbollah in southern Lebanon." He confirmed that, "A short while
ago, Israeli Air Force aircraft raided military sites belonging to the terrorist
Hezbollah, which contained platforms for launching rockets and missiles, in
addition to weapons depots in the southern Lebanon area." He considered that
"the terrorist Hezbollah is trying to rebuild its capabilities in these sites,"
noting that "the presence of combat equipment and terrorist activities in this
area is a violation." A clear violation of the understandings between Israel and
Lebanon." He concluded, "The IDF continues its operations to eliminate any
threat targeting the State of Israel."
Dispute between the residents of Sultaniyeh and UNIFIL
forces
Agencies/June 22, 2025
Residents of the Sultaniyeh town in Bint Jbeil prevented a UNIFIL patrol from
completing its movement in Wadi Sultaniyeh on Saturday. The residents prevented
UNIFIL from moving because they were not escorted by a Lebanese Army patrol.
Israel bombs the vicinity of Naqoura Port and transports a
stolen bulldozer into Lebanon
Al Markazia/June 22, 2025
Shortly after midnight last Friday, an Israeli drone carried out a guided
missile strike targeting a room used as a fish shop (masmaka) located near
Naqoura Port, causing extensive material damage to the room and its contents.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee subsequently wrote, "Last night, an
Israeli Air Force naval vessel attacked a military building belonging to
Hezbollah's Radwan Force in the Naqoura area." In southern Lebanon. The building
was incriminated based on intelligence information obtained following an
investigation into a Hezbollah member several weeks ago. The Radwan Force used
this building to advance terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, which
constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and
Lebanon. Adraee stressed that "the IDF will continue to work to eliminate any
threat to the citizens of the State of Israel." Last night, the IDF also moved
the bulldozer it had previously seized into Lebanese territory, specifically in
the Karkazan area, northeast of Mays al-Jabal. Soldiers worked to build a trench
and a large earthen berm around the bulldozer. Today, the Lebanese army
recovered this bulldozer.
Abu Ali Khalil, the
personal escort of the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,
was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike targeting him while he was traveling
from Iraq to Tehran.
Al-Modon/June 21, 2025 ) (translated from Arbic freely By Elias
Bejjani)
Abu Ali Khalil, the personal escort of the late Hezbollah Secretary-General
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike targeting him
while he was traveling from Iraq to Tehran. Initial reports indicate the strike,
which hit a Revolutionary Guard site on the Iran-Iraq border, also killed Haydar
al-Mousawi, a leader in the Iraqi "Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada" movement, and a
third Lebanese individual. Among those targeted were Abu Ali Khalil and his son.
While official Iranian or Lebanese sources have not yet confirmed the news,
Iranian newspapers circulated reports stating that "the Shield of Sayyed, Haj
Abu Ali Khalil, was martyred along with his son in a Zionist targeting in the
Islamic Republic."
Moment of the Targeting
Israeli media quickly published video clips showing the moment of the targeting,
confirming the success of the assassination operation that struck multiple
individuals at the border crossing between Iraq and Iran, which Israel claimed
was used for logistical and military purposes. Conversely, activists on social
media shared a video documenting the moment of mourning for "Abu Ali Khalil" in
Iraq, who was martyred alongside his son, Mahdi. With the news spreading, social
media users circulated reports indicating that Abu Ali had been in Iraq, as
evidenced by circulating photos, before heading to Iran. Since his appearance at
Sayyed Nasrallah's funeral, Abu Ali had become a well-known figure. Following
his assassination, many photos of him with his followers circulated, especially
at the Sayyed's shrine. It was notably reported by someone who met him about a
month prior that Abu Ali had said, "I am now unconvinced that I am still in
command of life," suggesting he believed he should have been martyred alongside
Sayyed Nasrallah.
Who Was Abu Ali?
Abu Ali Khalil, whose real name was Hussein Khalil, was born in Bourj el-Barajneh,
Beirut. He joined Hezbollah in the early 1980s since its establishment. It is
said that he was appointed as the Sayyed's escort from then on, accompanying him
especially during his public appearances. Abu Ali Khalil gained widespread
popularity among Hezbollah's supporters, particularly after his appearance at
the funeral of the late Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. He
earned the title "The Sayyed's Shield" for his actions during the funeral, when
he was seen protecting the Sayyed's coffin as Israeli planes flew overhead. He
immediately tightened his grip on the coffin, trying to shield it, just as he
used to stay close to Nasrallah when guarding him during his lifetime. After his
appearance at the Sayyed's funeral, he was appointed head of security for Sayyed
Nasrallah's shrine.
Ex-Bodyguard of Nasrallah
Killed in Israeli Strike in Iran
This is Beirut/AFP
/June 21, 2025
A former bodyguard for Hassan Nasrallah, the slain leader of Lebanon's
Hezbollah, was killed Saturday in an Israeli strike in Iran, according to an
official from the Tehran-backed militant group. Hussein Khalil, commonly known
as Abu Ali and nicknamed Nasrallah’s “shield”, was killed in Iran near the Iraqi
border, the Hezbollah official told AFP on condition of anonymity. An Iraqi
border guard officer also told AFP that Khalil and a member of an Iraqi armed
group were killed by “an Israeli drone strike” shortly after crossing into Iran.
The Iraqi group, the Sayyed al-Shuhada Brigades, later confirmed that its
security unit commander, Haider al-Moussawi, was killed in the “Zionist attack,”
along with Khalil and his son, Mahdi Khalil. Khalil had accompanied Nasrallah
during his rare public appearances for many years. The two men were also related
by marriage, with one of Khalil’s sons married to a granddaughter of Nasrallah.
During Nasrallah’s funeral in February, held nearly five months after his death,
Khalil was seen standing atop the vehicle carrying the slain leader’s body.
Israel says hit Hezbollah site in Naqoura after questioning
member
Agence France Presse/June
21, 2025
Israel's military said Saturday its navy hit a Hezbollah "infrastructure site"
near the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura, a day after Israel's defense
minister warned the Lebanese armed group against entering the Iran-Israel war.
"Overnight, an Israeli Navy vessel struck a Hezbollah 'Radwan Force' terrorist
infrastructure site in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon," the Israeli
army said in a statement. The military said the site was used by Hezbollah "to
advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians."In a separate statement on
Saturday, the military said it had "struck and eliminated" a Hezbollah militant
in south Lebanon the previous day, despite an ongoing ceasefire between both
sides. In a statement carried by the official National News Agency, Lebanon's
health ministry said late on Friday that one person was killed in a "strike
carried out by an Israeli enemy drone on a motorcycle" in the southern town of
Baraasheet. Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes launched a wave of airstrikes
on the heights of the Jezzine district, with the Israeli army saying the raids
targeted "Hezbollah rocket launchpads and arms depots" and claiming that the
Lebanese group had been "trying to rebuild its capabilities in these sites" in
violation of the ceasefire understandings. The November ceasefire aimed to end
hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which sparked months of deadly
hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity
with Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Lebanon's army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure as part of
the truce, said earlier in June that the Israeli military's ongoing violations
and "refusal to cooperate" with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism "could prompt
the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation" on site inspections.
Israel says Abbasiyeh strike killed Hezbollah commander for
Litani sector
Agence France Presse/June
21, 2025
The Lebanese health ministry said an Israeli strike on south Lebanon's al-Abbasiyeh
killed one person, as Israel said it killed a member of Hezbollah. Israel has
continued to carry out near-daily strikes on Lebanon despite a November
ceasefire with Hezbollah and an unprecedented bombing campaign it launched on
Iran last week. In a statement carried by Lebanon's state-run National News
Agency, the ministry said that an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle killed one
person near the southern village of Abbassiyeh. The Israeli army named its
target as Mohammed Khadr al-Husseini and said he was "commander of the Hezbollah
firepower array in the Litani sector". The military alleged that Husseini
"advanced numerous attacks toward Nahariya, Haifa and additional cities" during
the war and supported efforts in rebuilding Hezbollah's arsenal since then.
Israel has repeatedly bombed its northern neighbor despite a November ceasefire
ending more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah.Israel said it would
continue its strikes on Lebanon until Hezbollah was fully disarmed. As Israel's
war with Iran entered its eighth day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz
warned Hezbollah to keep out of the conflict, saying: "If there is terrorism,
there will be no Hezbollah."Speaking in Beirut on Thursday, U.S. special envoy
for Syria Thomas Barrack said any intervention by Hezbollah would be "a very,
very, very bad decision."
Lammy Reaffirms UK Support to Raggi, Urges Lebanese
Neutrality
This is Beirut/June 21,
2025
Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Youssef Raggi received a
phone call this afternoon from British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Lammy
expressed the United Kingdom’s and the broader European community’s support for
Lebanon, stressing the importance of the country staying out of the ongoing
conflict between Iran and Israel. He warned of serious repercussions for Lebanon
should it become involved in the escalating tensions. Lammy informed Minister
Raggi that the UK is actively working to prevent the conflict from spreading and
is seeking a diplomatic resolution. He also emphasized the need for Iran to
comply with international resolutions concerning its nuclear program. Addressing
the situation in southern Lebanon, Lammy affirmed the UK's commitment to
supporting efforts for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the five contested
points. He also endorsed Lebanon’s request to renew the mandate of the UNIFIL
peacekeeping forces and ensure the continuation of their mission.
Lebanon follows up on safety of its nationals in Iran amid
rising tensions
LBCI/June 21, 2025
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said it is closely following up on the situation of
the Lebanese community in Iran amid rising regional tensions. The ministry said
Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji has been in contact with Lebanon’s ambassador to
Tehran, who briefed him on the latest developments on the ground. Rajji conveyed
instructions to swiftly address any emergencies and extended wishes for safety
and security to all Lebanese citizens residing in Iranian cities.
Former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s aide, known as 'Abou
Ali,' in Tehran
LBCI/June 21, 2025
Reports confirmed the assassination of "Abou Ali," the close aide to former
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, in Tehran.
Emirates to Resume Flights to and from Lebanon Starting Monday
This is Beirut/June 21,
2025
Emirates will resume operating flights to and from Lebanon, according to
information obtained by This is Beirut from the Ministry of Transport. LBCI
confirmed that the resumption will start on Monday, June 23. Gulf airlines
canceled several flights starting Friday, June 13, 2025, to and from Iraq,
Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Syria. The day after the outbreak of conflict between
Israel and Iran, Dubai’s international airports, which operate numerous flights
to the region, announced multiple “cancellations or delays due to airspace
closures in Iran, Iraq and Syria,” according to a statement posted on social
media platform X. The airport of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab
Emirates, also warned of “disruptions” expected “throughout the day.”The Emirati
Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced last May the lifting (effective May 7,
2025) of the travel ban to Lebanon previously imposed on UAE nationals. The
measure had been in place since 2021, following a major diplomatic incident
between the two countries. This decision by Emirati authorities came amid a
climate of diplomatic thaw between Beirut and several Gulf capitals,
particularly the UAE, where President Joseph Aoun paid a two-day official visit
at the end of April 2025.
Southern Lebanon: Israeli Strikes, UNIFIL Patrol Intercepted
This is Beirut/June 21,
2025
From Friday night into Saturday, the Israeli military intensified its strikes in
southern Lebanon amid escalating regional tensions between Israel and Iran.
The Israeli army fired bursts of gunfire from the radar site toward the
outskirts of Shebaa on Saturday. Lebanese army units, including engineering
teams, intelligence forces, and the intervention regiment, recovered a stolen
bulldozer in the Karkazan neighborhood of Mays al-Jabal. This came after Israeli
forces moved the bulldozer, seized the previous day, into Lebanese territory,
specifically the Karkazan sector. They dug a trench and erected an embankment
around the machine. The Lebanese Army, in coordination with UNIFIL, also removed
the earthen barriers erected by the occupation forces following their repeated
incursions into Krum al-Mrah on the outskirts of Mays al-Jabal. Meanwhile,
residents of the town of Al-Sultaniyeh intercepted a large UNIFIL patrol
attempting to enter the valley adjacent to the town without Lebanese Army
accompaniment.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti stated in an exclusive interview with the
National News Agency (NNA) that “at around 2:00 p.m. on June 21, more than 50
civilians intercepted a UNIFIL patrol in the vicinity of the town of Soultaniyeh,
northwest of Tebnine.”“The crowd was hostile, but no weapons were observed. The
patrol leader managed to defuse the situation, and the peacekeepers returned
safely to their base after coordinating with the Lebanese army,” he said,
stressing that “freedom of movement is a fundamental condition for the
implementation of UNIFIL’s mandate.”
“This includes the ability to operate independently and impartially, as
stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” he added. “Any restriction
of this freedom – whether UNIFIL is operating with or without the Lebanese army
– constitutes a violation of that resolution.” Shortly after midnight on Friday,
an Israeli drone carried out a guided missile strike targeting a room used as a
fish market near Naqoura port. The attack caused significant material damage to
the shop and its contents. Local sources reported that the strike did not cause
civilian casualties but triggered panic in the area due to the proximity of the
targeted site to residential neighborhoods and vital economic facilities.
Israeli army Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee, in a post on X, said, “A naval
unit of the Israeli Air Force attacked a military building belonging to
Hezbollah's Radwan Force last night in the Naqoura area in southern Lebanon.”
