English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For June 25/2025
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
God said to Abraham, Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you
Acts of the Apostles 07/01-08/:”Then the high priest asked him, ‘Are these things so?’And Stephen replied: ‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.” Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living. He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and maltreat them for four hundred years. “But I will judge the nation that they serve,” said God, “and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.” Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 24-25/2025
The Mullahs Go Hollywood: Iran’s Theatrical Missile Show at Al-Udeid/Elias Bejjani/June 23/2025
Political Islam—Sunni and Shiite, States and Organizations Alike—is Responsible for the Church of Saint Elias Bombing in Damascus and for Every Attack Against Christians Around the World/Elias Bejjani/June 22, 2025
Video Link For an interview with writer and director Yousef Y. El-Khoury from the “Lebanon On” Platform
Israel-Iran War Accelerates Departure of Tourists from Lebanon
Lebanon’s prime minister hails success in staying out of Iran-Israel conflict
Israeli drone strike kills 3 in Nabatieh's Kfar Dajjal
Salam from Doha: No stability in Lebanon without Israel withdrawal
Report: US asks Lebanon to implement political-security roadmap within 5 months
Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy assumes UNIFIL command
Report: Gulf urges Hezbollah to join state project, Doha vows pressure on Israel
Geagea meets Aoun, says they totally agree on domestic issues
Israeli operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah: June 16–22, 2025/David Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/June 24/ 2025

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 24-25/2025
Trump says Israel-Iran ceasefire in effect after deal initially faltered
Netanyahu Says Israel Has Achieved War Goals against Iran
Israel set back Iran’s nuclear program ‘by years,’ Israeli military chief says
Iran president announces ‘end of 12-day war’
Iranians, Israelis Celebrate Ceasefire despite Early Reports of Violations
Israel eliminates a key link between Hamas and Iran
Israel killed at least 14 scientists in an unprecedented attack on Iran's nuclear know-how
Israel says Iran launched more missiles after ceasefire started. Iranian military denies that
Sterling rises as risk assets rally on Israel-Iran ceasefire
Iranian President Expresses Regret to Qatar Emir after US Base Attack
Qatar-Iran ties scarred but should recover after missile salvo at US base, Qatari PM says
Iraq says drones attacked military sites and bases, damaging radar systems
UN condemns ‘weaponization of food’ in Gaza
At least 25 killed after Israeli army opens fire near aid trucks in Gaza, hospitals say
U.S. Strikes Nuclear Sites, Iran Retaliates With Ballistic Missiles
Syrian Interior Ministry Arrests ISIS Cell Responsible for Church Attack
Shadowy extremist group claims Damascus church attack
UK to purchase fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons

Titles For The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 24-25/2025
Iran-Israel ceasefire: The Gulf must remain neutral ground/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/24 June/2025
The Israel-Iran War Is Bigger Than Its Protagonists… And Its Spectators/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
The Supreme Leader and the Emperor/Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
Closing Hormuz is More Dangerous for Iraq and China/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
Khamenei necessary to save Iran from chaos/Hassan Al-Mustafa/Arab News/June 24, 2025
If RCMP is probing Israel for war crimes, it has no morality/Special to National Post | Dagny Pawlak & Joe Adam George/National Post/June 24, 2025
Why Trump Must Now Ban the Muslim Brotherhood/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 24/2025
Israel sees increasing success against Iranian drones, drone and missile attacks continue/Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/June 24/2025
Video Link For A Commentary fron "GotQuestions" Youtube Platform/What role does Iran play in the end times?
What role does Iran play in the end times?/GotQuestions.org/June 19, 2025
A fragmenting world can unite around immunization/Jose Manuel Barroso/Arab News/June 24, 2025
Selected Twitters For Today June 24/2025

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on June 23-24/2025
The Mullahs Go Hollywood: Iran’s Theatrical Missile Show at Al-Udeid
Elias Bejjani/June 23/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144519/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bFJ_h-Ju3s&t=110s
In what can only be described as a cheap, theatrical, and utterly absurd Hollywood-style display, Iran today staged what it claimed was a "decisive response" to the destruction of its nuclear facilities—by launching a laughably choreographed missile attack on the U.S. Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. This childish performance could easily be titled: "We fired the missiles—but told everyone in advance so no one would get hurt!"
Yes, these are the same deceitful, arrogant Iranian mullahs who have been chanting “Death to the Great Satan” (America) and “Death to the Little Satan” (Israel) since 1979, while vowing to “erase Israel from the map in seven and a half minutes.” Yet they were the very ones who reportedly sent advance warnings to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and maybe even to Google Maps, politely informing them of the exact time and location of the "attack"—not so they could take cover, but so they could applaud.
President Donald Trump, watching the spectacle from the Situation Room as if it were a Disneyland parade, innocently commented: “I’d like to thank Iran for the early warning. No lives lost. No one injured. Let’s move on to peace!”
A Prearranged, Pathetic Response
From The New York Times to Reuters, and even President Macron, nearly all Western and Arab sources agreed: this was not a military retaliation, but a theatrical stunt. A premeditated performance aimed at helping Iran’s Supreme Leader and his bunker-dwelling clerical gang save face—while they preached “resistance” and “dignity” as they sought permission from their enemies to fire harmless "plastic fury."
We’ve seen this movie before—specifically in January 2020, after Qassem Soleimani’s assassination. Back then, Iran "retaliated" by lobbing unarmed missiles at Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, in a carefully scripted performance designed to avoid casualties—and, more importantly, not to wake the Revolutionary Guards from their naps.
Resistance? Or Just a Failing Film Studio?
Iran today is no longer a nation in the traditional sense. It has become a failed film studio. The mullahs of Tehran don’t fight real wars—they perform them. Their missiles fly like props in a sci-fi movie: either intercepted mid-air, explode silently, or land harmlessly. Meanwhile, Iranian state TV airs “glorious victory” footage set to triumphant military music and accompanied by sound effects seemingly borrowed from a 1980s B-movie.
The result?
Zero injuries.
Zero American retaliation.
Zero impact on U.S. military operations in the region.
The only message Tehran managed to send was this: “We lack courage, but we have cameras and sound effects.”
Defeat Since 1979—But Who’s Counting?
For those with short memories, this isn’t a one-time act. These same delusional rulers, obsessed with wiping Israel “off the map in 7.5 minutes,” have only succeeded in having their own leaders and scientists eliminated—one after another—by pinpoint Israeli strikes. Israel has entered and exited Syria at will, assassinated Iranian commanders and nuclear experts from Tehran to Damascus, to Baghdad, Beirut, and Yemen. The U.S. has repeatedly crippled Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
And Iran? It has responded with empty threats, followed by… “We gave you a heads-up so you could prepare.”
Iran: The Rogue State That Only Fights Its Own People
Let’s be blunt: The Islamic Republic doesn’t know how to fight its enemies, but it has mastered the art of brutalizing its own people. It leads the world in executions. It silences dissent. It lashes women, shuts down universities, bans music, restricts the internet, and would outlaw oxygen if it weren’t filtered through the Supreme Leader’s ideology.
These laughable “pre-informed retaliations” might fool only the hopelessly naïve. Iran is not a resistance. It is not a symbol of values or principles. It is not liberation. It is farce. A rogue regime with a talent for media terrorism and a track record of consistent failure in every real military encounter.
The Bottom Line: Theater of the Absurd
When a state becomes rogue, its leaders become actors, its missiles become props, and its retaliations become prepaid performances, every Iranian “response” to serious American or Israeli military actions becomes nothing more than a commercial for delusion, hallucination, and empty bluster.
And in the end, President Trump thanked Iran’s Hollywood mullahs for their theatrical coordination. Perhaps Qatar should too. Because at this point, let’s face it: Hollywood isn’t in California anymore… it’s in Tehran.

Political Islam—Sunni and Shiite, States and Organizations Alike—is Responsible for the Church of Saint Elias Bombing in Damascus and for Every Attack Against Christians Around the World
Elias Bejjani/June 22, 2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144479/
We strongly condemn the heinous terrorist massacre carried out today by the Jihadist organization ISIS inside the Church of Saint Elias in the Damascus neighborhood of Al-Dweila. The bombing claimed the lives of over 25 innocent worshippers and injured dozens more, in a vile act of bloodshed that is part of a systematic campaign to eradicate Christian presence in the Levant. It recalls the genocidal atrocities committed in recent years by extremist groups against Christians and other minorities in many countries.
Let it be absolutely clear: ISIS is not an isolated or spontaneous phenomenon. It is a direct product of the terror incubators maintained and funded by states and organizations affiliated with Sunni and Shiite political Islam—chief among them Qatar, Turkey, and Iran, along with their organizational arms such as Hamas, Bako Haram, Hezbollah etc and other radical Islamist factions on both sectarian fronts.
In this context, we also hold the regime of Ahmad Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Al-Jolani, morally and politically responsible for this crime. His regime is ideologically and strategically an extension of ISIS itself—regardless of any “legitimacy” falsely granted to him by the West or by certain Arab regimes. A criminal remains a criminal, no matter how many times he changes his mask. Al-Jolani, the former leader of Al-Nusra, has a blood-soaked history filled with terrorism, executions, and Takfiri- Jihadist extremism.
Since Turkey, with Qatar’s backing, installed him as the de facto ruler of Syria, violations against minorities—especially Druze, Alawites, Christians, and Yazidis—have not only continued, but worsened under a shroud of international complicity and suspicious Arab silence.
The massacre at Saint Elias Church is but one link in a wider, deliberate campaign of attacks against Christians across the Middle East, Africa, and even Europe, executed by a globalized extremist network led by both Sunni and Shiite political Islam, with its two main engines: the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Western intelligence reports—including the latest French security report—have clearly identified the Muslim Brotherhood as the most dangerous internal threat to European democratic values, due to its deep infiltration into immigrant communities and exploitation of liberal freedoms to spread hatred, division, and radical ideologies.
We call upon all free people of the world, and every defender of human rights and civil liberties, to break the silence and complicity, and to declare an all-out confrontation against this global terrorist project, and against all those who fund, shelter, or legitimize it as a political partner or “reality on the ground.”
The blood of the martyrs at Saint Elias Church cries out against a world that continues to look the other way. It places upon all of us a sacred responsibility to confront this evil by all legitimate means.
Mercy to the innocent worshippers murdered inside the church. Eternal shame on the killers—and on those who protect, finance, or justify them.
And let it be said once more:
There can be no peace, no stability, and no security in the world as long as political Islam—whether in the form of states or organizations—roams freely in the name of religion, while having nothing to do with any true faith.