“The building was targeted based on intelligence obtained following the
interrogation of a Hezbollah member several weeks ago,” the post added. An
Israeli drone also targeted a motorcycle in the center of the town of Baraachit
in the Bint Jbeil district. Hussein Daher was killed, according to Lebanon's
Ministry of Health. The Israeli army claimed he was a Hezbollah fighter. Another
civilian was reportedly injured in the attack. During the previous night,
Israeli airstrikes also targeted areas between Shbail and Sarirah, Tumat Niha,
Al-Mahmoudiyeh near Khardali, and the outskirts of Al-Aishiyeh.
No army escort, no entry: Sultaniyeh residents stop UNIFIL
patrol
LBCI/June 21, 2025
Residents of the southern town of Sultaniyeh, in the Bint Jbeil district,
blocked a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol from moving
through the local valley, citing the absence of an accompanying Lebanese army
unit.
No jobs, no future: Lebanon’s youth work multiple jobs—or leave
LBCI/June 21, 2025
Young people in Lebanon are struggling to find work, with many left with no
choice but to emigrate or remain unemployed. Official figures indicate that the
unemployment rate in Lebanon exceeded 35% in 2023 and 2024, with youth
unemployment—among those aged 15 to 24—comprising a significant portion of that
figure.But why is age 15 included in unemployment statistics? According to the
International Labour Organization, anyone between the ages of 15 and 24 who is
neither in school, working, nor receiving vocational training is considered
unemployed—and therefore counted in the unemployment rate.
An increase in this category often signals deeper social and economic crises,
such as a weak labor market, a failing education system, or broader social
instability.UNICEF reports that one-third of Lebanese youth have dropped out of
university, and 31% of those who left school are neither working nor training.
Among those who do find work, 40% are forced to hold two or three jobs just to
make ends meet, according to the UNDP. For many, emigration has become the only
option. According to Information International, approximately 640,000 Lebanese
emigrated between 2016 and 2024—70% of whom were university graduates. These are
the skilled professionals Lebanon invested in—those meant to build the country's
future. So far, there are no signs of improvement from authorities, especially
as the government continues to delay the reforms required by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). These reforms are considered essential for attracting
investment, creating jobs, and providing young people with a reason to stay.
Joseph Aoun: Beirut Will Always Be the Pulse of Life
This is Beirut/June 21,
2025
President Joseph Aoun emphasized Beirut’s enduring vitality during the “Beirut,
Pulse of Life” event held at Martyrs’ Square, celebrating the rehabilitation of
Martyrs’ Square and the newly illuminated Nejmeh Square. In his speech, Aoun
addressed concerns about launching such initiatives amid ongoing national
challenges, saying the event represents a firm commitment to life and renewal in
the face of adversity. “Beirut will always be the pulse of life,” he said.
Standing in the heart of the city, he described Martyrs’ Square as a place that
embodies Lebanon’s history, witnessing both its proudest national moments and
its most difficult tests. “‘Beirut, Pulse of Life’ is not a slogan, it is a
reality flowing through the city’s veins,” Aoun declared. He praised Beirut’s
legacy of resilience, saying the city has taught the world the true meaning of
endurance and resilience. Aoun also expressed confidence that Martyrs’ Square
“will once again become a cultural center, and that Nejmeh Square, in its new
guise, will shine brightly.” “No matter the challenges, Lebanon will remain our
homeland, full of life,” he said. The president thanked all those who made the
restoration projects possible, including institutions, companies, engineers,
workers and supporters. He concluded by commending the people of Beirut for
their perseverance and reaffirmed his vision of Lebanon as a beacon of peace and
civilization in the Middle East.
Cabinet Moves Ahead with Kleiate Airport Plans as Political Dispute Erupts
This is Beirut/June 21,
2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam chaired a cabinet session on Friday at the Grand
Serail, during which ministers discussed 15 agenda items. Chief among them was
the rehabilitation and development of the René Mouawad Airport in Kleiate, Akkar.
Despite media reports suggesting the matter had been delayed, Minister of
Information Paul Morcos clarified following the session that the government has
officially begun reviewing the project to design, construct, develop and operate
the airport under either the BOT or DBOT model. He stressed that the file had
not been postponed but placed under focused examination due to its strategic
importance, and in coordination with the relevant authorities. To advance the
project, the Cabinet formed a small ministerial committee tasked with
identifying the most appropriate and expedient legal framework. The committee
will also study proposed amendments to the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Law.
Its recommendations are expected to be presented at the next cabinet meeting.
The session also saw the appointment of banker Toufic Naji as the Ministry of
Finance’s representative to the board of directors of Banque de l’Habitat. Naji,
who brings 30 years of experience in the financial sector, previously held the
same post on the bank's board. Other decisions announced by Minister Morcos
included approval to remove expired chemical materials stored at the Jiyyeh and
Zouk power plants. The Cabinet endorsed a cooperation agreement with Qatar in
the fields of youth and sports. It also authorized the Ministry of
Communications to prepare terms and conditions for evaluating and appraising its
assets—covering Ogero and the two mobile operators—in line with the Public
Procurement Law.
Steps were also approved to ensure the continued operation of public schools
unable to accommodate student relocations. A separate ministerial committee was
formed to assess the condition of leased public buildings and propose
appropriate solutions.
However, the session was overshadowed by political tension following recent
remarks by Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem. Minister of Foreign
Affairs Youssef Rajji called on the government to take an official stance,
warning that Qassem’s statements could have serious consequences for Lebanon,
particularly in light of recent diplomatic messages cautioning against any
escalation. Rajji stressed that the situation demanded a unified government
position, reaffirming that decisions on war and peace rest solely with the
Lebanese state, per the ministerial policy statement and the principle of
exclusive arms control. Prime Minister Salam responded by noting that he had
already issued a personal statement on the matter and saw no need for a separate
governmental declaration. Minister Rajji objected, arguing that an individual
position did not preclude the Cabinet from collectively rejecting any attempt to
drag Lebanon into a broader regional conflict. The discussion reportedly grew
heated, with ministers divided on the issue. Ultimately, Rajji’s proposal did
not pass, and the government refrained from issuing an official position on
Qassem’s remarks. Minister of Information Morcos concluded by stating that the
Cabinet had also reviewed the country’s security situation and reaffirmed its
commitment to the constitutional oath and the ministerial policy statement.
Khatchig Babikian: A Perfect Symbiosis of Lebanese and
Armenian Identities
Fady Noun/This is Beirut
Christine Babikian Assaf offers us an unfinished yet invaluable work: the
Memoirs of her father, Khatchig Babikian—a towering figure of Lebanese
parliamentary history in the 20th century and one of the key architects of the
Taif Agreement. Published under the title “My Lives”, this book is essential
reading for anyone seeking to understand Lebanon’s history during the latter
half of the 20th century. Beyond intimate recollections of his youth, it offers
crucial insights into the political maneuvers and turning points that shaped a
critical and painful era of the nation’s life.
This carefully composed text is not a historical paper, but rather the portrait
of an era, seen through the eyes of a singular witness. Written at the behest of
his family, it stands as a final act of remembrance for a life richly
lived—hence the title My Lives. It is the testament of a man deeply grateful for
the many opportunities he had to give his best in service to both his community
and Lebanon as a whole.Left unfinished due to exhaustion—by a man who never did
anything halfway and who had reached his limits—the manuscript has been lovingly
completed, annotated, and enriched with photographs and testimonies by Professor
Christine Babikian Assaf. An especially important appendix offers Khatchig
Babikian’s forward-looking vision for Lebanon and its youth, titled Lebanese
Youth and the Future Vision of the Lebanese State.
Born in Cyprus
The book traces the key chapters of a life that began in Cyprus, where his
parents had sought refuge after being uprooted from Cilicia. Babikian himself
experienced displacement while attending the Italian school in Beirut. But
during his law studies at Saint Joseph University, he forged a strong and
multifaceted identity, which would serve him well both in his career as a lawyer
and in his long public life as a parliamentarian and minister. He carried this
profound sense of duty into his work with the Catholicosate of Cilicia (Antelias),
his commitment to the most vulnerable in his community, his engagement with the
wider Francophone world—as reflected in his memoirs, written in French—and his
leadership role in the Lebanese Management Association. Thanks to his renowned
versatility, Babikian managed nearly every ministerial portfolio over his
career: from Administrative Reform, his true passion, to Economy, Justice,
Health, and Tourism. A man of both heart and principle, his legacy endures
through a scholarship fund at Saint Joseph University and the Khatchig Babikian
Foundation, entrusted to the Catholicosate of Antelias.
His life—one of relentless work and sleepless nights—was also marked by deep
personal tragedy, notably the premature loss of his beloved wife Margot, mother
to his five daughters, with whom he shared a deep and generous love story.
A True Fusion of Two Identities
Khatchig Babikian was the epitome of harmony between Lebanese and Armenian
identities. Deeply committed to mastering Arabic after Lebanon’s
independence—when French was removed from legal proceedings—he even memorized
entire surahs of the Quran. His command of Arabic earned him respect in
courtrooms, parliament, and among audiences across the country. As a proud
Armenian, he also embodied the spirit of enterprise and creativity that
characterizes his people, dedicating himself wholeheartedly to every area under
his ministerial purview. Yet, as his daughter recalls, he discouraged his
children from dwelling on old photo albums or nostalgia. Instead, he focused on
the present and future—embracing activities like Swedish gymnastics and
management science (what today would be AI). Politically, Babikian’s life was
closely aligned with the Tachnag Party, the leading Armenian faction in Lebanon,
which played a key role in maintaining cohesion in the aftermath of the 1915
genocide. Under its banner, he won his first parliamentary seat in 1957—a
position he would honorably hold for 40 years. Another significant political
relationship was his affinity with President Fouad Chehab. The two shared a deep
commitment to statehood, reform, and a rejection of favoritism. Yet, just as
Lebanon was building the democratic foundations essential to sovereignty,
external forces—including Palestinian, Syrian, and later Iranian
influences—emerged to strip the state of one of its most fundamental powers: the
monopoly on arms. This challenge to Lebanon’s sovereignty persists to this day.
External Causes of War
Nowhere in Babikian’s memoirs does one find the phrase “civil war.” Yet, between
the lines, it becomes clear that social inequalities, often cited as the root
cause of Lebanon’s collapse, were far less significant than the external
pressures: the armed Palestinian presence that had “held the Sunni community
hostage” (p. 159), and Syria’s insidious and destabilizing interventions. During
war years, which he did everything in his power to prevent, Babikian narrowly
escaped death multiple times. On one occasion, he chose to avoid the Basta route
to Achrafieh—where Christian drivers were being beheaded or shot (p. 157)—opting
for a safer alternative. On another, his bodyguard and driver saved him from a
threatening crowd in Anjar—a town built largely by Armenians but coveted by
nearby tribes aiming to seize its properties. In the end, Khatchig Babikian
succumbed to illness.
A book not to be missed.
Lebanon’s Tense Summer:
When Fear Meets Humor
Marilyne Jallad/This is Beirut/June
21, 2025
As the Iran-Israel conflict escalates, Lebanon slips into another summer of
uncertainty. Between the fear of regional war, revived trauma, and a yearning
for lightness, each person copes in their own way. Resignation, humor, partying,
or denial—this is a country teetering on a fragile edge. As summer gets
underway, a new conflict, this time between Israel and Iran, has once again cast
a shadow over Lebanon. “Our summers are always ruined,” says Karl bitterly. In
his forties, he launches into a familiar lament, recalling the many local and
regional summers marred by war that inevitably spill over into Lebanon and wear
down the national spirit. “Just last year, we were shut in, listening to grim
news from the South. Like July 2006, Lebanon is never spared,” he adds.
Alexandra shares the feeling. While she acknowledges that “technically, this war
is far away,” she points to its immediate impact, especially on tourism, which
has already taken a hit less than ten days in.The psychological toll is just as
real. Alexandra speaks of “buried Lebanese traumas” that resurface each time:
the anxiety, panic, and fear that every new conflict sets off once again.
Celebration, Music, and Laughter: Defiance Against Trauma
She underscores humor as the Lebanese people's most cherished defense mechanism,
an artful way of softening the edges of anxiety. One need only scroll through
social media to encounter a cascade of biting jokes and viral videos.
Anonymous Credit: Image Shared via WhatsApp Group
Among them, a now-iconic video that rapidly spread online and was later featured
by international outlets: a Lebanese saxophonist, poised on a rooftop in Tabarja,
continues to play—undaunted—as Iranian missiles blaze across the sky toward
Israel, illuminating the night over Lebanon. “I’m not taking sides. I played
music because it’s the only way I know to respond,” says Alain Otayek in an
interview on French TV show Quotidien with Yann Barthès on TMC, adding that he
rejects “any attempt at politicizing.”In a reel shared on his Instagram account,
he recounts how instinct led him to continue playing his saxophone solo,
describing music as a message of love and peace. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Another voice joins the chorus: “Last Saturday, at a friend’s gathering in the
mountains, I found myself filming missiles streaking across the sky,” recalls
23-year-old Kira, before adding: “Beirut is Beiruting again.” For her, “choosing
life and celebration” was a quiet act of defiance. She was far from alone.