Video Link For an interview with writer and director Yousef Y. El-Khoury from the “Lebanon On” Platform
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144549/
An in-depth reading into the background of the Israeli-Iranian war, its outcomes, and its foreseeable American and Israeli repercussions on Lebanon. A detailed explanation of the differences between the Voltairean and Goebbelsian media, an exposé of the mullahs’ Goebbelsian propaganda outlets in Lebanon, an analysis of Netanyahu’s success and his entry into Israeli history, a call for ending Hezbollah’s status and putting it on trial,” A definition of the free Lebanese citizens and officials who support the cause of our people who have taken refuge in Israel since the year 2000.”, calls for the return of sovereign patriots from exile, an outline of the Lebanese Army’s strength and its ability to protect Lebanon and confront the terrorist Hezbollah, and a dive into various local and regional issues.
June 24, 2025
Yousef El-Khoury: Khamenei is heading to Russia… they’re competing over us. I fear America will impose either Sharia or Turkey upon us—and I prefer the Israelis.

Israel-Iran War Accelerates Departure of Tourists from Lebanon
Beirut: Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/ 2025
The outbreak of war between Iran and Israel has turned the hopes of Lebanese for a promising tourism season after thousands of tourists decided to cut short their vacation and return home. A large number of Arab and foreign tourists were seen at the departure gate at Rafik Hariri International Airport. They fear security developments would lead to a sudden halt of flights, especially after the United States joined the conflict and launched directed strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities last Saturday. “After most airlines suspended their flights to Lebanon, thousands of passengers rebooked with the Middle East Airlines to be able to leave Lebanon,” a security source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday.The source said tourists are cutting short their stay as fears grow of a wider conflict in the Middle East. While officials expected that 120 flights would land daily at the airport in Beirut during the summer season, a source at the airport said, “most airlines have cancelled flights to Beirut due to high security concerns”. In addition to Lebanese flag carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), the source said only five other companies are still operating from Beirut’s airport: Emirates, Fly Dubai, Turkish Airlines, Cyprus Airways and Qatar Airways.
The mass cancellation of flights has mainly affected the tourist season in Lebanon, such as hotels, restaurants and other establishments. “The tourist season in Lebanon is affected. Thousands of hotel reservations were cancelled as Arab and Gulf nationals hesitate to visit the country due to the ongoing war,” Chairman of the Lebanese Economic Organizations and former Minister Mohammed Choucair told Asharq Al-Awsat. Choucair said “the promising summer season is much more pessimistic. Things could only change if the war stops in a few days.”He said most airlines that had planned additional flights to Beirut for the upcoming season have now totally suspended their flights. Also, the war affected tourism companies, which saw a lower demand on tickets and hotel reservations. Aimee Achkar, general manager at Tania Travel said the war “has dealt a strong blow to the tourist season in Lebanon. Thousands of reservations were cancelled while Arab and foreign tourists are cutting their holiday short.”Achkar told Asharq Al-Awsat that in the first quarter of June, incoming flights to Beirut airport dropped from 85 flights a day to between 30 and 35 flights, mostly operated by MEA.. In the tourism sector, hotels have suffered the most. “The occupancy rate in hotels before June 13 ranged between 80 and 90%. After the outbreak of war, it fell to below 30%,” Achkar said. She explained that according to pre-bookings, the airport was projected to welcome about 125 flights per day during July and August, while the hotel occupancy rate was about 95%. Also, President of Lebanese Hotel Association, Pierre Achkar said last week the war between Iran and Israel is already casting a shadow over Lebanon’s tourism sector. In a statement, Achkar said the closure of regional airspace and the cancellation of incoming flights have begun to take a toll, adding that the aviation sector is facing growing disruption and chaos. But in return, Lebanese expatriates have not cancelled their tickets back home. They are still holding out hope for an improvement in the situation in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran has been reached. A MEA official said flights to Lebanon are fully booked by Lebanese expatriates. “All flights approved by MEA and foreign airlines are still on their previously scheduled dates,” he said.

Lebanon’s prime minister hails success in staying out of Iran-Israel conflict
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/June 24, 2025
BEIRUT: During an official visit to Qatar on Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed the fact that his country had managed to avoid being pulled into the conflict between Iran and Israel that began on June 13.
When he met the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Salam hailed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran announced on Monday, and thanked Doha for its efforts to help end the hostilities. Both leaders agreed that the end of the conflict would help foster stability in Lebanon, Palestine and the wider Gulf region, the prime minister’s media office said. During a joint press conference with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, Salam said: “We in Lebanon, all of us, have succeeded in preventing the country from being drawn into a new war amid the ongoing regional conflict over the past two weeks. “Now, with military operations having ceased, we look forward to turning a new page focused on diplomatic efforts.”Israel has been accused of ramping up strikes on targets in southern Lebanon amid its conflict with Iran, and near-daily violations of a November ceasefire agreement that ended its 14-month war with Hezbollah. Salam arrived in Doha on Tuesday morning, the day after Iran’s attack on a US military base in Qatar caused his flight to be diverted to Bahrain. He resumed his journey when airspace reopened and was the first passenger to land at the city’s airport following the previous day’s incident. He condemned the attack on Qatar and expressed his full solidarity with the leadership of the country and its people. He also described the Israeli aggression against Iran as a violation of Iranian sovereignty and a breach of international law.
Addressing the possibility of renewed Hezbollah involvement in conflicts, Salam said: “The Lebanese state will extend its authority, through its own forces, over all Lebanese territory, as stipulated in the Taif Agreement.”He added that “true stability cannot be achieved unless Israel fully withdraws from the Lebanese territories it continues to occupy, known as the Five Points.”During talks with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed, Salam thanked Qatar for its “continued support for the Lebanese army.” They addressed the need for intensified international and regional efforts to halt repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanon, and reiterated calls for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied Lebanese territories, reconstruction efforts, and the full restoration of Lebanese sovereignty over all of its territory. Regarding the possibility that Lebanon could ask Qatar and Turkiye to put diplomatic pressure on Israel to withdraw from its positions in Lebanese territory, Salam said: “We are striving to use all available political and diplomatic forces to pressure Israel, beginning with our Arab brothers and extending to the permanent members of the UN Security Council and the United States.”He highlighted reported Israeli violations of the November ceasefire deal and called for international pressure on the state “to respect and implement that agreement.”Qatari officials offered their support for efforts to address the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, and are considering “practical plans that would allow for a safe and dignified return to their homes,” Salam’s media office said.The prime minister led a delegation during his trip to Qatar that included Minister of Culture Ghassan Salameh, Minister of Energy and Water Joe Saddi, Minister of Public Works and Transport Fayez Rasamni, and Minister of State for Administrative Reform Fadi Makki.

Israeli drone strike kills 3 in Nabatieh's Kfar Dajjal
Agence France Presset/June 24/ 2025
The health ministry said an Israeli strike killed three people Tuesday in the country’s south, the latest such raid despite a November ceasefire. "The strike launched by an Israeli enemy drone on a vehicle" in the Nabatieh district town of Kfar Dajjal "resulted in the death of three people", the ministry said in a statement carried by the official National News Agency.

Salam from Doha: No stability in Lebanon without Israel withdrawal
Naharnett/June 24/ 2025
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met Tuesday in Doha with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. “We’re working on extending the state’s authority across its territory … and there can be no stability in Lebanon without Israel’s full withdrawal, especially from the five points it is still occupying,” Salam said at a joint press conference. “We thank God that over the past two weeks we managed to prevent that Lebanon be dragged into a new war or involvement in the regional conflict that was raging, and today we are looking forward to a new page of diplomatic action,” the premier added.“We agreed that discussions would continue in order to support Lebanon in the energy file and as to supplying it with gas,” Salam said.