Others have also captured dance floors pulsing beneath a sky etched with Iranian
missiles slicing through Lebanese airspace, intercepted by Israel. The moment
even drew the attention of French-Moroccan comedian Amine Radi, who posted a
now-viral Instagram reel titled “The Lebanese People and the War.” In it, he
exclaims: “Habibi! Lebanese people, are you crazy? You’ve unlocked a whole new
level of madness! There’s an actual war between Iran and Israel, missiles flying
overhead… and what are the Lebanese doing? Filming! Posting Snapchats and
Stories! Is there seriously nothing that rattles you?”Responding to the video,
one viewer offered a heartfelt tribute: “These are souls rendered almost
untouchable… After everything they’ve lived through, so many wars and so much
loss, only the present moment truly matters now. Sending love to the beautiful
people of Lebanon.” Anxiety, Immunity, Resignation, and the Weight of
Powerlessness
For many, anxiety has become a familiar companion.
“I’m a little anxious, yes, but we’ve grown used to this,” says Andy, 22. “After
nine months of war in Lebanon, it’s become routine. We live with it.” More than
anything, she hopes Lebanon—implicitly, Hezbollah, “stays out of this war.”“Of
course I’m nervous when I see a missile in the sky,” admits Tarek. “What if one
hits? There’s nothing I can do. I’ve learned to live with it.” Kareen says she
feels “numb, hollowed out, and powerless in the face of the barbarity of the
sociopaths who govern us.”Elie shares the same unease, voicing his fear of what
lies ahead: “This is a situation that could spiral at any moment. I am bracing
for a summer that feels uncertain, perhaps even chaotic. It’s deeply unsettling
to live in this kind of limbo, powerless and suspended in the wait for what’s to
come.”
A Trust in Tomorrow
Still, not all are consumed by fear and uncertainty. Among them was Nabila:
“We’ve weathered worse in Lebanon… I place it all in divine hands,” she said,
serene and softly reassuring. Karim echoes her belief: “Lebanon has nothing to
do with this new war. The country is in a different place now.”Carla is
confident in her reasoning: “I’m nearly certain this won’t escalate. Hezbollah
won’t intervene. And even in the unlikely event that they do, any retaliation
will be limited to the South and the southern suburb of Beirut.” Like a Scene
from Science Fiction “It’s surreal,” says Pascal. “To watch missiles streak
across the sky in a war that isn’t even ours.”Maha, a yoga teacher encountered
in downtown Beirut, echoes the sentiment: “What’s happening here is like science
fiction.” She understands the stakes, yet meets them with a smile. And indeed,
as these lines are written, the world remains a bystander, powerlessly watching
as Israel and Iran enter their ninth day of military confrontation. We leave you
with the quiet clarity of Elie: “To make it through in Lebanon today, you either
take refuge in denial, lose yourself in entertainment or passion, or blend all
three, with a good dose of composure. You have to live in the moment… almost in
abstraction.” If you get it, act accordingly!
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on June 21-22/2025
US has struck 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air
campaign
Sam Mednick, Aamer Madhani And David
Rising/The Associated Press/June 21, 2025
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency early Sunday
acknowledged an attack on the country’s Fordo nuclear site. Quoting a statement
from Iran’s Qom province, IRNA said: “A few hours ago, when Qom air defenses
were activated and hostile targets were identified, part of the Fordo nuclear
site was attacked by enemies.”
The IRNA report did not elaborate.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S.
military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel ’s effort to
decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime
foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional
conflict.
There was no immediate acknowledgment from Iran of any strikes being carried
out. The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than
a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the
country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its
nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that
American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster
bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily
fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep
underground.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in
Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on social
media. "All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS
was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way
home.”Trump added in a later post that he would address the national at 10 p.m.
Eastern time, writing “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”
Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify what types of bombs
were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the
operation. The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate
if the U.S. joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally. He won the
White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts
and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. Trump told reporters
Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying
it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had previously indicated that he would
make a final choice over the course of two weeks. Iran’s Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes
targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” And
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American
intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region."
Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and he
had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders
to give up its nuclear program peacefully. The Israeli military said Saturday it
was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign
minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement “would
be very, very dangerous for everyone.”The prospect of a wider war loomed.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S.
vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel’s military
campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the U.S. The
U.S. ambassador to Israel announced that the U.S. had begun “assisted departure
flights,” the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that
sparked the war in Gaza. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said
Thursday that Trump planned to make his decision on the strikes within two
weeks. Instead, he struck just two days later. Trump appears to have made the
calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers
— that Israel’s operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps
unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps
permanently. The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air
defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian
nuclear sites. But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel
appealed to Trump for the bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57
Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to
reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The bomb is currently delivered
only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal. If
deployed in the attack, it would be the first combat use of the weapon. The bomb
carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about
200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be
dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each
successive blast. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran
is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that
nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to
hit the facility.
Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a
centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the
surrounding area, the IAEA has said.
Trump’s decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his
administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level,
direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its
nuclear program.
For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to
give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May —
persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on military
action against Iran and give diplomacy more time. The U.S. in recent days has
been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to
protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks. All the while, Trump has
gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a “second chance”
for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making
calls for Tehran’s unconditional surrender.“We know exactly where the so-called
‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a social media posting. “He is an
easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at
least not for now.” The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in
2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and
other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that
limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic
sanctions.Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return
for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran’s non-nuclear malign
behavior. Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful,
including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further
U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise
to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.
Trump says two weeks
is 'maximum' for Iran decision
Agence France Presse/June
21, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that Iran had a "maximum" of two
weeks to avoid possible U.S. air strikes, indicating he could take a decision
before the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier. Trump added that he was not
inclined to stop Israel attacking Iran because it was "winning," and was
dismissive of European efforts to mediate an end to the conflict. "I'm giving
them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum," Trump
told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that. He
added that the aim was to "see whether or not people come to their senses."
Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would "make my decision
whether or not to go within the next two weeks" because there was a "substantial
chance of negotiations" with Iran. Those comments had been widely seen as
opening a two-week window for negotiations to end the war between Israel and
Iran, with the European powers rushing to talks with Tehran. But his latest
remarks indicated Trump could still make his decision before that if he feels
that there has been no progress towards dismantling Iran's nuclear program.
Trump meanwhile dismissed talks that European powers Britain, France, Germany
and the EU had with Iran's foreign minister in Geneva on Friday.
- Europe 'didn't help' -
"They didn't help," he said as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey, ahead of a
fundraising dinner at his nearby golf club. "Iran doesn't want to speak to
Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in
this."Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after the talks in Geneva
that Tehran would not resume negotiations with the United States until Israel
stopped its attacks. But Trump was reluctant. "It's very hard to make that
request right now," Trump said. "If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder
to do than if somebody's losing, but we're ready, willing and able, and we've
been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens."Trump meanwhile doubled down
on his claims that Iran is weeks away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb,
despite divisions in his own administration about the intelligence behind his
assessment. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, said in a
report in March that Iran was not close to having enough enriched uranium for a
nuclear weapon. "She's wrong," Trump said of Gabbard, a longtime opponent of
U.S. foreign intervention whom Trump tapped to coordinate the sprawling U.S. spy
community. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
Israel-Iran war stretches into a second week without diplomatic breakthrough
Associated Press/June
21, 2025
Hours of talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran failed to
produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war entered its second week with a
fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries. European ministers and
Iran's top diplomat met for four hours Friday in Geneva, as President Donald
Trump continued to weigh U.S. military involvement and worries rose over
potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for
future negotiations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was
open to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in
negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking. "Iran is ready to
consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable
for its committed crimes," he told reporters. On the sidelines of a meeting of
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul Saturday, Araghchi told the
AP that it "would be very unfortunate" if the U.S. were to become actively
engaged militarily in the war. "I think that it would be very, very dangerous
for everyone," he said. No date has been set for the next round of talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in
Iran would continue "for as long as it takes" to eliminate what he called the
existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles.
Israel's top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready
"for a prolonged campaign."But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without
U.S. help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to
be out of reach to all but America's "bunker-buster" bombs. Trump said he would
put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to
two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli
airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear
scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in
Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human
rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at
Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by
Israel's multitiered air defenses, but at least 24 people in Israel have been
killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defense minister said Saturday it killed a
commander in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed
Hamas in preparation for the Oct 7. 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the
20-month long war in Gaza. Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the
Palestine Corps for the Iranian Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that
conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran, and that he was
killed in an apartment in the city of Qom.
- Worries rise over the perils of attacking Iran's nuclear reactors -
Addressing an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, the head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear
reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern
city of Bushehr. "I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In case of
an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a
very high release of radioactivity to the environment," said Rafael Grossi,
chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog. "This is the nuclear site in Iran where the
consequences could be most serious."Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear
reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility
at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the
country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Grossi has warned
repeatedly that such sites should not be military targets. After initially
reporting no visible damage from Israel's Thursday strikes on the Arak heavy
water reactor, the IAEA on Friday said it had assessed "key buildings at the
facility were damaged," including the distillation unit. The reactor was not
operational and contained no nuclear material, so the damage posed no risk of
contamination, the watchdog said. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium
enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under
a 2015 deal with the U.S., France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in
exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out
of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% — a
short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% — and restricting
access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program
is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich
uranium up to 60%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern
country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.
- Israel says 'difficult days' ahead -
Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets across Iran on Friday,
including missile-manufacturing facilities, while an Iranian missile hit
Israel's northern city of Haifa, sending plumes of smoke billowing over the
Mediterranean port and wounding at least 31 people. Iranian state media reported
explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast
of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned Iranians to evacuate the area
around Rasht's Industrial City, southwest of the city's downtown. But with
Iran's internet shut off — now for more than 48 hours — it's unclear how many
people could see the message. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed
most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline
in Iranian attacks. But several of the roughly three dozen missiles that Israel
said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's aerial defense system,
setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into
a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, a frequent target of
Iranian missiles where a hospital was hit Thursday.
Israel says delayed Iran's presumed nuclear program by two years
Agence France Presse/June
21, 2025
aimed on Saturday it has already set back Iran's presumed nuclear program by at
least two years, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran has
a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes.
Trump has been mulling whether to involve the United States in Israel's bombing
campaign, indicating in his latest comments that he could take a decision before
the two week deadline he set this week. Israel said Saturday its air force had
launched fresh air strikes against missile storage and launch sites in central
Iran, as it kept up a wave of attacks it says are aimed at preventing its rival
from developing nuclear weapons -- an ambition Tehran has denied."According to
the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the
possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb," Israel's foreign minister Gideon
Saar said in an interview published Saturday.Saar said Israel's week-long
onslaught would continue. "We will do everything that we can do there in order
to remove this threat," he told German newspaper Bild. Top diplomats from
Britain, France and Germany met their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in
Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had
been derailed by Israel's attacks. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said
"we invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides,
including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we
also hope for."But Araghchi told NBC News after the meeting that "we're not
prepared to negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the
aggression continues."
Trump was dismissive of European diplomacy efforts, telling reporters, "Iran
doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going
to be able to help in this."Trump also said he's unlikely to ask Israel to stop
its attacks to get Iran back to the table. "If somebody's winning, it's a little
bit harder to do," he said. Any U.S. involvement would likely feature powerful
bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses to destroy an underground
uranium enrichment facility in Fordo. On the streets of Tehran, many shops were
closed and normally busting markets largely abandoned on Friday.
- 450 missiles -
A U.S.-based NGO, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Friday based
on its sources and media reports that at least 657 people have been killed in
Iran, including 263 civilians. Iran has not updated its tolls since Sunday, when
it said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military
commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. Since Israel launched its
offensive on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites but also hitting
residential areas, Iran has responded with barrages which Israeli authorities
say have killed at least 25 people. A hospital in the Israeli port of Haifa
reported 19 wounded, including one person in a serious condition, after the
latest Iranian salvo.Israel's National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more
than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400
drones. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and
air force bases.
- 'Madness' -
Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of
Iran's nuclear program, questioning in particular the country's accelerated
uranium enrichment. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran is the
only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent.However, it
added that there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning
nuclear warhead. The agency's chief Rafael Grossi told CNN it was "pure
speculation" to say how long it would take Iran to develop weapons. Britain's
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the conflict was at a "perilous moment" and
it was "hugely important that we don't see regional escalation". Araghchi
arrived in Istanbul on Saturday according to the Tasnim news agency, for a
meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the
Iran-Israel conflict.
Switzerland announced it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran, adding
that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran.
Israel says it's
preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war against Iran
DAVID RISING and SAM MEDNICK/Associated Press/June
21, 2025
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel 's military said Saturday it was preparing for
the possibility of a lengthy war, and announced it struck an Iranian nuclear
research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in
targeted attacks. The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed
Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels and
warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military
campaign against Iran. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with
the U.S. The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced the U.S. has begun “assisted
departure flights,” the first such flights from Israel since the Hamas-led
attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Inside Iran, smoke
rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province’s deputy
governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes
damaged the facility but caused no casualties. The target was a centrifuge
production site, Israel's military said. Isfahan was also hit in the first 24
hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program. The
International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the latest attack.
Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate
reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on
condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters, called it a
“small barrage” that was largely intercepted by Israel's defenses. The official
estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than 50% of Iran's
launchers. “We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.
“Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has
capabilities.” The Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin,
later said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a
“prolonged campaign."
Iran says US military involvement would be ‘dangerous’
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the
war. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “I think that it
would be very, very dangerous for everyone.” He spoke on the sidelines of an
Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey.
Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo
uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America’s
“bunker-buster” bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on military
involvement for up to two weeks. The war erupted June 13, with Israeli
airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear
scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in
Iran and more than 2,500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human
rights group. One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she
described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment. “I’ve had five
surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,” she said Saturday.
Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when
“something blew up right in front of me” at an intersection.
A number of Iranians fled the country. “Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,”
said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia. Iran has
retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel,
according to Israeli army estimates. Israel’s multitiered air defenses have shot
down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and
hundreds wounded. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to
60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Israel is
widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons
program but has never acknowledged it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has said Israel’s military operation will continue “for as long as it takes” to
eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and
ballistic missile arsenal.
No date set for new talks
While talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough, Iran's foreign
minister said he was open to further dialogue. He emphasized that Tehran had no
interest in negotiating with the U.S. while Israel continues to attack. No date
was set for a new round of talks. For many Iranians, updates remained difficult.
Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org said Saturday that limited internet
access had again “collapsed.” A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place
for several days.
More attacks on Iranian military commanders
Israel's defense minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary
Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7,
2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in Gaza. Iranian
officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom
governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment
building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said
it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said
was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari
was killed while traveling in western Iran, the military said.
Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog
Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's statements about the status of
Iran’s nuclear program prompted Israel’s attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser
for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani, said on social media,
without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi “pay” once the war is over.
Grossi, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, on Friday warned against attacks
on Iran’s nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant
in the southern city of Bushehr. “In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear
power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,”
Grossi said, adding: “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences
could be most serious.” Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead
focusing strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge
workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak heavy
water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its
uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear
sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Trump pulled
the U.S. out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up
to 60% and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has insisted on
its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear
program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program
altogether.
**Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers
Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo;
Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai
contributed to this report.
Targeting of Quds Force shows
growing breach in Iranian intelligence security
Jiyar Gol - BBC world affairs
correspondent/June 21, 2025
man waves Iranian flags and holds pic of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei
The security apparatus of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - whose
portrait is held by a protester in Tehran - appears to have been deeply
compromised [EPA]
If Israel's recent claims are confirmed, the assassinations of Saeed Izadi and
Behnam Shahryari represent a major blow to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) and the elite Quds Force, its overseas operations arm which has ties with
armed groups in the region. Izadi, a senior Quds Force commander responsible for
coordination with Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, was reportedly
killed in an apartment in the Shia holy city of Qom. Shahryari, the head of Unit
190 - responsible for smuggling weapons and funds to Iran's regional proxies -
was assassinated by a drone strike while traveling by car in western Iran. Izadi
played a central role in co-ordinating Tehran's support for Palestinian armed
groups and was reportedly instrumental in arming and financing Hamas, the
Palestinian armed group which carried out the 7 October 2023 attack on southern
Israel. The head of Israel's military, Eyal Zamir, said Izadi's assassination
was "a key point in the multi-front war"."The blood of thousands of Israelis is
on his hands," Zamir said. "This is a tremendous intelligence and operational
achievement."
Live updates
Izadi previously narrowly survived an Israeli air strike in April 2024 that
targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria - an attack that killed
several high-ranking Quds Force commanders. The targeting of Izadi and Shahyari
follow a wave of assassinations targeting senior Iranian military officials and
highlight what many see as a growing breach within Iran's intelligence
community. Iranian state TV last week broadcast images showing camouflaged
lorries and vans that were allegedly used to transport drones, along with
footage of makeshift FPV drone factories in the south of Tehran. Scores of
people have been arrested and accused of spying for Mossad, including some
Afghan refugees. Human rights groups fear that the authorities may be using
accusations of espionage as a pretext to arrest anyone who opposes the
government or criticises the IRGC and the country's leadership. The officials
were so concerned about the infiltration that several days ago they ordered all
protection personnel not to use smartphones connected to the internet for
communication. The police chief asked the public to report to the police if they
have rented out any buildings to companies or individuals recently or in the
past couple of years. Israel attacked Iran on 13 June but a covert conflict has
been simmering for over two decades, characterised by sabotage, cyber-attacks,
and targeted killings. Nuclear scientists and Quds Force commanders in Syria and
inside Iran have frequently been targeted. Israel's spy agency Mossad is widely
believed to be behind many of these operations.
People look at a damaged building in the aftermath of Israeli strikes, in
Tehran, Iran. Israeli strikes have targeted specific apartments in populated
areas [Reuters] One of the most dramatic episodes occurred in 2018, when Mossad
agents infiltrated a highly secured warehouse in a militarised suburb of Tehran.
They broke into vaults and extracted thousands of top-secret Iranian nuclear
documents, physically transporting them to Tel Aviv. The operation stunned
Iran's intelligence community. To this day, Iranian authorities remain
mystified. Earlier this year former Iranian intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi
admitted that Iranian services still had no idea how the secret nuclear
documents storage was breached and how those behind it escaped undetected. One
name in the stolen documents stood out: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who played a crucial
role in Iran's nuclear programme. Israel accused him of working on nuclear
weapons. Iran denies the existence of any such project. In 2020, Fakhrizadeh was
assassinated near Tehran by a remote-controlled weapon, activated by agents.
Despite warnings, including from Alavi, the intelligence failure was total. The
extent of Mossad infiltration into Iran's intelligence services has long been a
matter of speculation. In 2021, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed
that the head of Iran's counter-Mossad unit was himself an Israeli agent - that
individual was later arrested and executed in secret. The same year, former
intelligence minister Ali Younesi warned that "Mossad is closer to us than our
own ears", underscoring the perceived depth of Israeli infiltration. In recent
years, Israel is also believed to have pre-positioned small drones and
explosives inside Iran, trained operators and planted them near the homes of
IRGC commanders and near radar and missile sites. In its initial attack on 13
June, Israel killed top Iranian military figures including the Armed Forces
Chief of Staff, the IRGC Chief of Staff and the head of IRGC missile and
aerospace divisions, as well as a number of nuclear scientists. Each successful
operation points to a troubling truth for Iran's leadership: their internal
security has been deeply compromised.
Israel struck Iran's Isfahan nuclear
site again
Agence France Presse/June 21, 2025
Israel targeted "two centrifuge production sites" at Iran's Isfahan nuclear
facility overnight in a second wave of strikes on the location since the start
of the war, a military official said on Saturday. "Isfahan we targeted in the
first 24 hours of our operation, but we carried out a second wave of strikes
there overnight, deepening our achievements and advancing the damage to the
facility," the military official told reporters during a briefing on condition
of anonymity. He added that the targeting of two centrifuge production sites in
Isfahan was "in addition to a couple more centrifuge production sites that we
have been able to strike successfully in recent days".The repeated raids by the
Israeli air force have "dealt a severe blow to Iran's centrifuge production
capabilities," the official added. Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium, both
for civilian and military use, with the radioactive metal needing to be enriched
to high levels for use in atomic weapons. Isfahan, in central Iran, is known to
have a uranium conversion facility which processes raw, mined uranium. It also
holds a nuclear fuel fabrication facility, which was inaugurated in 2009 and
produces low-enriched fuel for use in power plants. In July 2022, Iran announced
plans to construct a new research reactor there. On the first day of Israel's
strikes on June 13, the Israeli military said it had struck "a facility for
producing metallic uranium, infrastructure for reconverting enriched uranium,
laboratories, and additional infrastructure" in Isfahan. Iran's atomic energy
agency said afterwards that the damage was "not extensive" and there was no
cause for concern about radiation. Israel has also targeted Iran's two main
underground nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordo.
Israel says it killed Iran's military coordinator with Hamas
Frances Mao - BBC News/June 21, 2025
Israel says it has killed a senior Iranian commander who helped plan Hamas's 7
October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in a strike on Saturday on the city of
Qom. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the killing of Saeed Izadi marked a
key point in the conflict. He was "one of the orchestrators" of the attack,
which killed about 1,200 people and saw many others taken to Gaza as hostages,
said IDF chief Eyal Zamir. "The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands,"
he said on Saturday, calling it a "tremendous intelligence and operational
achievement."
Iran is yet to confirm Izadi's killing and has previously denied involvement in
Hamas's attack.
Targeting of Quds Force shows growing security breach
The IDF said it had killed Izadi in a strike on an apartment in Qom, south of
Tehran, in the early hours of Saturday. He had been in charge of the Palestine
Corps of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps's (IRGC) Quds Force, responsible
for handling ties with the Palestinian armed groups. He was reportedly
instrumental in arming and financing Hamas, and had been responsible for
military co-ordination between senior IRGC commanders and Hamas leaders, the IDF
said. In April 2024, Izadi narrowly survived an Israeli air strike targeting the
Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria - an attack that killed several
high-ranking Quds Force commanders. Israel later on Saturday also claimed to
have killed another Quds Force commander, Behnam Shahriyari in a drone strike as
he was travelling in a car through western Iran. Shahriyari had been responsible
for transporting missiles and rockets to Iran's proxy groups across the region,
including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, said the IDF. If Israeli
claims are confirmed, the assassinations of Izadi and Shahryari represent a
major blow to the IRGC. The attacks come as the conflict between the two
countries entered its ninth day, with both launching new attacks on Saturday.
Iran said Israel had targeted a nuclear facility near the city of Isfahan.
Israel said it was targeting military infrastructure in south-west Iran and
reported at least one impact from Iranian drones that entered its airspace.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meanwhile told reporters in Istanbul that
any US involvement in the conflict would be "very very dangerous". On Friday he
told European envoys in Geneva on Friday that Iran would not resume talks over
its nuclear programme until Israel's strikes stopped. Donald Trump has suggested
US involvement in Israel's strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had a "maximum" of two
weeks to avoid possible American air strikes if they did not negotiate on their
nuclear programme. Iranian officials say least 430 people, including military
commanders, have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since the conflict began
on 13 June. A human rights group tracking Iran, the Human Rights Activists News
Agency, put the unofficial death toll at 657 on Friday. In Israel, officials say
25 people have been killed including one of a heart attack.
Israeli military says it killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders
Reuters/June 21, 2025
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the military had
killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm, in
a strike in an apartment in Iran's Qom province. The commander, Saeed Izadi, led
the Palestine Corps of the overseas arm, or Quds Force, Katz said in a
statement. The Israeli military later said that it killed a second commander of
the Guards' overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari, during a strike
on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran. It said the commander "was
responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies
across the Middle East". Shariyari supplied missiles and rockets launched at
Israel to Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen's Houthis, according to the Israeli
military. There was no confirmation from the IRGC on the killing of the two
commanders. The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the Axis
of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the
Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the
Iran-aligned network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as
Israeli offensives since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel have weakened
both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah. Katz said Izadi financed and armed
Hamas during the initial attacks, describing the commander's killing as a "major
achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force". Izadi was sanctioned by
the U.S. and Britain over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian
militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.
Iran FM warns US involvement in conflict would be 'very dangerous' as Israel
targets commanders
BBC/June 21, 2025
Iran's foreign minister says US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict would be
'very very dangerous' Abbas Araghchi is in Istanbul, Turkey, to continue
diplomatic talks over Iran's nuclear programme - he says talks with the US
"cannot go ahead while our country is under bombardment" Iran says at least 430
people have been killed in the country since the conflict began on 13 June, as
Israel reports continuing Iranian attacks. The Israel Defense Forces say they
assassinated Iranian commander Saeed Izadi in the north-eastern city of Qom
overnight - here's what we know about him. Elsewhere, US Director of National
Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says Iran could produce nuclear weapon "within
weeks", after Trump said she was "wrong on Iran"Iran FM warns US involvement in
conflict would be 'very dangerous' as Israel targets commanders
Israel-Iran conflict enters its second week with fresh attacks despite Geneva
talks
Natasha Bowler/Euronews/June 21, 2025
Israel-Iran conflict enters its second week with fresh attacks despite Geneva
talksScroll back up to restore default view. Israel and Iran have exchanged
fresh attacks as the conflict entered its second week, despite talks between
European ministers and Iran's top diplomat, aimed at de-escalating tension,
taking place on Friday. While Friday's talks, which lasted for four hours in
Geneva, failed to produce a breakthrough, European officials expressed hope for
future negotiations.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue, but
not while Israel continues its attacks on Iran. “Iran is ready to consider
diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its
committed crimes,” Araghchi told reporters.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump
continues to weigh US military involvement in the conflict. Trump is
deliberating on whether to attack Iran's well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment
facility - the facility is located under a mountain and widely thought to be out
of reach to all but the US's bunker-buster bombs. On Thursday, Trump said he
would make a decision within two weeks whether the US will get involved
militarily in Iran given the "substantial chance" for renewed negotiations over
the country's nuclear program. Iran has stated it will not negotiate with the US
unless Israel ends its attacks on the country. The Israel-Iran conflict began on
13 June, when Israeli airstrikes began targeting nuclear and military sites in
Iran. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran,
and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human
rights group. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed while thousands
have sought medical assistance. According to Israeli army estimates, Iran has
fired at least 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, with most being shot
down by its air defence system
Israeli military says it killed two Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders
Reuters/June 21, 2025
(Reuters) -Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the
military had killed a veteran commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards'
overseas arm, in a strike in an apartment in Iran's Qom province. The commander,
Saeed Izadi, led the Palestine Corps of the overseas arm, or Quds Force, Katz
said in a statement.The Israeli military later said that it killed a second
commander of the Guards' overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari,
during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran. It said the
commander "was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to
its proxies across the Middle East".Shariyari supplied missiles and rockets
launched at Israel to Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen's Houthis, according to the
Israeli military. There was no confirmation from the IRGC on the killing of the
two commanders. The Quds Force built up a network of Arab allies known as the
Axis of Resistance, establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982 and supporting the
Palestinian militant Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the
Iran-aligned network has suffered major blows over the last two years, as
Israeli offensives since Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel have weakened
both the Palestinian group and Hezbollah.Katz said Izadi financed and armed
Hamas during the initial attacks, describing the commander's killing as a "major
achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force". Izadi was sanctioned by
the U.S. and Britain over what they said were his ties to Hamas and Palestinian
militant faction Islamic Jihad, which also took part in the October 7 attacks.