Report: US asks Lebanon to implement political-security roadmap within 5 months
Naharnett/June 24/ 2025
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack carried to Beirut a five-page political-security roadmap that Washington wants Lebanon to implement within five months, a media report said on Tuesday. “The first step would be the consensus of the three presidents, Joseph Aoun, Nawaf Salam and Nabih Berri, on monopolizing arms, all arms, in the hand of the Lebanese state and sending this file urgently to Cabinet for unanimous approval,” Lebanese news portal Asas Media reported. “Barrack gave Lebanon a two-week deadline to officially approve the monopolization of arms,” the report said, adding that Lebanon is asked to “officially approve the arms monopolization article in Cabinet, in the presence of the president, the prime minister and all Cabinet members, including Hezbollah’s ministers.”In return, Washington would guarantee the demarcation of Lebanon’s borders with Israel and Cyprus and Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon should the arms monopolization step be approved in Cabinet, the report said. “As for the North Litani area, Israeli airstrikes would stop after the mechanism of monopolizing arms in the hands of the state gets verified and after Hezbollah acknowledges that it has become a political rather than a military party,” Western diplomatic sources told Asas Media. “The mechanism will be devised by Lebanese authorities and the ceasefire committee, which will oversee the various stages,” the report added. Al-Akhbar newspaper meanwhile reported that Barrack told Lebanese officials that he would return to Beirut within three weeks to get an "answer" from them. "Barrack stressed that his president Donald Trump is very serious in dealing with the Lebanese file and that the Lebanese must offer something serious regarding the file of Hezbollah's arms, telling officials that he must get a clear answer," al-Akhbar added.
The daily also revealed that Lebanese officials are mulling a specific solution to agree on it and offer it to the U.S. envoy when he returns, adding that Aoun's team has proposed a "synchronous" suggestion calling for Israel's withdrawal and the halt of its attacks in return for the Lebanese state's coordination with Hezbollah over a "major step related to arms, not necessarily south of the Litani."

Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy assumes UNIFIL command
Naharnett/June 24/ 2025
Major General Diodato Abagnara of Italy assumed Tuesday command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), taking over from Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro of Spain, during a special ceremony held at the Mission’s headquarters in Naqoura, south Lebanon. In his address, Abagnara stressed the importance of achieving a lasting stability along the Blue Line while recognizing "real challenges" ahead."But we are not alone," he said. "We move forward alongside the people that work every day for peace, with our trusted partners, and supported by the United Nations family and the international community."Abagnara previously served as UNIFIL’s Sector West Commander from 2018 to 2019. Most recently, he held the position of Commander and Chair of the Military Technical Committee for Lebanon (MTC4L), where he coordinated multinational support to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). A full biography is available here. Looking ahead, he noted that UNIFIL stands at a "pivotal moment.""We are engaged in a forward-looking adaptation process, a transformation that strengthens our ability to fulfill our tasks more effectively, efficiently, and credibly," he said. "Let this new chapter begin with clear vision, renewed energy, and an unwavering sense of purpose."Lázaro’s tenure, which began on 28 February 2022, was marked by one of the most challenging periods in UNIFIL’s 47-year history. "With current regional tensions ongoing, our efforts are focused on containing escalation, reinforcing stability, and creating conditions for a durable political solution (along the Blue Line)," said the outgoing UNIFIL head. "Continued international unity and support are indispensable as we work to consolidate gains and ensure peacekeeping remains grounded in political will." Tuesday’s ceremony was attended by senior representatives of the Government of Lebanon, including Minister of National Defense Michel Menassa, Maj. Gen. Hassan Audi of the Lebanese Army, Member of Parliament Dr. Ashraf Baidoun as well as religious leaders, governors, qaemaqams and mayors.
High-level delegations from Italy and Spain were also in attendance, led respectively by Italy’s Chief of Defense Staff and former UNIFIL Head, General Luciano Portolano, and the Joint Operations Commander of the Spanish Army, Lieutenant General Antonio Agüero Martínez.

Report: Gulf urges Hezbollah to join state project, Doha vows pressure on Israel
Naharnett/June 24/ 2025
The Gulf countries agree on the need for Hezbollah to “join the state’s project” and to “draw lessons from the regional developments,” a media report said. “This obliges its leadership to show positivity as to the plans of handing over illegal weapons to the army and security forces, seeing as no arms should exist on Lebanese soil other than those of the Lebanese Army,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported.“Visitors of the Qatari capital reveal that Doha has promised Beirut to exert pressures on the U.S. administration in order to press Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory, in parallel with similar efforts to wrap up the Israeli war on Gaza and finalize the hostages file,” the daily added.

Geagea meets Aoun, says they totally agree on domestic issues
Naharnett/June 24/ 2025
President Joseph Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea met Tuesday in Baabda and discussed the latest developments in the region and in Lebanon. "I think that we'll reach a serious U.S.-Iranian understanding that is compatible with our vision and with Lebanon's higher interests," Geagea said after the meeting, as he urged for setting a timeframe for Hezbollah's disarmament. Geagea said that there has always been coordination between him and Aoun and that the President "has the intention to establish a real state." He added that "significant progress has been made in this direction.""Communication with President Aoun has never stopped whether before or after his election. We have discussed the recent developments, especially the decisions that should be taken domestically, and we totally agreed with each other," Geagea revealed. In previous statements, Geagea seemed to softly criticize Aoun for his flexibility with Hezbollah, urging him to be more strict.