Iran FM warns US involvement in conflict would be 'very
dangerous' as Israel targets commanders
BBC/June 21, 2025
Iran's foreign minister says US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict would be
'very very dangerous' Abbas Araghchi is in Istanbul, Turkey, to continue
diplomatic talks over Iran's nuclear programme - he says talks with the US
"cannot go ahead while our country is under bombardment" Iran says at least 430
people have been killed in the country since the conflict began on 13 June, as
Israel reports continuing Iranian attacks. The Israel Defense Forces say they
assassinated Iranian commander Saeed Izadi in the north-eastern city of Qom
overnight - here's what we know about him
Elsewhere, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says Iran could
produce nuclear weapon "within weeks", after Trump said she was "wrong on
Iran"Iran FM warns US involvement in conflict would be 'very dangerous' as
Israel targets commanders
Israel hits Iranian nuclear research facility and says it's
preparing for possibly long campaign
David Rising And Sam Mednick/The Associated Press/June 21, 2025
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's military said Saturday it struck an Iranian
nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders
in targeted attacks, while emphasizing it was preparing for the possibility that
the war could turn into a lengthy campaign. Early Saturday, smoke could be seen
rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said
Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.The target was
two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other
centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli
military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to
brief reporters. It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first
24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear
program.
Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province's deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed
the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility but said there had been no
human casualties. Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but
there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official
called it a “small barrage” that was largely intercepted by Israel's defenses.
The official said part of the reason that Iran's overnight attack had been
relatively small was that the military had been targeting its launchers, and
estimates it has now taken out more than 50% of them.
“We've been able to take out a large amount of their launchers, creating a
bottleneck — we're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,” he said.
“Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has
capabilities.”
Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said Saturday an Iranian drone hit a
two-story building in northern Israel, but there were no casualties.Later, the
Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, said the army had
been told by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir to be prepared for a “prolonged
campaign” to destroy its targets, including nuclear sites, enrichment facilities
and missile infrastructure. “We are deepening our strikes night after night and
we have amazing achievements,” he said. “We will continue until the threat is
removed.”Talks in Switzerland fail to produce a breakthrough. Talks in Geneva on
Friday failed to produce a breakthrough. European officials expressed hope for
future discussions, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open
to further dialogue while emphasizing that Tehran had no interest in negotiating
with the U.S. while Israel continued attacking.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once aggression is stopped
and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” he told
reporters.
No date was set for the next round of talks.
Iran warns against US military involvement
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing active U.S. military involvement in the
conflict, which Araghchi said Saturday “would be very unfortunate.”“I think that
it would be very, very dangerous for everyone,” he said in Istanbul, speaking on
the sidelines of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.The war
between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting
nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722
people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,500
wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has
retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel,
according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s
multitiered air defenses, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and
hundreds wounded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s military operation
in Iran would continue “for as long as it takes” to eliminate what he called the
existential threat of Iran’s nuclear program and arsenal of ballistic missiles.
But Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without U.S. help. Barring a commando
raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran’s underground Fordo uranium enrichment
facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America’s “bunker-buster”
bombs. Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel’s air
campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. Israel continues targeted attacks on
Iranian military commanders
In Israel's opening attack, it killed three of Iran’s top military leaders: one
who oversaw the entire armed forces, Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; one who led the
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the
Guard’s ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
The targeted killings of senior commanders continued, with Israel's defense
minister saying Saturday that the military had killed a commander in Iran's
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for
the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza.
Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the Iranian
Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that conducts military and intelligence
operations outside Iran, and that he was killed in an apartment in the city of
Qom. Iranian officials did not immediately confirm the death, but the Qom
governor's office did say there had been an attack on a four-story apartment
building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said
it had killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it
said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam
Shahriyari was killed in his car while traveling in western Iran, the military
said.
A commander of Iran's drone force was also killed overnight, the Israeli
official who briefed reporters said. Iran threatens head of U.N. nuclear
watchdog
On Friday, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned at an emergency meeting
of the U.N. Security Council against attacks on Iran’s nuclear reactors,
particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of
Bushehr.
“I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In case of an attack on the
Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of
radioactivity to the environment,” said Rafael Grossi, head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency. “This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences
could be most serious.”Israel has not targeted Iran’s nuclear reactors, instead
focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz,
centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country’s Arak
heavy water reactor southwest of the capital.
Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international
inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the U.S., France,
China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after
Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the deal during his first term, Iran
began enriching uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from
weapons-grade levels of 90% — and restricting access to its nuclear facilities.
Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is
the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%. Israel is widely
believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program
but has never acknowledged it. Leaders in Iran have blamed Grossi's statements
about the status of Iran's nuclear program for prompting Israel's attack. On
Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei, Ali Larijani,
said in a brief social media post without elaboration that Iran would make
Grossi “pay” once the war with Israel is over.
Putin says Russia has told Israel there's no evidence Iran
wants nuclear weapons, Sky News Arabia reports
Reuters/June 21, 2025
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia has repeatedly told Israel that there is no evidence
Iran is aiming to get nuclear weapons, Sky News Arabia on Saturday quoted
Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying in an interview. "Russia, as well as
the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), has never had any evidence that
Iran is preparing to obtain nuclear weapons, as we have repeatedly put the
Israeli leadership on notice," Sky News Arabia quoted Putin as saying. Russia is
ready to support Iran in developing a peaceful nuclear programme, Putin was
quoted as saying, adding that Iran has the right to do so.
Speaking at an economic forum in St. Petersburg on Friday, Putin said Russia was
sharing its ideas on how to stop the bloodshed in the Iran-Israel conflict with
both sides. He did not give details of those ideas.
Erdogan says he's 'optimistic victory will be Iran's' in blistering speech as
strikes continue
Mared Gwyn Jones/Euronews/June 21, 2025
Erdogan says he's 'optimistic victory will be Iran's' in blistering speech as
strikes continue
As the conflict between Israel and Iran enters its ninth consecutive day,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he's "optimistic that victory
will be Iran's" in a blistering speech at a gathering of Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers in Istanbul. Erdogan accused Israel of
sabotaging the nuclear talks between Iran and the US — which were ongoing when
Israel first launched strikes last Friday, June 13 — adding that Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want to "resolve issues through diplomatic
means." He urged the diplomats at the OIC meeting to increase pressure on Israel
on the basis of international law and UN resolutions. Erdogan's harsh rhetoric
comes days before he's due to join a meeting of leaders of the NATO Alliance
this week, including US President Donald Trump, who has dismissed a European-led
effort to steer parties to the negotiating table. "Iran doesn't want to speak to
Europe. They want to speak to us," Trump told reporters in New Jersey late on
Friday. "Europe is not going to be able to help in this one." Meanwhile, Israel
said its strikes had targeted Iran's nuclear site in Isfahan, and that it had
killed three senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said in an interview published in
Germany’s Bild newspaper on Saturday that Israel has already delayed Iran's
nuclear programme by "at least two or three years.".
A deadly race for food: Palestinians in Gaza risk harrowing
journey day after day
Mohammed Jahjouh, Sarah El Deeb And Lee Keath/The Associated Press/June 21, 2025
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Each day, Palestinians in Gaza run a deadly
gantlet in hopes of getting food. Israeli troops open barrages of gunfire toward
crowds crossing military zones to get to the aid, they say, and knife-wielding
thieves wait to ambush those who succeed. Palestinians say lawlessness is
growing as they are forced into a competition to feed their families. A lucky
few manage to secure some packets of lentils, a jar of Nutella or a bag of
flour. Many return empty-handed and must attempt the ordeal again the next day.
“This isn’t aid. It’s humiliation. It’s death,” said Jamil Atili, his face
shining with sweat as he made his way back last week from a food center run by
the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed private contractor. He had
suffered a knife cut across his cheek amid the scramble for food and said a
contractor guard pepper-sprayed him in the face. Still, he emerged with nothing
for his 13 family members. “I have nothing to feed my children,” he said, nearly
crying. “My heart is broken.”Israel began allowing food into Gaza this past
month after cutting it off completely for 10 weeks, though United Nations
officials say it is not enough to stave off starvation. Most of the supplies go
to GHF, which operates four food distribution points inside Israeli military
zones. A trickle of aid goes to the U.N. and humanitarian groups. Both systems
are mired in chaos. Daily gunfire by Israeli troops toward crowds on the roads
heading to the GHF centers has killed several hundred people and wounded
hundreds more in past weeks, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. At the same
time, in past weeks, hungry crowds overwhelm most of the U.N.'s truck convoys
and strip away the supplies. Israeli troops have opened fire to disperse crowds
waiting for trucks near military zones, witnesses say — and on Tuesday, more
than 50 people were killed, according to the ministry. The Israeli military says
it is investigating. “I don’t see how it can get any worse, because it is
already apocalyptic. But somehow it does get worse,” said Olga Cherevko,
spokesperson for the U.N. humanitarian affairs office.
Israel and GHF downplay the violence
Israel says it has only fired warning shots at suspects who approached its
forces along the roads to the GHF food centers. Palestinian witnesses say the
troops fire to prevent crowds from moving past a certain point before the
centers open or because people leave the road designated by the military. They
describe heavy barrages from tanks, snipers, drones and even guns mounted on
cranes. Asked how its soldiers control movement, the military told The
Associated Press its “operational conduct ... is accompanied by systematic
learning processes.” It said it was looking into safety measures like fences and
road signs. GHF says no shootings have taken place in or near its hubs. A
spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity under GHF rules, said incidents
take place before sites open involving aid-seekers who move “during prohibited
times ... or trying to take a short cut.” They said GHF is trying to improve
safety, in part by changing opening times to daylight hours. Israel intends for
GHF to replace the U.N.-led aid network in Gaza, contending that Hamas diverts
large amounts of aid from it. The U.N. denies the claim.
Ducking under fire
Thousands of people must walk miles to reach the GHF centers, three of which are
in the far south outside the city of Rafah. Palestinians said the danger begins
when the crowds enter the Israeli military zone encompassing Rafah. Mohammed
Saqer, a father of three who risked the trip multiple times, said that when he
went last week, tanks were firing over the heads of the crowds as drone
announcements told everyone to move back. It’s “like it was ‘Squid Game,’” Saqer
said, referring to the dystopian thriller TV series in which contestants risk
their lives to win a prize. Just raising your head might mean death, he said. He
and others crawled forward, then left the main road. A shot rang out nearby and
they ducked, he said. They found a young man on the ground, shot in the back.
The others assumed he was dead, but Saqer felt his chest — it was still warm,
and he found a pulse. They carried him to a point where a car could pick him up.
Saqer said he stood for a moment, traumatized by the scene. Then people shouted
that the site had opened.
The mad dash
Everyone broke into a crazed run, he said. He saw several people wounded on the
ground. One man, bleeding from his abdomen, reached out his hand, pleading for
help. No one stopped. “Everyone is just running to get to the aid, to get there
first,” Saqer said. Omar al-Hobi described the same scene the four times he went
last week. Twice, he returned empty-handed; once, he managed to grab a pack of
lentils. On the fourth day, he was determined to secure flour for his three
children and pregnant wife. He said he and others inched their way forward under
tank fire. He saw several people shot in the legs. One man fell bleeding to the
ground, apparently dead, he said. Horrified, al-Hobi froze, unable to move, “but
I remembered I have to feed my children.”He took cover in a greenhouse, then
heard the announcement that the center was open and began to run.
Avoiding thieves
At the center, food boxes are stacked on the ground in an area surrounded by
fences and earthen berms. Thousands rush in to grab what they can in a frantic
melee. You have to move fast, Saqer said. Once supplies run out, some of those
who came too late rob those leaving. He swiftly tore open a box and loaded the
contents into a sack — juice, chickpeas, lentils, cheese, beans, flour and
cooking oil. Then he took off running. There's only one route in and out of the
center. But, knowing thieves waited outside, Saqer clambered over a berm,
running the risk of being fired on by Israeli troops. “It all depends on the
soldiers’ mood. If they are in a bad mood … they will shoot at me. If not, they
will let me be,” he said. Heba Jouda said she saw a group of men beat up a boy
of 12 or 13 years old and take his food as she left one of the Rafah centers.
Another time, she said, thieves attacked an older man, who hugged his sack,
weeping that his children had no food. They sliced his arm with a knife and ran
off with the sack.
The finish line
Al-Hobi said he was trampled in the scramble for boxes. He managed to grab a bag
of rice, a packet of macaroni. He snagged flour — but much of it was ruined in
the chaos.
At his family tent outside Khan Younis, his wife, Anwaar Saleh, said she will
ration it all to make it last a week or so. “We hope he doesn’t have to go back.
His life is the most important thing,” she said. Al-Hobi remains shaken — both
by his brushes with death and the callousness that the race for food has
instilled in everyone. “No one will show you mercy these days. Everybody fends
for themselves.”
Israeli-backed group seeks at
least $30 million from US for aid distribution in Gaza
Ellen Knickmeyer/AP/June 21, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S.-led group has asked the Trump administration to step in
with an initial $30 million so it can continue its much scrutinized and
Israeli-backed aid distribution in Gaza, according to three U.S. officials and
the organization's application for the money.That application, obtained by The
Associated Press, also offers some of the first financial details about the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation and its work in the territory. The foundation says it
has provided millions of meals in southern Gaza since late May to Palestinians
as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the Gaza to the brink of
famine. But the effort has seen near-daily fatal shootings of Palestinians
trying to reach the distribution sites. Major humanitarian groups also accuse
the foundation of cooperating with Israel's objectives in the 20-month-old war
against Hamas in a way that violates humanitarian principles.
The group's funding application was submitted to the U.S. Agency for
International Development, according to the U.S. officials, who were not
authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The application was being processed this week as potentially one of the agency's
last acts before the Republican administration absorbs USAID into the State
Department as part of deep cuts in foreign assistance. Two of the officials said
they were told the administration has decided to award the money. They said the
processing was moving forward with little of the review and auditing normally
required before Washington makes foreign assistance grants to an organization.
In a letter submitted Thursday as part of the application, Gaza Humanitarian
Foundation secretary Loik Henderson said his organization “was grateful for the
opportunity to partner with you to sustain and scale life-saving operations in
Gaza.”Neither the State Department nor Henderson immediately responded to
requests for comment Saturday. Israel says the foundation is the linchpin of a
new aid system to wrest control from the United Nations, which Israel alleges
has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. The foundation's
use of fixed sites in southern Gaza is in line with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to use aid to concentrate the territory’s more than 2
million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere. Aid
workers fear it’s a step toward another of Netanyahu’s public goals, removing
Palestinians from Gaza in “voluntary” migrations that aid groups and human
rights organizations say would amount to coerced departures. The U.N. and many
leading nonprofit groups accuse the foundation of stepping into aid distribution
with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without a
commitment to the principles of neutrality and operational independence in war
zones. Since the organization started operations, several hundred Palestinians
have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near-daily shootings as they tried
to reach aid sites, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli
troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control
them. The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired
warning shots in several instance, and fired directly at a few “suspects” who
ignored warnings and approached its forces. It’s unclear who is funding the new
operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward. The State Department said this
past week that the United States is not funding it. In documents supporting its
application, the group said it received nearly $119 million for May operations
from “other government donors,” but gives no details. It expects $38 million
from those unspecific government donors for June, in addition to the hoped-for
$30 million from the United States. The application shows no funding from
private philanthropy or any other source.
Displaced
Syrians who have returned home face a fragile future, says UN refugees chief
Omar Sanadiki/The Associated
Press/June 21, 2025
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said
Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced
people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in
December. Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee
Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as “fragile and hopeful” and warned
that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international
assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure. “How can we make sure
that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people
don’t move again because they don’t have a house or they don’t have a job or
they don’t have electricity?” Grandi asked a small group of journalists after
the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and
spoke with returning refugees.“What is needed for people to return, electricity
but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,” he said.
Syria’s near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of
former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive, killed nearly half
a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of of 23
million. Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since
Assad’s fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned
to their homes in the same period. However, there is little aid available for
the returnees, with multiple crises in the region -- including the new
Israel-Iran war -- and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced
programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare,
education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon.
“The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much
impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign
assistance,” Grandi said, adding: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be
careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian
refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.”Some have also
fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized
since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend
its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former
insurgent groups together into a national army.
There have also been outbreaks of violence, notably in March,
when hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which
Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between
pro-Assad armed groups and government security forces on the Syrian coast. Some
40,000 new refugees fled to Lebanon following that violence. Grandi said the
UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official
registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and “provide
them with basic assistance.”
“This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not
so strong right now,” he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to
make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very
strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.”
The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already
dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of
refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again. The U.N. does not yet
have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel,
he said. “We know that some
Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we
have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,” he said. “And
we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues
who are in Iran - they’re working out of bunkers because of the bombs.”
Putin says 'Ukraine is ours'
and threatens nuclear strike - showing how he feels about Trump
Sky News/June 21, 2025
He may have been speaking at an economic forum, but that didn’t stop Vladimir
Putin from issuing his most hawkish comments on Ukraine in a very long time.
During a Q&A at Russia's flagship investment event in St Petersburg, the Kremlin
leader was asked what his end game was in the conflict. He replied: "I have said
many times that I consider the Russian and Ukrainian people to be one nation. In
this sense, all of Ukraine is ours." The answer received rapturous applause from
an auditorium full of fawning politicians and business figures. "There is an old
rule," he said. "'Where a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours'."In short, he
was saying that he wants the whole lot. The comments came as a surprise because
they are in sharp contrast to the Kremlin's recent rhetoric.Ever since Donald
Trump began his push for a peace deal, Moscow has adopted a softer tone, more
conciliatory - in an apparent attempt to show Washington that it is interested
in a settlement. But there was none of that kind of language here. Quite the
opposite. The Russian president even, for the first time in months, threatened a
nuclear strike on Ukraine. Asked how Moscow would respond if Kyiv used a dirty
bomb against Russian forces, he promised "catastrophic" consequences for his
enemy. "This would be a colossal mistake on the part of those whom we call
neo-Nazis on the territory of today's Ukraine," he said. "It could be their last
mistake. "We always respond and respond in kind. Therefore, our response will be
very tough."The Kremlin's nuclear sabre-rattling was an almost weekly feature
during the last days of the Biden administration, but the sabres stilled when Mr
Trump came to power. But now, all of a sudden, he's returned to it. It felt like
a very deliberate message from Vladimir Putin that, despite peace talks, Russia
has no intention of backing down, neither on the battlefield nor at the
negotiating table. I think it shows that Moscow is not too worried about
upsetting Donald Trump. The American leader appears to have distanced himself
from trying to mediate the conflict, but still seems to be pursuing warmer ties
with Moscow. So I think these comments also show how confident Putin is that
things are going his way.
The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources
on June 21-22/2025
Thank You Mr. President, Thank You America, Thank You Israel
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/June 21, 2025
This tiny country [Israel], by itself, has begun putting an end to a "forever
war" that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been waging on the West for 46 years.
The potential success of such a David-vs-Goliath endeavor would not be possible
without the strength, determination, and leadership of US President Donald J.
Trump.
America finally has a president willing to act against terrorism.
This moment also makes clear that Trump's actions are not provoking World War
III, they are preventing World War III – which Iran has been threatening for
almost half a century.
Now, once again, when Israel needs a true ally — not just someone to offer
sympathetic words then threaten to withhold weapons — Trump has offered
consistent support. "Israel has to do what they have to do," he said.
This kind of Churchillian clarity does not cause chaos—it stops it, just as the
allies stopped it in the last century in Germany and Japan. Trump and Netanyahu
deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for taking one of the world's greatest terrorist
states off the table.
Strength does not invite war—it deters it. "When people see a strong horse and a
weak horse," observed the late esteemed psychologist, Osama bin Laden, "they
will naturally want to side with the strong horse." The Middle East is safer
today not because of handshakes and summits and signed pieces of paper that
usually one side disregards.
Russia disregarded the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Russia, the United
States and Ukraine agreed that Ukraine's borders would be respected in exchange
for giving up the nuclear weapons it had at the time. And half a ton of
documents showed that Iran had been cheating on its JCPOA "deal."
The Middle East is safer today because Israel struck after... Israeli
intelligence determined that Iran was on the brink of assembling a bomb -- and
because the United States stood behind Israel.
To those who still criticize, who still think diplomacy alone can solve
everything, the answer is simple. As the great Secretary of State George Shultz
noted, "Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is
not cast across the bargaining table" -- in short, diplomacy works best when the
enemy knows that it is backed up by force. Iran's leaders did not take Trump's
60-day warning seriously, probably because they did not believe he and Netanyahu
had the courage to act. They also may be assuming that they can absorb a few
blows and build back their nuclear weapons program after that – and precisely
why it is crucial to destroy Fordow: to make sure no one can resuscitate it
later.
The time for appeasement is over. For this, we owe our gratitude to three
pillars: Trump, the USA under his leadership, and the brave people of Israel who
refuse to be victims.
What the world witnessed this past week was not merely a military operation. It
was the courageous act of a free nation — Israel — taking one of the bravest and
most humane steps in recent memory to stop evil in its tracks. This tiny
country, by itself, has begun putting an end to a "forever war" that the Islamic
Republic of Iran has been waging on the West for 46 years. The potential success
of such a David-vs-Goliath endeavor would not be possible without the strength,
determination, and leadership of US President Donald J. Trump.
What the world witnessed this past week was not merely a military operation. It
was the courageous act of a free nation — Israel — taking one of the bravest and
most humane steps in recent memory to stop evil in its tracks. This tiny
country, by itself, has begun putting an end to a "forever war" that the Islamic
Republic of Iran has been waging on the West for 46 years. The potential success
of such a David-vs-Goliath endeavor would not be possible without the strength,
determination, and leadership of US President Donald J. Trump.
While many global leaders have stood by passively, hedging their words and
calling for "restraint," Trump showed what true leadership looks like. He did
not waver. He did not equivocate. He supported Israel in its fight on behalf of
all of us in the Free World -- not just in words, but in action, strategy, and
unwavering moral clarity.
Israel's bold, precise strikes on Iran's military and nuclear infrastructure
were not acts of aggression -- they were acts of self-defense needed to protect
the country's existence after hearing from the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) that, contrary to the claims -- twice -- of US Director of
National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that Iran was not working on a bomb. If you
are not working in a bomb, you do not need a Fordow uranium enrichment site.
Either Gabbard's information was worthless or she was lying to the public to
promote a pacifist ideology. Either reason does not exactly inspire confidence.
Israel had suffered the unspeakable horror of October 7, when Hamas terrorists,
funded and armed by Iran and Qatar, invaded Israel and massacred civilians in
cold blood. What other nation on earth would be told to "show restraint" after
such a barbaric attack? Did the United States advocate "showing restraint" after
9/11? Yet, that is what most so-called Western leaders have done — telling
Israel to have a cease-fire, hold back, limit its response, avoid "escalation."
As if the original atrocity was not escalation enough.
Trump, to his immense credit, and contrary to the Biden administration, did not
join that cowardly chorus. Instead, he did what only a true friend and a great
leader would do: he stood by Israel -- a country the size of New Jersey being
attacked on seven fronts -- with conviction and clarity.
While others tried to soften their language, Trump said after Israel's initial
air strikes, said that the Israeli operation was "excellent." He reminded the
world that he had given Iran 60 days -- a generous chance -- to stop advancing
toward nuclear weapons. Iran refused the opportunity. Instead of pretending
otherwise or hiding behind bureaucratic platitudes, Trump spoke plainly and
powerfully: "They got hit hard... More to come."
Contrast this to the usual diplomatic playbook. How many world leaders
immediately ran to the podium after the Hamas invasion in 2023 to pressure
Israel to de-escalate and pretended that peace can be achieved by pacifying
terrorists and tyrants? Whether such an approach is bad or good is immaterial:
it does not work. How many of these politicians care more about being praised by
the New York Times than about the future of their countries and the free world?
These politicians probably imagine they are projecting virtue; in reality, they
are simply projecting cowardice, while enabling violence and tyranny.
Those politicians seem concerned only with appearing "balanced," even when one
side is clearly the aggressor and the other, the victim. Trump never fell into
that trap. He made it clear that supporting Israel's right to defend itself is
not just a strategic choice — it is a moral obligation.
Even in his first term, Trump showed backbone that must have maddened his
detractors. He charted a course of unapologetic strength and moral clarity. He
pulled the US out of the disastrous 2015 JCPOA Iran "nuclear deal," which was
set to legitimize Iran's acquiring nuclear weapons in October 2025. He ordered
the killing of Iran's leading terrorist, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major
General Qasem Soleimani. Trump defeated Islamic State in Syria in a matter of
weeks, moved the U.S. Embassy in to Jerusalem, Israel's rightful capital; then
he brokered the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and
several Arab nations.