Israeli operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah: June 16–22, 2025
David Daoud/FDD's Long War Journal/June 24/ 2025
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2025/06/israeli-operations-in-lebanon-against-hezbollah-june-16-22-2025.php
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted numerous operations throughout Lebanon against Hezbollah between June 16 and June 22. The IDF’s activities last week were concentrated in south Lebanon, mainly south of the Litani River. Israel conducted several targeted killings against Hezbollah personnel and aerial and seaborne strikes on the group’s assets.
The IDF conducted operations in 12 Lebanese locales during the week, some more than once. Ten areas experienced airstrikes or other aerial activity, four witnessed ground activity, flares were fired over one location, one locale was struck with mortars, and another experienced a naval operation.
Israeli operations in Lebanon between June 16 and June 22, 2025. Green: Israeli outposts. Red: Israeli ground operations. Dark Gray: Israeli artillery attacks. Lighter Gray: Israeli smokescreens. Lighter blue: Israeli airstrikes. Purple: Israeli flares. Red: Israeli ground operations. Black: Israeli naval operations. Yellow: Leaflets. Lighter green: mortar strikes. Orange: Reference points. Darker blue: Partial course of the Litani River. (Google Earth annotated by LWJ)
Nabatieh Governorate
Bint Jbeil District: Aitaroun
Hasbaya: Kfarshouba
Marjayoun District: Houla, Kfar Kela, and Wazzani
Nabatieh: Nabatieh
South Lebanon Governorate
Tyre District: Barish-Maarakeh-Maaroub, Naqoura, and Tyre
Jezzine District: Mahmoudiyeh, Shbeil-Sriri, and Toumat Niha
Casualties
Israeli operations in Lebanon killed seven people, including six Hezbollah personnel, and wounded an unknown number of people.
June 16, 2025: One Hezbollah operative was killed.
June 17, 2025: No casualties were reported.
June 18, 2025: One Hezbollah commander was killed.
June 19, 2025: Three were killed: a Hezbollah commander, a Hezbollah operative, and an apparent civilian.
June 20, 2025: Two were killed: a Hezbollah commander and a Hezbollah operative.
June 21, 2025: No casualties were reported.
June 22, 2025: No casualties were reported.
Chronology of Israeli operations against Hezbollah, June 16–22, 2025
June 16
At 8:34 am, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops positioned at the Tel Al Aoueidah Post directed medium-caliber gunfire at Aitaroun in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
At 12:57 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli forces fired mortar rounds at Al Awayda and four artillery rounds between Taybeh and Adaisseh in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
At 3:52 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted the Quddam neighborhood of Houla in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District. At 7:31 pm, the IDF announced that its “aircraft targeted and killed a Hezbollah terrorist near Houla in south Lebanon.” At 9:35 pm, Hezbollah-affiliated social media announced the death of Hezbollah operative Mohammad Abdelsalam Nasrallah, whose nom de guerre was Seraj, from Houla.
The death announcement for Mohammad Abdelsalam Nasrallah. (Balagh Media Telegram)
June 17
At 9:53 am, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli forces dropped leaflets on fishermen in the Tyre and Naqoura ports in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District. The leaflets warned readers not to approach the Israel-Lebanon maritime border.
At 6:24 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli ground troops entered eastern Kfarshouba in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Hasbaya District and detained a shepherd named Mohammad Qassem Ghanem. At 9:10 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israel released Ghanem from detention.
At 9:08 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli forces directed gunfire at the outskirts of Aitaroun in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
At 10:17 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone dropped fake currency in Aitaroun, warning locals against taking money from Hezbollah. NNA Lebanon dubbed the action “incitement.”
June 18
At 6:19 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a motorbike between Maarakeh, Barish, and Maaroub in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District. The strike reportedly wounded one person. However, the IDF later released a statement saying it had assassinated Yassine Abdelmenem Izzeldine, Hezbollah’s artillery forces commander in the Litani Sector. The IDF’s statement said Izzeldine had overseen attacks against Israel during the war and “was involved in attempts to reconstitute Hezbollah’s artillery forces,” which “constituted a grave violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
June 19 At 7:29 am, NNA Lebanon reported that, past midnight, an Israeli drone had targeted a motorbike at the Kfar Joz junction in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Nabatieh District. The report said the strike killed the motorbike’s rider, Mohammad Khreiss, suggesting he was a civilian, and wounded Hassan Saydawi, an alleged bystander who happened to be on his nearby balcony at the time of the strike. At 10:10 am, the IDF released a statement admitting to assassinating Mohammad Ahmad Khreiss, describing him as “the anti-tank forces commander at Hezbollah’s Shebaa compound.” The statement said Khreiss had overseen several attacks against Israel during the war and continued activities after the war that “violate the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” without elaborating. Hezbollah-affiliated social media later announced the death of Hezbollah operative Mohammad Ahmad Khreiss, whose nom de guerre was Abu Ali Shahid, from Khiam. Hassan Saydawi, the reported bystander, appears to have later succumbed to his wounds.
The death announcement for Mohammad Ahmad Khreiss (L) and a photo of Hassan Saydawi (R). (Balagh Media on Telegram and X)
At 3:01 pm, NNA Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle in Houla in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District. The strike killed one person, shortly identified by pro-Hezbollah social media as Ahmad Ghazi Ali. At 6:08 pm, the IDF released a statement claiming it had “targeted and killed […] a terrorist engaged in attempts to rebuild military infrastructure belonging to […] Hezbollah near Houla in south Lebanon.” The next morning, Hezbollah-affiliated social media announced the death of Hezbollah operative Ahmad Ghazi Ali, whose nom de guerre was Noureddine, from Houla.
The death Announcement for Ahmad Ghazi Ali. (Balagh Media Telegram)
At 10:44 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli quadcopter dropped three incendiary explosives in the Mahafer area between Aitaroun and Blida in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
At 11:00 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli forces fired flares over Wazzani in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District.
June 20
At 8:13 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone conducted an airstrike in Houla in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District, just past midnight.
At 9:14 am, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli infantry entered Houla and Meiss Al Jabal in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Marjayoun District, destroying one home in each village. Israeli forces also seized a bulldozer in Meiss Al Jabal and transported it to Israel.
At 9:52 am, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle on the Abbassiyeh Road in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District. The strike killed one person. At 1:14 pm, Hezbollah-affiliated social media announced the death of Hezbollah operative Mohammad Khodr Al Hussaini, whose nom de guerre was Sayyed Kathem, from Jannata in south Lebanon. At 3:24 pm, the IDF released a statement claiming to have assassinated Mohammad Khodr Al Hussaini near Shabriha, saying he was the commander of Hezbollah’s fire systems in the Litani Sector. The IDF claimed Hussaini oversaw attacks against Israel during the war, including strikes aimed at Nahariyah and Haifa, and “in the recent period, the terrorist has been involved in efforts to reconstitute Hezbollah’s artillery forces” in “serious violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
At 1:13 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle in Habbariyeh in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Hasbaya District. The vehicle was reportedly later discovered to have been empty and parked on the side of the road.
At 3:51 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli jet intercepted two Iranian drones in the skies over south Lebanon—in the eastern sector adjacent to the Israel-Lebanon frontier.
At 7:19 pm, NNA Lebanon reported Israeli airstrikes on Toumat Niha, Mahmoudiyeh, and the area between Shbeil and Sriri in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Jezzine District. At 7:24 pm, the IDF released a statement saying it had targeted several Hezbollah military sites housing rocket and missile launchers and other weapons in south Lebanon. The statement said, “Hezbollah is trying to reconstitute its activities in these sites,” while stressing that the “presence of these weapons and Hezbollah’s activities at these sites constitutes a serious violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
At 11:10 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that an Israeli drone targeted a motorbike in Braasheet in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District. The strike killed one person and wounded another. Pro-Hezbollah social media accounts soon announced Hussain Dhaher was killed in the strike. At 10:11 am the next day, Hezbollah-affiliated social media officially announced the death of Hezbollah operative Hussain Ali Dhaher, whose nom de guerre was Kaffah, from Braasheet.
Death announcements of Mohammad Khodr Al Hussaini (L) and Hussain Ali Dhaher (R). (Balagh Media Telegram)
June 21
At 7:46 am, the IDF announced that, overnight, Israeli Navy boats had targeted a building belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force commando unit near Naqoura in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Tyre District. The IDF said the Radwan Force was using the building “to advance terror initiatives against the State of Israel, constituting a flagrant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.” The IDF said it had identified the building based on Israeli Navy and IDF Northern Command intelligence, “which had been gathered in part based on the interrogation of a Hezbollah terrorist by Unit 504 several weeks ago.” This likely referred to Ali Fneich, who Israeli naval forces had detained on June 4, 2025, and transported to Israel. At the time, Fneich had been identified by Lebanese media as a mere fisherman despite his social media showing pro-Hezbollah leanings and ties.
June 22
At 9:48 am, NNA Lebanon reported an Israeli airstrike on the broadcast tower of Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV in Toumat Niha in the South Lebanon Governorate’s Jezzine District.
At 1:17 pm, NNA Lebanon reported that Israeli troops detonated a house on the eastern outskirts of Aitaroun in the Nabatieh Governorate’s Bint Jbeil District.
David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 24-25/2025
Trump says Israel-Iran ceasefire in effect after deal initially faltered
AP/June 24, 2025
BEERSHEBA, Israel: US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was in effect Tuesday after the deal initially faltered and the American leader expressed deep frustration with both sides. Israel had earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect and the Israeli finance minister vowed “Tehran will tremble.”Iran’s military denied firing on Israel, state media reported — but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning, and an Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted. Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a NATO summit that in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement. He had particularly strong words for Israel, a close ally, while suggesting Iran may have fired on the country by mistake. But later he said the deal was saved. “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “Plane Wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!” Trump said in his Truth Social post. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held off on tougher strike against Iran after speaking to Trump. The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons — and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran has long maintained that its program is peaceful. Many worried the war might widen after the US joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend and Israel expanded the kinds of targets it was hitting.
But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a US military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire. Israel accuses Iran of violating the truce. Iran denies that The deal got off to a rocky start. An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said Iran launched two missiles at Israel hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official said. Iranian state television reported that the military denied firing missiles after the start of the ceasefire — while accusing Israel of conducting strikes. As Trump spoke to reporters at the White House before departing for the NATO summit, he expressed disappointment with both sides. Iran “violated it but Israel violated it too,” Trump said. ”I’m not happy with Israel.”Trump’s frustration was palpable, using an expletive to hammer home his point. “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— — they’re doing,” he said. Later, however, he announced that Israel had backed off its threat to attack Tehran and would turn its jets around. Netanyahu’s office said Israel struck an Iranian radar in response to the Iranian missile attack early Tuesday — but held off on something bigger.“Following President Trump’s conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel refrained from additional attacks,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Breakthrough announced after hostilities spread
Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran, in coordination with Trump, after the country achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that his country would not fire at Israel if it was not fired upon, but that a “final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.Trump said Tuesday that he wasn’t seeking regime change in Iran, two days after first floating the idea. “Regime change takes chaos,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. Over the weekend, he mused on his social media account that “if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”The ceasefire came after hostilities spread further across the region. Israel’s military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel before the ceasefire began on Tuesday morning. Police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba. First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, the Fire and Rescue service said five bodies were found before revising the number downward. At least 20 people were injured. Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. Police said some people were injured while inside their apartments’ reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets but not direct hits from ballistic missiles. Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a US military base in Qatar, retaliating for earlier American bombing of its nuclear sites. The US was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties. Drones attacked military bases in Iraq overnight, including some housing US troops, the Iraqi army and a US military official said Tuesday. A senior US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said US forces had shot down drones attacking Ain Assad in the desert in western Iraq and at a base next to the Baghdad airport, while another one crashed. No casualties were reported and no group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Iraq. Some Iran-backed Iraqi militias had previously threatened to target US bases if the US attacked Iran.
Conflict has killed hundreds
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel. The US has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said. There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual US-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.

Netanyahu Says Israel Has Achieved War Goals against Iran
Asharq Al Awsat/June 24/2025
Israel has agreed to US President Donald Trump's proposal for a ceasefire with Iran after it achieved its goal of removing Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile threat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday. "Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defense and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat," the statement said. "In light of the achievement of the operation's goals, and in full coordination with President Trump, Israel agreed to the President's proposal for a mutual ceasefire," the statement added. Trump said on Tuesday a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was now in place and asked both countries not to violate it, only hours after Iran launched waves of missiles, which Israel's ambulance service said killed at least four people. Netanyahu, who will deliver a statement later on Tuesday, also said Israel would respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire. Israel, joined by the United States on the weekend, has carried out attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, after alleging Tehran was getting close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies ever having a nuclear weapons program, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said that if it wanted to, world leaders "wouldn't be able to stop us".

Israel set back Iran’s nuclear program ‘by years,’ Israeli military chief says
Al Arabiya English/24 June/2025
The head of Israel’s military said Tuesday that its strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program “by years” and the campaign against the country was now “entering a new phase.”“We have concluded a significant phase, but the campaign against Iran is not over. We are entering a new phase based on the achievements of the current one,” Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said in a statement. “We’ve set Iran’s nuclear project back by years, and the same applies to its missile program.”Israel said earlier Tuesday that it had removed the “dual existential threat” of Iran’s nuclear program and missiles.Following US airstrikes on Sunday, President Donald Trump said his forces had “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites. Analysts said, however, that it remained unclear whether the strikes had put the nuclear threat out of reach, with the possibility that Iran had moved its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium out of the targeted sites. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that there was now an “increased” risk that Iran would attempt to enrich uranium secretly. Israel’s military also said on Tuesday it was lifting restrictions on public gatherings, workplaces and education resulting from the conflict with Iran after a ceasefire brought a fragile end to 12 days of fighting.“Following the situational assessment and the approval of Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, it was determined that as of today (Tuesday), at 20:00 ... all areas of the country will shift to full activity without restriction,” the military said in a statement, adding that the guidelines will be effective until Thursday evening. With AFP

Iran president announces ‘end of 12-day war’
Al Arabiya English/24 June/2025
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced the “end of the 12-day war” imposed by Israel, in a message to the nation carried by the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday. “Today, after the heroic resistance of our great nation, whose determination makes history, we are witnessing the establishment of a truce and the ending of this 12-day war imposed by the adventurism and provocation” of Israel, Pezeshkian said. Earlier on Tuesday, Pezeshkian said Iran will respect the ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump provided that Israel also upholds its terms. “If the Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not violate it either,” Pezeshkian said.

Iranians, Israelis Celebrate Ceasefire despite Early Reports of Violations
Asharq Al Awsat/June 24/2025
Iranians and Israelis celebrated a tentative return of peace on Tuesday, despite reports from both sides of early violations of a ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday he had ordered the military to mount new strikes on targets in Tehran in response to what he said were Iranian missiles fired in a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire. Iran denied launching any missiles and said Israel's attacks had continued for an hour and a half beyond the time the ceasefire was meant to start. But in both countries, the wider Middle East and around the world there was palpable sense of relief that a path out of war had been charted, 12 days after Israel launched it with a surprise attack, and two days after the United States joined in. "We’re happy, very happy. Who mediated or how it happened doesn’t matter. The war is over. It never should have started in the first place," Reza Sharifi, 38, heading back to Tehran from Rasht on the Caspian Sea where he had relocated with his family to escape strikes on the capital, told Reuters by telephone. Arik Daimant, a software engineer in Tel Aviv, said: "Regrettably, it’s a bit too late for me and my family, because our house back here was totally destroyed in the recent bombings last Sunday. But as they say: 'better late than never', and I hope this ceasefire is a new beginning." Trump had announced the ceasefire with a post on Truth Social: "THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!"
It was not immediately clear what impact would follow from the accusations of early ceasefire violations. Katz said in a statement he had ordered Israel's military to "continue high-intensity operations targeting regime assets and terror infrastructure in Tehran" in light of what he said was Iran's violation by firing missiles. Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya central military headquarters said Israel had struck Iran up to 9 a.m. local time (0530 GMT), 90 minutes after the ceasefire was due to take effect. But both sides confirmed the agreement in principle. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country had achieved the goals it set in launching its June 13 surprise attack on Iran - to destroy its nuclear program and missile capabilities. Iran's top security body, the Supreme National Security Council, said its military had forced Israel to "unilaterally accept defeat and accept a ceasefire". Iran's forces would "keep their hands on the trigger" to respond to "any act of aggression by the enemy", it said. In the last reported strikes before the ceasefire, missiles killed four people in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, the Israeli ambulance service said. Iranian officials said nine people including a nuclear scientist were killed in a strike on a residential building in northern Iran.
GLOBAL RELIEF
The response across the region and wider world was largely one of relief at the prospect of an end to the biggest direct confrontation ever between the two foes. Global stock markets rallied and oil prices tumbled after the ceasefire announcement, in the hope it heralded a resolution of the war two days after the United States hit Iranian nuclear sites with huge bunker-busting bombs. Israel attacked on June 13, hitting Iranian nuclear sites and killing the top echelon of its military command in the worst threat faced by Iran since war with Iraq in the 1980s. During the campaign, Israel said it was prepared to topple Iran's clerical rulers if necessary to achieve its aims. It struck symbolic targets unrelated to the military, culminating on Monday with a strike on Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners are held. Iranian officials say hundreds of people have been killed in airstrikes. Full information about the extent of the damage cannot be confirmed independently, with media tightly controlled. Iran's retaliatory missile strikes killed 28 people in Israel, the first time large numbers of Iranian missiles have penetrated its defenses. Iran has always said its nuclear program is peaceful, while the West accused it of seeking a bomb. A senior White House official said Trump brokered the ceasefire deal in a call with Netanyahu, and Israel had agreed so long as Iran did not launch further attacks. "On the assumption that everything works as it should, which it will, I would like to congratulate both Countries, Israel and Iran, on having the Stamina, Courage, and Intelligence to end, what should be called, 'THE 12 DAY WAR'," Trump wrote on Truth Social. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani secured Tehran's agreement during a call with Iranian officials, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US special envoy Steve Witkoff were in direct and indirect contact with the Iranians, a White House official said. Iran had responded to the US participation in the airstrikes by firing missiles on Monday at the biggest US military base in the Middle East, located in Qatar.
No one was hurt in that strike, with Iran's retaliation apparently calibrated to allow de-escalation afterwards. Trump thanked Tehran for warning the US in advance to avoid injuries, and called the strike "a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered".

Israel eliminates a key link between Hamas and Iran
Joe Truzman/FDD's Long War Journal/June 24/2025
On June 21, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had killed Muhammad Saeed Izadi, aka Hajj Ramadan, the commander of the Palestine branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF). Israel killed Izadi in an overnight airstrike targeting his hideout in Iran’s Qom province. As the key liaison between Tehran and Hamas, including other Palestinian terrorist groups, the IRGC-QF officer served as the main conduit of Iranian military and financial support for its proxies. The IDF discovered documents in Gaza that tied Izadi to arming and funding Hamas before Palestinian terror groups attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, as well as plans to carry out a second invasion of the Jewish state. A statement published by the Israeli military said that a joint IDF-Shin Bet operation at the underground Hamas command center beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis uncovered documents confirming recent coordination between Hamas’s military leadership and Izadi. The documents included correspondence outlining two arms transfer initiatives: Tufan 1 (the codename of the October 7 operation), involving $21 million in weapons, and Tufan 2, which aimed to provide Hamas with an additional $25 million in armaments. The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (MAITIC) provided additional information about Izadi’s role, including that he was responsible for coordinating between Hamas, Hezbollah, and former Syrian leader Bashar al Assad. Izadi’s activities were key to implementing former IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani’s vision of a united “resistance axis” under Iranian leadership. MAITIC noted that Izadi worked to rebuild Hamas’s military presence in Lebanon, enforce coordination with Hezbollah, and renew ties with Assad’s regime in Syria while overcoming internal opposition. He imposed command structures, managed propaganda strategies, reprimanded Hamas leaders for operational breaches, and maintained strict oversight of the group’s funding, which included directly allocating millions of dollars for operations in Gaza and the West Bank.On December 14, 2023, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Saeed Izadi for his central role in funding, arming, and coordinating with Palestinian terrorist groups. The United Kingdom’s sanctions detailed that the IRGC-QF “transferred hundreds of millions of dollars in financial assistance and provision of weapons and operational training” to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to a BBC report, Izadi had previously escaped an attempt to eliminate him on April 1, 2024, when Israel struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing other high-ranking IRGC-QF officials. The IRGC has not published an official statement about Izadi’s death.
**Joe Truzman is an editor and senior research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal focused primarily on Palestinian armed groups and non-state actors in the Middle East.