Now, once again, when Israel needs a true ally — not just someone to offer
sympathetic words then threaten to withhold weapons — Trump has offered
consistent support. "Israel has to do what they have to do," he said.
When Iran, in its predictable fury, launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and
drones at Israel, the United States military — under Trump's leadership — has
helped to intercept some of them. This is what real partnership looks like. Not
lectures, not empty statements, but coordinated defense and mutual trust. Iran's
hegemonic threats are failing because of the strength and cooperation between
Israel and a United States, led by Trump. America finally has a president
willing to act against terrorism.
This moment also makes clear that Trump's actions are not provoking World War
III, they are preventing World War III – which Iran has been threatening for
almost half a century. All that time, Iran has been on a path of escalation —
arming terrorist proxies, developing for nuclear weapons, targeting U.S. troops
in the Middle East more than 350 times just in the last five years and promising
"Death to America" and genocide for Israel.
If the world had remained paralyzed by fear and indecision, if Israel had been
pressured into backing down, the consequences could have been catastrophic: a
green light for terrorists and aggressors to keep on going. Instead, Trump drew
a red line — and when Iran's leadership crossed it, they paid the price.
This kind of Churchillian clarity does not cause chaos — it stops it, as the
WWII allies did in the last century in Germany and Japan. Trump and Netanyahu
deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for taking one of the world's greatest terrorist
states off the table.
Strength does not invite war—it deters it. "When people see a strong horse and a
weak horse," observed the late esteemed psychologist, Osama bin Laden, "they
will naturally want to side with the strong horse." The Middle East is safer
today not because of handshakes and summits and signed pieces of paper that
usually one side disregards.
Russia disregarded the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Russia, the United
States and Ukraine agreed that Ukraine's borders would be respected in exchange
for giving up the nuclear weapons it had at the time. And half a ton of
documents showed that Iran had been cheating on its JCPOA "deal."
The Middle East is safer today because Israel struck after the IAEA admitted
that Iran had been in breach of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations and
because Israeli intelligence determined that Iran was on the brink of assembling
a bomb -- and because the United States stood behind Israel.
To those who still criticize, who still think diplomacy alone can solve
everything, the answer is simple. As the great Secretary of State George Shultz
noted, "Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is
not cast across the bargaining table" -- in short, diplomacy works best when the
enemy knows that it is backed up by force. Iran's leaders did not take Trump's
60-day warning seriously, probably because they did not believe he and Netanyahu
had the courage to act. They also may be assuming that they can absorb a few
blows and build back their nuclear weapons program after that – and precisely
why it is crucial to destroy Fordow: to make sure no one can resuscitate it
later..
The time for appeasement is over. For this, we owe our gratitude to three
pillars: Trump, the USA under his leadership, and the brave people of Israel who
refuse to be victims.
In a world increasingly dominated by appeasers, enablers and cowards, thank
heaven for those who still have the courage to stand tall and fight evil. Thank
you, Mr. President. Thank you, America. And thank you, Israel. May God bless you
in this just and noble fight.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and
board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on
the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
**Follow Majid Rafizadeh on X (formerly Twitter)
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21693/thank-you-trump-america-israel
What the
world is getting wrong on Israel: An interview with Natasha Hausdorff
Special to National Post/Dave Gordon/June 21, 2025
Natasha Hausdorff, the British barrister who has become an outspoken defender of
Israel’s legal rights on global news networks, warns that a “vicious cycle of
disinformation” — fuelled by media self-censorship and terrorist propaganda —
has warped the world’s understanding of the Gaza conflict, and put Jewish lives
at risk.
More notably, the expert in international law has popularized one such law, Uti
possidetis juris. It states that newly formed sovereign countries should retain
the borders that their preceding area had before their independence. Therefore,
at the time Israel declared itself a state, Mandatory Palestine – which included
what today is known as Israel, Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) and Gaza
– would by law be legal territorial boundaries of Israel. It is a lynchpin
argument, she believes, against the charges of “illegal occupation” and “illegal
settlements.”
She regularly briefs politicians and international organizations and has spoken
at parliaments across Europe.
After her law degree at Oxford University, she clerked for the president of the
Supreme Court of Israel in Jerusalem in 2016. In 2018, Hausdorff was a Fellow at
Columbia Law School in the National Security Law Program.
Dave Gordon interviewed Hausdorff prior to a talk she delivered at Toronto’s
Nova Exhibition on June 12, hosted by StandWithUs Canada.
It would seem uti possidetis juris ought to have been used by Israel decades ago
in international forums. Why hasn’t it?
I can fully appreciate that Israel’s official stance is constrained by
diplomatic operations and political pressures. It’s a rule that applies
automatically, whatever Israel says about the situation. There are other
examples of Israel not standing on ceremony, as far as international law is
concerned. One of those relates to Egypt’s obligation to open the border to
Palestinian civilians, fleeing civil disorder in Gaza. That’s in accordance with
Egypt’s obligation under the Organization of African Unity Convention on
(governing the specific aspect of) Refugees, which it signed in 1980.
This is a convention that has a much broader definition of refugee than the
international convention. Nobody has been calling on Egypt to open the border
from October 2023. But Israel can’t pressure (that), because Egypt threatened to
tear up the peace agreement with Israel.
What’s your opinion about how the media’s been covering the war?
If the BBC were reporting from North Korea, there would be some indication
somewhere that we are not free to report without censorship — controlled in what
we’re able to say by the regime. I have not seen a single piece of reporting
from Gaza that has acknowledged that: nothing comes out of the Gaza Strip that
is not controlled by Hamas.
So for a start, the notion that the international media would be parroting Hamas
propaganda in this fashion is deeply shameful, and indicates to me a complete
absence of journalistic integrity. That’s quite apart from the devastating
impact that this is having.
When I talk to policy makers, officials around the world, they tell me they’re
basing their determination on what to do, on the basis of the Gaza pictures they
see in the media. Now, let
me be clear, they are terrible. But I see on Israeli media, a series of
interviews from Channel 12 in November, in Gaza, where they held out a
microphone to Palestinians that were leaving Jabala. At the time, they could not
grab it from him quickly enough, to tell the world how Hamas was responsible for
all of the ills that had been visited upon them, how grateful they were to
Israel for the humanitarian assistance, the fact that Israel provided
humanitarian corridors.I didn’t see those interviews anywhere on the
international broadcast media. Frankly, they don’t fit with the agenda that
people want to follow. The
amount of damage that this self-censorship, and embracing of Hamas, and other
terrorist organization propaganda is doing, is seen in the obscene statements
that we’ve heard from supposed allies of Israel: the U.K., France and Canada.
Jews are being executed on the streets in the capital
of the free world (Washington, D.C.), and I think that is directly attributable
to the irresponsible broadcast, where we had the media repeating this absurd
claim of 14,000 babies dying in the next 48 hours.
The link, I’m afraid, is undeniable.
Do you think Israel is telling its story well?
So much misreporting is happening, and this isn’t being addressed. Can I put the
blame squarely on Israel? I struggle with that, because the fact of the matter
is that a lot of this information is publicly available. Right?
The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) website
catalogues all of the aid going into Gaza, over the last 19 months. That is not
only ignored by the international media, by politicians, by the UN, by the ICJ,
it is actually inverted. And there is this reoccurring canard that there’s not
enough food getting into Gaza, which, ultimately, you know, Israel can’t really
fix if it’s telling people what the reality is, and they choose to ignore it.
That’s not necessarily on Israel’s head.
Have Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, gotten better at the propaganda war?
They certainly have, I think, invested a great deal more in time, energy and
resources into it. It’s certainly been a key factor of Hamas’s planning of this
war. Hamas puts members in press vests, and generates fake images.
We’re seeing the impact of that disinformation
campaign. I think we need to understand the symbiotic relationship that exists
with these terrorist organizations and international organizations.
The Amnesty International report on genocide makes it
clear in their methodology that they are taking their information from Hamas.
They call them “local government authorities,” but we all know what they’re
talking about.They take this terrorist propaganda, put it into a report, which
is headed up by Amnesty International. Then that gets repeated by Special
Rapporteurs at the UN, like Francesca Albanese. Then it gets worked into UN
resolutions, and the Human Rights Council or the General Assembly, then it gets
quoted by the ICJ or the ICC, and then these international organizations pick it
up again and say, “see! The ICJ says so.”
So that vicious cycle of disinformation has been operational for a very long
time.
Of the untruths peddled, like settler colonialism, genocide, apartheid, etc.,
which is the biggest? I think they’re all deeply vicious and poisonous, and the
connection that they share is they are reminiscent of the ancient blood libel
against Jews.
We’re seeing a phenomenon where the real victims in each of these instances are
being blamed for the very crimes that were committed against them. If you’re
asking me to pick one, I’d go with genocide, because it is the most
reprehensible.
Principally, when you consider that the term genocide was coined by Raphael
Lemkin to provide a lexicon for the Jewish experience in the Holocaust.
Ultimately the acts of the seventh of October were acts of genocide by Hamas and
other Palestinian terrorists, and even Palestinian civilians targeting Jews. The
fact that the experience would be weaponized against the Jews in this fashion,
and they would be accused of this, is projection. It’s clear to me that when
South Africa brought this claim of genocide at the International Court of
Justice, it didn’t have much hope of getting (a win) on it. It was trying to
shift the debate and shift the Overton window.
In fact, when I was on (a broadcast) immediately after, my counterpart in this
debate said, “Isn’t it wonderful, now we can finally use Israel and genocide in
the same sentence, and nobody can tell us otherwise?” They’ve clearly been
successful in doing that, even though the case has absolutely no resemblance to
reality. The Canadian
government recently sanctioned two Israeli Knesset members, and in the same
statement saying that Judea and Samaria are “illegally occupied.” What’s your
response?
There is no illegal occupation to speak of, so (Prime Minister Mark) Carney’s
wrong about that. It’s a policy that, as far as I can see, isn’t driven by legal
analysis, but by political agenda.
There are demographic issues here, and riding issues of constituencies, and who
it is that he needs to kowtow to, that these policies are being put in place.
As a lawyer, we look for the proper and equal application of international law.
You cannot have a general rule like uti possidetis juris, then an exception for
a country you don’t like very much, where you have some ideological or political
opposition to it. That’s not how any respectable legal system can operate.
Mark Carney and his government are actually undermining the very notion of
international rule of law, and the international legal system, by inverting it.
Special to the National Post
This interview has been edited for brevity.
Israel vs. Iran: Why Riyadh is committed to de-escalation
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/June 21, 2025
As anyone who has followed the recent statements coming out of the Saudi
Ministry of Foreign Affairs will tell you, the Kingdom has made its stance
regarding the recent regional tensions unequivocally clear: The current
aggression against Iran is not only unacceptable, but also a dangerous
provocation that threatens the stability of the entire Middle East.
It is important for observers to note that Saudi Arabia today views Iran not as
an adversary, but as a fellow Muslim nation facing a grave and unjustified
assault. In condemning this attack as a blatant violation of international
norms, Riyadh has voiced strong solidarity with the Iranian people, rejecting
any breach of their sovereignty. This principled position reflects the Kingdom’s
long-standing belief in non-intervention and mutual respect among nations.
What is particularly alarming is the apparent objective behind the timing of
these hostilities: to derail sensitive negotiations between Tehran and
Washington. Saudi Arabia sees this as a calculated move to sabotage dialogue
that could de-escalate one of the region’s most intractable challenges — the
Iranian nuclear file.Since the landmark Beijing agreement in March 2023,
Saudi-Iranian relations have, slowly but surely, entered a promising new
chapter. While it is true that previous hostilities could not easily be
forgotten, trust-building measures have been gradually taking root, with
bilateral committees working across various domains to ensure differences do not
escalate unchecked. This fragile progress — and the greater idea of a peaceful
and prosperous Middle East — is precisely what stands to be lost if the drums of
war drown out diplomatic momentum.
Riyadh has also emphasized that regional stability hinges on stronger
cooperation among Muslim nations. Under the umbrella of the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation, the Kingdom believes in the potential for a united front
that can foster peace and development, so long as intentions are sincere and not
clouded by geopolitical ambitions.
The current aggression is not only unacceptable, but also a dangerous
provocation.
In a flurry of diplomatic engagement, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been
on the phone with world leaders, all the way from Washington to London to the
Far East, calling for collective action to halt what could possibly be a
regional disaster. He has also spoken directly with Iranian President Masoud
Pezeshkian, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s commitment to de-escalation and its
willingness to mediate.
This leadership extends beyond political gestures. On the ground, the Kingdom
provided shelter, medical care, and transportation to over 70,000 Iranian
pilgrims stranded in Saudi Arabia due to the conflict. Acting on the crown
prince’s directive, the Kingdom funded their stay and coordinated their safe
return home — a humanitarian move reflecting the values Saudi Arabia
consistently upholds.
Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has been tirelessly
engaging with global counterparts, rallying support for a ceasefire and meeting
directly with his Iranian counterpart to explore diplomatic solutions. Notably,
Riyadh had urged Tehran — well before the outbreak of hostilities — to engage
with Washington’s final offer seriously, warning that the US stance on the
nuclear issue should not be underestimated.