Israel killed at least 14 scientists in an unprecedented attack on Iran's nuclear know-how
JOHN LEICESTER/Associated Press/June 24, 2025
Israel's tally of the war damage it wrought on Iran includes the targeted killings of at least 14 scientists, an unprecedented attack on the brains behind Iran's nuclear program that outside experts say can only set it back, not stop it. In an interview with The Associated Press, Israel’s ambassador to France said the killings will make it “almost" impossible for Iran to build weapons from whatever nuclear infrastructure and material may have survived nearly two weeks of Israeli airstrikes and massive bunker-busting bombs dropped by U.S. stealth bombers.“The fact that the whole group disappeared is basically throwing back the program by a number of years, by quite a number of years," Ambassador Joshua Zarka said. But nuclear analysts say Iran has other scientists who can take their place. European governments say that military force alone cannot eradicate Iran's nuclear know-how, which is why they want a negotiated solution to put concerns about the Iranian program to rest. “Strikes cannot destroy the knowledge Iran has acquired over several decades, nor any regime ambition to deploy that knowledge to build a nuclear weapon," U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
Here's a closer look at the killings:
Chemists, physicists, engineers among those killed
Zarka told AP that Israeli strikes killed at least 14 physicists and nuclear engineers, top Iranian scientific leaders who “basically had everything in their mind.”They were killed “not because of the fact that they knew physics, but because of the fight that they were personally involved in, the creation and the fabrication and the production of (a) nuclear weapon," he said. Nine of them were killed in Israel's opening wave of attacks on June 13, the Israeli military said. It said they “possessed decades of accumulated experience in the development of nuclear weapons” and included specialists in chemistry, materials and explosives as well as physicists.
Targeted killings meant to discourage would-be successors
Experts say that decades of Iranian work on nuclear energy — and, Western powers allege, nuclear weapons — has given the country reserves of know-how and scientists who could continue any work toward building warheads to fit on Iran's ballistic missiles. “Blueprints will be around and, you know, the next generation of Ph.D. students will be able to figure it out," said Mark Fitzpatrick, who specialized in nuclear non-proliferation as a former U.S. diplomat. Bombing nuclear facilities "or killing the people will set it back some period of time. Doing both will set it back further, but it will be reconstituted.”“They have substitutes in maybe the next league down, and they’re not as highly qualified, but they will get the job done eventually,” said Fitzpatrick, now an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. How quickly nuclear work could resume will in part depend on whether Israeli and U.S. strikes destroyed Iran’s stock of enriched uranium and equipment needed to make it sufficiently potent for possible weapons use. “The key element is the material. So once you have the material, then the rest is reasonably well-known,” said Pavel Podvig, a Geneva-based analyst who specializes in Russia's nuclear arsenal. He said killing scientists may have been intended “to scare people so they don’t go work on these programs.”“Then the questions are, ‘Where do you stop?’ I mean you start killing, like, students who study physics?" he asked. “This is a very slippery slope.”The Israeli ambassador said: “I do think that people that will be asked to be part of a future nuclear weapon program in Iran will think twice about it.”
Previous attacks on scientists
Israel has previously long been suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists but didn't claim responsibility as it did this time. In 2020, Iran blamed Israel for killing its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, with a remote-controlled machine gun. “It delayed the program but they still have a program. So it doesn't work,” said Paris-based analyst Lova Rinel, with the Foundation for Strategic Research think tank. "It's more symbolic than strategic."Without saying that Israel killed Fakhrizadeh, the Israeli ambassador said “Iran would have had a bomb a long time ago” were it not for repeated setbacks to its nuclear program — some of which Iran attributed to Israeli sabotage. “They have not reached the bomb yet,” Zarka said. “Every one of these accidents has postponed a little bit the program.”
A legally grey area
International humanitarian law bans the intentional killing of civilians and non-combatants. But legal scholars say those restrictions might not apply to nuclear scientists if they were part of the Iranian armed forces or directly participating in hostilities. “My own take: These scientists were working for a rogue regime that has consistently called for the elimination of Israel, helping it to develop weapons that will allow that threat to take place. As such, they are legitimate targets,” said Steven R. David, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. He said Nazi German and Japanese leaders who fought Allied nations during World War II “would not have hesitated to kill the scientists working on the Manhattan Project” that fathered the world's first atomic weapons. Laurie Blank, a specialist in humanitarian law at Emory Law School, said it's too early to say whether Israel's decapitation campaign was legal. “As external observers, we don’t have all the relevant facts about the nature of the scientists’ role and activities or the intelligence that Israel has,” she said by email to AP. “As a result, it is not possible to make any definitive conclusions.” Zarka, the ambassador, distinguished between civilian nuclear research and the scientists targeted by Israel. “It’s one thing to learn physics and to know exactly how a nucleus of an atom works and what is uranium,” he said. But turning uranium into warheads that fit onto missiles is “not that simple,” he said. ”These people had the know-how of doing it, and were developing the know-how of doing it further. And this is why they were eliminated.”

Israel says Iran launched more missiles after ceasefire started. Iranian military denies that
SAM MEDNICK, JON GAMBRELL and MELANIE LIDMAN/Associated Press/June 24, 2025
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) — A tentative truce faltered Tuesday when Israel accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the ceasefire was supposed to take effect and vowed to retaliate. Iran’s military denied firing on Israel, state media reported — but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel midmorning, and an Israeli military official said two Iranian missiles were intercepted. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for the NATO summit at The Hague that in his view, both sides had violated the nascent agreement he had announced earlier. Iran “violated it but Israel violated it too,” Trump said. ”I’m not happy with Israel.”He later wrote on social media that Israeli fighter jets would “turn around” and would not attack Iran — indicating the deal might hold. The conflict, now in its 12th day, began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons — and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran has long maintained that its program is peaceful. Many worried the war might widen after the U.S. joined the attacks by dropping bunker-buster bombs over the weekend and Israel expanded the kinds of targets it was hitting. But after Tehran launched a limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday, Trump announced the ceasefire. Both sides accepted the agreement, but it appeared to falter initially. “Tehran will tremble,” Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich warned on X at one point, raising the specter that the war might continue.
Israel accuses Iran of violating the truce. Iran denies that
An Israeli military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said Iran launched two missiles at Israel hours into the tenuous ceasefire. Both were intercepted, the official said. Iranian state television reported that the military denied firing missiles after the start of the ceasefire — while accusing Israel of conducting strikes. It offered no evidence to support the claim of Israeli fire, with the last reports of such attacks coming before dawn. Part of the difficulty in sorting out the competing claims was that Trump's social media post announcing the ceasefire said Iran would begin holding its fire hours earlier than Israel. He later, however, announced that the ceasefire was in effect, even though the window he initially gave for Israel had not yet closed. After accusing Iran of violating the ceasefire, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed Israel’s military to resume “the intense operations to attack Tehran and to destroy targets of the regime and terror infrastructure.”Breakthrough declared by Trump wobbles in initial hours. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to a bilateral ceasefire with Iran in coordination with Trump, while pledging to respond to any subsequent violation.
He said that Israel had achieved all of its war goals, including removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
An announcement on Iranian state TV later said the ceasefire was in effect. So did Trump, who posted: “THE CEASEFIRE IS NOW IN EFFECT. PLEASE DO NOT VIOLATE IT!”He later expressed deep frustration with both Israel and Iran — but then indicated that the deal would hold. “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly “Plane Wave” to Iran. Nobody will be hurt, the Ceasefire is in effect!” Trump said in a social media post. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier said that his country would not fire at Israel if it was not fired upon, but that a "final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”To secure the ceasefire, Trump had communicated directly with Netanyahu, according to a senior White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks. Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels. The White House has maintained that the U.S. bombing helped get the Israelis to agree to the ceasefire and that the Qatari government helped to broker the deal. It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.
Deal announced after hostilities spread
The shaky ceasefire came after hostilities spread further across the region.
Israel’s military said Iran launched 20 missiles toward Israel before the ceasefire began on Tuesday morning. Police said they damaged at least three densely packed residential buildings in the city of Beersheba. First responders said they retrieved four bodies from one building and were searching for more. Earlier, the Fire and Rescue service said five bodies were found before revising the number downward. At least 20 people were injured. Outside, the shells of burned out cars littered the streets. Broken glass and rubble covered the area. Police said some people were injured while inside their apartments’ reinforced safe rooms, which are meant to withstand rockets but not direct hits from ballistic missiles. Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for earlier American bombing of its nuclear sites. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties. Drones attacked military bases in Iraq overnight, including some housing U.S. troops, the Iraqi army and a US military official said Tuesday. A senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said U.S. forces had shot down drones attacking Ain al-Assad in the desert in western Iraq and at a base next to the Baghdad airport, while another one crashed. No casualties were reported and no group claimed responsibility for the attacks in Iraq. Some Iran-backed Iraqi militias had previously threatened to target U.S. bases if the U.S. attacked Iran.
Conflict has killed hundreds
In Israel, at least 28 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists. The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel. The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said.
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.

Sterling rises as risk assets rally on Israel-Iran ceasefire
Stefano Rebaudo/Reuters/June 24, 2025
Sterling climbed against the euro and the dollar on Tuesday, lifted by a rally in risk assets after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday he had ordered the military to strike Tehran in response to what he said were missiles fired by Iran in a violation of the truce deal. Iran denied violating it, saying there had been no launch of missiles towards Israel in recent hours. During times of global uncertainty, investors often retreat from sterling - viewed as a risk-sensitive currency - in favour of traditional safe havens such as the Swiss franc, Japanese yen and, more recently, the euro. The single European currency fell 0.40% to 85.23 pence. It hit 85.74 pence on Monday, its highest level since April 23. The safe-haven status of the dollar has been under scrutiny on concerns over U.S. fiscal policy, and potential shifts in global reserve currency preferences. The pound was up 0.55% versus the greenback at $1.3601. It hit $1.36325 last week, its highest level since February 2022. Recent soft economic data and a more dovish tone from the Bank of England have also pressured the British currency. Analysts said the BoE's vote last week to keep rates steady - with three dissenters in favour of cutting them immediately - suggests that the Monetary Policy Committee is becoming increasingly concerned with the growth outlook and the performance of Britain's labour market. British business activity expanded modestly but employers cut jobs more quickly, according to a survey released on Monday. "Rate setters view the current policy stance as restrictive and are ready to ease as inflation pressures fade, but we must be prepared for this to take time," said Dean Turner, chief euro zone and UK economist at UBS Global Wealth Management's Chief Investment Office. "We expect the BoE to stick with its quarterly cadence of cuts and deliver 25 bps reductions at its August and November meetings, taking the base rate to 3.75% by year-end."

Iranian President Expresses Regret to Qatar Emir after US Base Attack
Asharq Al Awsat/June 24/2025
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed regret in a phone call with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that Tehran's target in retaliation for US strikes was a military base in Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, said in a press conference on Tuesday. Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a US military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites. The US was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties. Israel and Iran on Tuesday accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by President Donald Trump to end their 12-day war that roiled the Middle East, after Tehran launched the attack in Qatar.