Looking forward, should Iran face humanitarian challenges in the aftermath of
this crisis, there is no doubt that the Kingdom will be among the first to offer
aid. This is not merely altruism — it is a strategic and moral imperative rooted
in the belief that the well-being of neighboring nations affects the collective
fate of the region.
Crucially, Saudi Arabia has drawn a firm line: No belligerent party will be
permitted to use its airspace, land, or waters. Riyadh’s neutrality is active,
not passive — it is deliberate, disciplined, and unwavering in its commitment to
de-escalation.
Needless to say, the deliberate targeting of civilians, bombing of media outlets
and hospitals, and threats to the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader are
condemnable and appalling; but by continuing to accept them we risk normalizing
unacceptable war crimes.
Hopefully, there will be some adults in decision-making rooms around the world
who will agree that this escalation needs to stop before we reach the point of
no return.
**Faisal J. Abbas is the Editor-in-Chief of Arab News. X: @FaisalJAbbas
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not
necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view
What is Netanyahu’s endgame?
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/June 21, 2025
A direct, large-scale military confrontation between Iran and Israel was always
perceived as too dangerous because it risked consequences too devastating for
either side to seriously contemplate, let alone initiate.
That was until Israeli authorities decided last week to strike first in what is
their biggest military gamble since the nation’s founding fathers made the
decision to declare independence. An overnight Israeli operation, daring and
successful beyond imagination, turned a decades-long war of words into an actual
war between the two major military powers in the Middle East. And they have
already demonstrated their ability, and desire, to inflict great damage on one
another in what might become an open-ended war of attrition.
Unless common sense prevails among both leaderships, which appears a far-fetched
hope, or, more likely, concerted international pressure can succeed in halting
this deadly confrontation immediately, it might well spiral out of control.
To state the very obvious, no one outside Iran, and few inside the country,
wants to see it armed with nuclear weapons, which would inevitably lead to a
nuclear arms race. As a matter of fact, a nuclear-weapon-free Middle East must
be a long-term objective.
But Israel’s decision to embark on a military operation of this scale, and the
timing of it, raises questions and concerns about its true objectives. It is no
secret that for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the self-proclaimed “Mr.
Security,” there have for a long time been two main overarching objectives, to
the point of obsession: to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and
to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.
He views them both as existential threats to the Jewish state and, equally, as
his own ticket to political relevance and endurance.
There has been much discussion about, and will eventually be a formal
investigation into, the ways in which Netanyahu’s destructive policies designed
to prevent the possibility of a two-state solution to Israel’s conflict with the
Palestinians contributed to the events of Oct. 7, 2023, the most devastating
Israeli security failure ever which led to the ongoing war in Gaza.
For him to now embark on what might prove to be the most consequential war in
his country’s history, people need to be convinced beyond any shred of doubt
that the decision was not tainted by any ulterior motive. Alas, the Israeli
prime minister’s behavior throughout his political career, and most definitely
during his present term in office, has failed to instill the necessary
confidence that this is the case.
Moreover, entering into a conflict that by some estimates could result in
hundreds, if not thousands, of civilian casualties requires a united country.
His government has not only divided the nation more than ever before, it has
made unwarranted and acerbic criticisms of the very people now charged with
carrying out the strikes against Iran, simply because they peacefully opposed
the government’s attacks on the country’s democratic foundations, or called for
an end to the war in Gaza and to bringing the hostages home.
In such a high-stakes confrontation with an enemy in possession of potentially
devastating capabilities, there is a need for trust in the leadership directing
it, but this is hardly the case here. Most Israelis support the war against Iran
— but not Netanyahu and his government.
This is not that surprising, considering his legal woes, his desperation to
remain in power, and his record of trying to deflect attention from his own
domestic and foreign failures by pursuing a more aggressive stance, verbal or
otherwise, on unresolved conflicts with Israel’s neighbors.
Most Israelis support the war against Iran — but not Netanyahu and his
government.
There is a lingering concern that his decision to turn up the heat on Iran had
as much to do with the ongoing crisis within his own coalition government, and
the fact that he is in the early stages of the prosecution’s cross-examination
in his corruption trial, as it had to do with the security threat emanating from
Tehran.
In the event of a prolonged war with Iran, it is almost impossible to envisage
that any member of the coalition would resign, and Netanyahu would have the
perfect excuse to delay for weeks, if not months, his appearance in court.
He has claimed that the attacks on Iranian targets were justified based on new
information, which he was not prepared to share, about the imminent successful
conclusion of a secret Iranian program to finally obtain nuclear weapons. He
stated that Tehran already had the capacity to build a number of bombs, a claim
refuted by several American intelligence reports that concluded Iran is still a
few years away from developing such weapons.
It is more likely that Israeli authorities feared the US might reach what they
consider to be an unsatisfactory nuclear deal with Iran. It is also the case
that Israeli decision-makers identified an opportune moment to strike, given
that Iran’s “axis of resistance” has been substantially weakened, and the Trump
administration, while it did not give a green light for Israel to proceed with a
military operation, neither did it order them to hit the brakes. In fact
Washington is still sending mixed signals about whether it is more interested in
an immediate ceasefire, or would be happy to see Iranian negotiators return to
the bargaining table with their country badly wounded and humiliated — a
strategy that might backfire.
Israel, despite its impressive military performance until now, does not on its
own have the capability to completely degrade Iran’s nuclear project, and it is
too early to assess the extent of the damage inflicted so far.
Netanyahu gambled the US would be sucked into the conflict, either to finish the
job, should the first stages of the war succeed in creating a “once in a
lifetime” opportunity to put to bed the Iranian nuclear program once and for all
or, if things went seriously wrong, that Washington would come to Israel’s
rescue.
Increasingly, it seems as though Trump is inclined to order his military to
finish the job; he has stated his desire to see a “real end” to the conflict and
demanded “total surrender” from Iran, rather than a ceasefire.
Top Israeli officials, chief among them Netanyahu, have not hidden their
yearning for a humiliating defeat of Iran on the battlefield that could lead to
regime change. However, there is no evidence to suggest the regime in Tehran
would not be able to weather such a storm, or that there are opposition forces
ready and able to mount an effective challenge.
If anything, Iranian citizens who see their country under attack are more likely
to rally round the flag. To the regime, meanwhile, the conflict provides a
further excuse to take even harsher action against any signs of domestic
discontent.
Moreover, regime change commonly suggests a desire among the external forces
that attempt to initiate it to install an administration more favorable to them
— yet past experiences do not provide much reassurance that this is what would
happen; quite the reverse, in fact.
Netanyahu has taken the gamble of his life and in doing so he is also gambling
with Israel’s long-term security, and possibly that of the wider region as well.
No one will benefit from a prolonged war that could entangle other regional
powers. Diplomacy must step in quickly and play a central role in resolving the
conflict or this will be a long and bloody summer.
**Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate
fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg
An African credit rating agency? Easier said than done
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/June 21, 2025
Africa’s sovereign debt crisis is not merely a story of fiscal mismanagement or
external shocks. It is amplified by a systemic anomaly: The continent pays more
to borrow than its peers with comparable economic indicators.
This penalty, often termed the “African premium,” costs the region an estimated
$24 billion annually in excess interest payments, and has deprived it of more
than $46 billion in potential lending. With 20 low-income African nations in or
near debt distress, and 94 percent of rated African sovereigns downgraded over
the past decade, the search for solutions appears to be culminating in the
establishment of an African Credit Rating Agency, or AfCRA for short.
For now, the move is being framed as both a corrective measure and a symbol of
financial sovereignty. Yet while politically sound, it faces profound
operational and philosophical challenges. Even if the ambition to establish the
agency is framed as a bold act of sovereignty, the terrain it seeks to conquer
is littered with the wreckage of similar aspirations in richer, better-equipped
regions.
Granted, the financial logic behind the move is well-established: Africa’s
sovereign debt is routinely mispriced, with subjective and often opaque
assessments by the “Big Three” credit rating agencies — Moody’s, Fitch and S&P —
inflating risk perception and pushing average borrowing costs ever higher.
As a result, total annual lending losses and excess interest payments exceed
annual official development aid to the continent. That Africa is being
“penalized” beyond its macroeconomic fundamentals is no longer a niche theory
among a few experts, policymakers or scholars at poorly attended conferences, it
is a measurable economic hemorrhage.
But attempting to correct this through AfCRA introduces a dilemma. Can a
continent hobbled by thin capital markets, erratic fiscal transparency, and a
fragmented political economy build a ratings agency that would be perceived as
credible by the very investors it seeks to court?
The evidence so far is not encouraging. Europe, despite its institutional depth
and capital abundance, has failed to create a viable alternative to the Big
Three, even after sinking more than €300 million ($346 million) into various
experiments, all of which ended in regulatory quagmires or strategic surrender.
The most successful nonaligned agencies, such as Scope in Europe or Morningstar
DBRS in Canada, only survived by serving niche markets and accepting that they
could not displace the incumbents.
Africa’s task is even tougher. Most of the continent’s 21 Eurobond issuers are
repeat borrowers, yet their ratings have on average worsened since their
inaugural issuances. This contradicts the usual pattern in emerging markets,
where familiarity tends to reduce pricing premiums. Even the most prominent
issuers — Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa — have faced frequent downgrades,
often based on models that lack local granularity or fail to consider governance
heterogeneity.
Furthermore, agencies frequently do not send analysts to the countries they
rate; Fitch has no office at all on the continent, and both S&P and Moody’s
operate out of a single office in Johannesburg, covering dozens of vastly
different economies.
Meanwhile, unsolicited ratings, those issued without government request or
input, are both more common in Africa and more damaging. Moody’s leads the way
in such unsolicited assessments, despite objections by African governments to
their inherent opacity.
It is not surprising, therefore, to see a resurgent push for an independent
agency, given the cost of delays. Between 2021 and 2024, for instance, the
average coupon on African Eurobonds nearly doubled to just under 11 percent,
even as fundamentals remained stable.
The continent pays more to borrow than its peers with comparable economic
indicators.
Moreover, the absence of localized assessment left 22 African countries unrated,
starving them of institutional capital. When Botswana and Mauritius secured
investment-grade ratings, they accessed financing at 300-400 basis points below
regional peers. At a continental level, each one-notch upgrade in a rating could
unlock more than $15 billion in much-needed capital.
The cost of waiting is clear and unambiguous. Yet, the creation of AfCRA cannot
be reduced to a matter of injustice alone. The economics of operating a credit
rating agency are ruthless. Even the most optimistic forecasts suggest that the
launch of a credible African agency would require $400–500 million in capital,
an amount that dwarfs the annual budget of the African Union itself.
A very familiar, and suffocating, dependency loop swiftly kicks in; the AU’s own
programs remain more than 60 percent funded by the EU and other external
partners, and if these same entities are now expected to bankroll an
“African-owned” ratings apparatus, the concept begins to cannibalize its own
purpose.
Beyond the matter of funding, AfCRA would also find itself confronted by the
same structural hurdles that felled its European predecessors. Regulatory
legitimacy, for one thing, cannot be assumed. In many global markets only
ratings from the Big Three are recognized, particularly among institutional
investors bound by prudent regulation.
Even with improvements in rating models, the acceptance of new agencies into the
portfolios of pension funds or sovereign wealth funds hinges on an arduous and
opaque process of validation by regulators located far outside Africa. Without
international regulatory recognition, AfCRA risks becoming an advisory service
masquerading as an agency; technically useful but irrelevant where it matters.
Even if credibility can somehow be established, the pipeline of rating activity
might not justify the operating costs. Government debt issuance in Africa
remains sporadic and constrained. Moreover, much of the domestic debt,
particularly in Francophone Africa, is already absorbed by regional banks under
arrangements that do not require third-party ratings.
Corporate appetite for ratings is growing but still shallow. GCR Ratings, once
Africa’s most promising homegrown agency, did not consider government bond
ratings a serious business line, and it has since been acquired by Moody’s,
effectively reversing the localization effort.
And then there is the governance risk. Africa’s existing national and regional
agencies have not been free from scandal. Recent cases, such as West African
agency DataPro’s withdrawal from a local firm because of a fraudulent rating
that was exposed by a US research organization, highlight the fact that domestic
proximity does not immunize against error or, worse, complicity.
Creating an agency without a ferociously independent mandate, transparent
methodology, and hard, legal accountability would not reduce bias, it would
simply substitute one form of distortion for another.
Ultimately, the issue is not whether Africa deserves better ratings; it
certainly does. However, establishing an agency without first fixing the
deficits in data integrity, fiscal reporting, macroeconomic coherence, and
regulatory independence might produce only a costly mirror image of the very
system it seeks to escape.
A credible alternative cannot be built on grievance alone, but it could be a
catalyst for data reform, methodological innovation, and investor dialogue,
which might finally ensure that finance costs reflect Africa’s true risk and not
perceived ghosts from the past.
However, such an undertaking must emerge as a result of discipline, innovation
and, above all, proof of its usefulness to markets. Otherwise, AfCRA runs the
risk of being filed away in the continent’s growing archive of initiatives that
were politically resonant but financially futile.
**Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the North Africa
Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. X: @HafedAlGhwell