Qatar-Iran ties scarred but should recover after missile salvo at US base, Qatari PM says
Reuters/June 24, 2025
DOHA (Reuters) -Qatar's prime minister said on Tuesday relations with Iran have been scarred by an Iranian missile volley at a U.S. airbase in the Gulf Arab state, but that he hoped ties would eventually "come back to normal". Iran responded to U.S. participation in Israel's air war against Iran by firing missiles on Monday at the Al Ubeid air base, but no one was hurt after Tehran gave advance warning, and a ceasefire was announced hours later by Washington. Qatar, situated just across the Gulf from Iran, has often acted as a mediator in regional conflicts, including between Iran and the United States and between Israel and Hamas in the continuing Gaza war. "What happened will definitely have its scar on the relationship (with Iran), but I hope by the time everyone learns the lesson that this kind of neighbourhood relationship should not be violated and should not be undermined," Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, told a press conference with his Lebanese counterpart in Doha. "The partnership between Qatar and the U.S. is just growing stronger... and I hope the good relationship with Iran comes back to normal as soon as possible," he said. Al Thani added that Qatar had liaised with Iran at Washington's request to help facilitate the ceasefire. "We hope the ceasefire will continue as agreed upon, and we urge both the U.S. and Iran to return to the negotiating table with the aim of reaching a comprehensive diplomatic solution, something that Qatar has consistently sought," he said. He added that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed regret in a phone call with Qatar's ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that Tehran's target in retaliating for U.S. airstrikes was a military base in Qatar.

Iraq says drones attacked military sites and bases, damaging radar systems
Reuters/June 24, 2025
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraq said on Tuesday several military sites and bases belonging to Iraqi security forces were targeted by drones, significantly damaging two army radar systems and triggering a call from the prime minister for an investigation into the incident.
The source of the drones wasn't clear pending results of the investigation, but two security sources said the drones were small and had been flown to the targeted sites from nearby locations. The two badly damaged army radar systems were located at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and at Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar province, in southern Iraq, Iraqi military spokesman Sabah al-Numan said in a statement. Iraqi forces successfully repelled other attempted attacks on four additional sites in different locations before the drones could reach their targets. No casualties were reported, the spokesman said.
The statement said all the targeted locations were fully operated and managed by Iraqi security forces. Iraq's prime minister ordered an immediate investigation into the circumstances of the attack, the spokesman said.

UN condemns ‘weaponization of food’ in Gaza
AFP/June 24, 2025
GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday condemned Israel’s apparent “weaponization of food” in Gaza, a war crime, and urged Israel’s military to “stop shooting at people trying to get food.”“Israel’s militarised humanitarian assistance mechanism is in contradiction with international standards on aid distribution,” the UN human rights office said in written notes provided before a briefing. “Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food.”The US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) began food distribution operations in Gaza on May 26 after Israel completely cut off supplies into the occupied Palestinian territory for more than two months, sparking warnings of mass famine. The UN said in May that “100 percent of the population” of the besieged territory were ” at risk of famine.”
The UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF — an officially private effort with opaque funding — over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan warned in the briefing notes of “scenes of chaos around the food distribution points” of the GHF. Since the organization began operating, “the Israeli military has shelled and shot Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points, leading to many fatalities,” he said. He pointed to reports that “over 410 Palestinians have been killed as a result, (while) at least 93 others have also been reportedly killed by the Israeli army while attempting to approach the very few aid convoys of the UN and other humanitarian organizations.”“At least 3,000 Palestinians have been injured in these incidents,” he said. “Each of these killings must be promptly and impartially investigated, and those responsible must be held to account.”Kheetan cautioned that the system “endangers civilians and contributes to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.”“The weaponization of food for civilians, in addition to restricting or preventing their access to life-sustaining services, constitutes a war crime, and, under certain circumstances, may constitute elements of other crimes under international law,” he warned. The UN rights office demanded immediate action to rectify the situation.“The Israeli military must stop shooting at people trying to get food,” Kheetan said, also demanding that Israel “allow the entry of food and other humanitarian assistance needed to sustain the lives of Palestinians in Gaza.”“It must immediately lift its unlawful restrictions on the work of UN and other humanitarian actors,” he said. And he called on other countries to “take concrete steps to ensure that Israel — the occupying power in Gaza — complies with its duty to ensure that sufficient food and lifesaving necessities are provided to the population.”

At least 25 killed after Israeli army opens fire near aid trucks in Gaza, hospitals say
Evelyn Ann-Marie Dom/Euronews/June 24, 2025
At least 25 killed after Israeli army opens fire near aid trucks in Gaza, hospitals say
The Israeli military opened fire near hundreds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in central Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, according to hospitals in the Strip. The Awda hospital in the Nuseirat refugee camp, which received some of the victims, said 146 others were wounded, among them 62 in critical condition, who were transferred to another hospital in central Gaza. An eyewitness said drones were flying over the area before there was gunfire from tanks and drones. He described the scene as "chaotic and bloody" as people were trying to escape. The Israeli army has not commented on the incident so far. Over 410 Palestinians have been killed since the Israel- and US-backed aid delivery network, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), started operating on 27 May, the UN Human Rights office said on Tuesday. "The weaponisation of food for civilians ... constitutes a war crime," UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters at a press briefing in Geneva. "Desperate, hungry people in Gaza continue to face the inhumane choice of either starving to death or risk being killed while trying to get food."The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, similarly slammed Israel's aid distribution mechanism in Gaza, calling it an "abomination that humiliates and degrades desperate people.""It is a death trap costing more lives than it saves," he told a briefing in Berlin. Israel has said the mechanism is necessary to prevent Hamas from war profiteering and strengthening its group by stealing aid meant for civilians in the Strip. Israeli forces have been repeatedly accused of opening fire at crowds in desperate need of food. The military said it fired warning shots at people who it considered to have approached its forces in a "suspicious manner".
The UN called for an urgent and impartial investigation into each of the killings, and urged Israel to allow the entry of food and humanitarian aid into the strip, "in accordance with international law an humanitarian principles."

U.S. Strikes Nuclear Sites, Iran Retaliates With Ballistic Missiles
Ryan Brobst and Bradley Bowman/FDD. Policy Brief/June 24/2025
Iran attacked U.S. forces in Qatar with ballistic missiles on June 23, two days after U.S. precision strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran inflicted serious damage on the country’s nuclear program. However, the strikes on the Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow nuclear sites may not have fully destroyed all of the program’s elements. President Donald Trump ordered the attack after Iran failed to negotiate an agreement within 60 days.
Operation Midnight Hammer
The U.S. operation involved more than 125 U.S. aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, 4th- and 5th-generation fighters, aerial refueling tankers, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as a guided-missile submarine, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine at a Pentagon press briefing on June 22. A large number of B-2 bombers launched from Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, with some heading west as a diversion and the real strike package consisting of seven B-2s traveling east across the Atlantic. After multiple mid-air refuelings, the B-2s entered Iranian airspace as “several deception tactics” were employed. A protection package of other U.S. aircraft swept for Iranian fighters and air defenses. The B-2s dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) in total against Fordow and Natanz, marking the first operational use of the MOP. These 30,000-pound class weapons are by far the largest bunker busters in the U.S. arsenal. A guided-missile submarine fired more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles at the Isfahan nuclear site, adding significantly to the damage Israel had already inflicted there. All MOPs and Tomahawks struck their targets within a 25-minute span. In total, U.S. forces employed “approximately 75 precision-guided weapons” during Operation Midnight Hammer. General Caine said on June 22 that he was unaware of any shots Iran fired at the aircraft, suggesting U.S. deception and/or suppression efforts were successful.
Serious but Unclear Damage to Tehran’s Nuclear Program
Caine’s initial battle damage assessment was that “all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction” but stressed that “final battle damage will take some time.” Satellite imagery shows damage to numerous buildings at Isfahan as a result of Tomahawk cruise missiles and shows large holes at Fordow and Natanz, presumably from MOPs. Internal U.S. and Israeli assessments indicated serious damage but not complete destruction of Fordow, according to The New York Times.
At Fordow, questions remain regarding the actual damage at the deeply buried facility. There are also questions regarding the status of Iran’s stockpile of already enriched uranium, which could be used to build a nuclear weapon. Vice President JD Vance indicated in an interview on June 22 that Iran still had access to at least some of that stockpile.
Iran Responds
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi posted on X on June 22 that “Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people,” previewing the attack on Qatar a day later. If Iran conducts additional strikes, they could take a number of forms, including cyberattacks, attacks by Tehran or its proxy forces on American forces, bases, or diplomatic facilities, an attempted closure of the Strait of Hormuz, or even terrorist attacks against Americans abroad or on U.S. soil. Tehran likely did not conduct a larger retaliation because of Trump’s warnings to the regime and the fact that the United States and Israel can strike targets in Iran with precision and effectiveness. Additionally, the regime knows its command-and-control network and air defenses have been significantly degraded. While Tehran may have questioned Washington’s will to use military force in the past, that is likely no longer the case.
The priority now for the United States is to ensure that Tehran does not have the means to build a nuclear weapon, to strengthen U.S. military force protection measures, and to ready plans that make the regime think twice regarding attacks against Americans.
**Bradley Bowman is senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Ryan Brobst is the deputy director. For more analysis from the authors and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Brad on X @Brad_L_Bowman and Ryan @RyanBrobst_ Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Syrian Interior Ministry Arrests ISIS Cell Responsible for Church Attack
Asharq Al Awsat/June 24/2025
Hours after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa vowed that those involved in a “heinous” suicide attack on a Damascus church a day earlier would face justice, Syria’s Interior Ministry said authorities had arrested several suspects in connection with the attack. The shooting and suicide bombing Sunday at the Mar Elias church in the Dweila district of the Syrian capital killed 25 people and injured 63 others, according to the Health Ministry. “In coordination with the General Intelligence Service, the Ministry carried out security operations against ISIS-linked terrorist cells in the Damascus countryside, arresting a cell leader and five members, and killing two others affiliated with the terrorist attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus,” the Syrian Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday. “During the raid, quantities of weapons and ammunition were seized, in addition to explosive vests and mines. A motorcycle bomb that had been prepared for detonation was also found,” it said. On Monday, the Syrian President expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the victims of the church bombing. He said “this heinous crime that targeted innocent people in their worship places reminds us of the importance of solidarity and unity –government and people- in confronting threats to our security and the stability of our country.” Sharaa added, “Today, we all stand united, rejecting injustice and crime in all its forms. We pledge to the victims that we will work day and night, mobilizing all our specialized security services, to apprehend all those who participated in and planned this heinous crime and bring them to justice to face their just punishment.”The attack is the first such bombing in Damascus since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime. It raised fear among the people. Commenting on the attack, a man in his 70s described the attack as “a huge and horrible strike,” stressing the need for “the authorities to tighten security measures on churches, all places of worship, and busy places.”On Monday, Asharq Al-Awsat spotted heavy deployment of local security agents in the capital’s neighborhoods and major roads, amid heightened security measures. Adbdulrahman Alhaj, a researcher in Islamic studies, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Interior Ministry statement that linked the attack to an ISIS suicide attack is a suggestion that the ministry’s spokesman Noureddine Al-Baba had mentioned in his Sunday press briefing. Alhaj said he supports the ministry’s conclusions as ISIS had recently issued several threats signaling plans to confront the new regime in Damascus particularly, al-Sharaa.

Shadowy extremist group claims Damascus church attack
AFP/June 24, 2025
BEIRUT: A little-known Sunni Muslim extremist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Damascus church over the weekend that authorities have blamed on the Daesh group. Sunday’s attack killed 25 and wounded dozens of others, striking terror into the Syrian Arab Republic’s Christian community and other minorities. A statement from Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said a group operative “blew up the Saint Elias church in the Dwelaa neighborhood of Damascus,” saying it came after unspecified “provocation.” The Islamist authorities who took power after ousting longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December had quickly blamed the attack on Daesh and announced several arrests on Monday in a security operation against Daesh-affiliated cells. But the Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna statement on messaging app Telegram, where it counts several hundred followers, said the government’s version of events was “untrue, fabricated.” The group, which was formed after Assad’s ouster, vowed that “what is coming will not give you respite” warning that “our soldiers... are fully prepared.”In March, a dispute took place in front of the Saint Elias church, as residents expressed opposition to Islamic chants being played on loudspeakers from a car. Sunday’s attack was the first suicide bombing in a church in Syria since the country’s civil war erupted in 2011, according to a Syrian monitor. It followed sectarian violence in recent months including massacres of members of the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs and clashes with Druze fighters, with security one of the new authorities’ greatest challenges. The bloodshed has raised concerns about the government’s ability to control radical fighters, after Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive that ousted Assad. HTS was once affiliated with Al-Qaeda before breaking ties in 2016.Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, a Syria-based analyst and researcher, said Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna could be “a pro-Daesh splinter originating primarily from defectors from HTS... and other factions but currently operating independently of IS.”
He also said it could be “just a Daesh front group.”Citing a Saraya source, Tamimi said a disillusioned former HTS functionary heads the group, whose leadership includes a former member of Hurras Al-Din, the Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate which announced in January it was dissolving, upon the orders of the new government. The monitor said Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna had previously threatened to target Alawites and had carried out an attack in Hama province earlier this year. The group is accused of involvement in the sectarian massacres in March that the monitor alleged to have killed more than 1,700 people, mostly Alawite civilians.

UK to purchase fighter jets capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons
Andrew MacAskill/Reuters/June 24, 2025
THE HAGUE -The British government said on Tuesday that it would purchase a dozen F-35A fighter jets capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons in what it described as the biggest expansion of its nuclear deterrent in a generation. The purchase of the Lockheed Martin jets would allow Britain's air force to carry nuclear weapons for the first time since the end of the Cold War, Downing Street said. "In an era of radical uncertainty we can no longer take peace for granted, which is why my government is investing in our national security," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. Britain is increasing defence spending and upgrading its military forces, including its submarine fleet, as it faces increasing hostility from Russia and as the United States retrenches from its traditional role as a defender of European security. The British government said the purchase of the jets would allow it to contribute so-called dual-capable aircraft to NATO to carry nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said "this is yet another robust British contribution to NATO".Britain's nuclear deterrent currently rests solely on the Trident submarine-based system, which misfired during a test last year, the second successive test failure after one veered off course in 2016. The last time Britain possessed an independent air-launched nuclear capability was in 1998 when the WE-177 free fall bomb was withdrawn from service, according to Britain's parliament. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for battlefield use, as opposed to strategic weapons designed to be fired across vast distances. By purchasing the F-35A fighter jets, Britain would be able to diversify its military options and align more closely with NATO allies such as France, and the United States, which maintains land, sea, and air-based nuclear capabilities. The F-35A fighter jets are capable of carrying U.S. B61 tactical nuclear weapons. Britain would likely need the United States to supply those weapons for use on the planes, said one British official who declined to be named. The United States withdrew its last nuclear weapons from Britain in 2008, in a sign at that time that the threat of conflict following the end of the Cold War was receding.Downing Street said buying the new jets would support about 20,000 jobs in Britain and underline its commitment to NATO. The government has pledged to boost overall defence and security spending to 5% of economic output by 2035 to meet a NATO target and said on Tuesday it must "actively prepare" for war at home for the first time in years.

The Latest English LCCC analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on June 24-25/2025
Iran-Israel ceasefire: The Gulf must remain neutral ground
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya English/24 June/2025
The now-paused conflict between Iran and Israel stands as one of the most dangerous and volatile confrontations in recent memory. Although a ceasefire has been announced, the events of the past weeks underscore just how close the region came to a wider war – and how perilously fragile the current calm remains. At its core, this was a war between two actors: Iran and Israel. Israel initiated the latest round with a series of airstrikes deep inside Iran targeting nuclear facilities. Iran retaliated with ballistic missile attacks against Israeli cities, escalating the confrontation to an unprecedented level.
But the most troubling escalation came when Iran expanded the battlefield beyond Israel. In a deeply reckless and provocative move, Iran launched missile strikes into Qatar, targeting the US-operated al-Udeid Air Base. While most missiles were intercepted by Qatari and US defenses, at least one struck a building near the base. Thankfully, it caused no casualties. However, the act was a seismic shift: a third-party nation uninvolved in the Israel-Iran conflict was suddenly under fire. Qatar responded swiftly and unequivocally. Its Foreign Ministry condemned the Iranian strike as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty, airspace, and international law. Other Gulf nations rallied around Qatar with statements of solidarity. Saudi Arabia described the attack as “unjustifiable,” while the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman all issued firm condemnations and called for de-escalation.
This unified reaction reflects more than diplomatic protocol – it represents a collective regional stance against being dragged into a war they neither started nor supported. What makes Iran’s actions especially indefensible is that no Gulf state had taken military action against Tehran or facilitated any Israeli operations. Their security precautions were purely defensive, not offensive. Many of these nations had publicly urged restraint and emphasized diplomacy over escalation.
So why would Iran target a Gulf state? If its intent was to retaliate against Israel or the United States, then striking Qatar – a country not involved in the hostilities – makes no strategic or moral sense. For years, Iran has protested violations of its own sovereignty. Yet by attacking Qatar, it engaged in the very behavior it decries. This hypocrisy weakens Iran’s credibility and destabilizes a region already on edge.
The recently announced ceasefire offers a moment to pause, but it must also be a time for reflection. Iran’s decision to expand the conflict to a peaceful Gulf state risked transforming a bilateral war into a regional conflagration. The consequences could have been catastrophic – not only for the Middle East but for the global economy. The Gulf is home to critical energy infrastructure, and any further escalation could have disrupted oil and gas supplies, choked vital shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz, and sent shockwaves through already fragile global markets.
History has shown that regional wars can spiral into global ones when third-party nations are drawn in against their will. The Iranian missile strike may not have caused deaths, but it revealed just how thin the line is between localized conflict and regional war. Even with the ceasefire in place, the risk of reignition remains high if provocations like these are repeated.
This is why the international community must remain vigilant and united. The message to Iran must be clear: the conflict and tensions it has with Israel cannot and must not be expanded to include other states. The Gulf nations have remained neutral and must be protected from retaliation, intimidation, or collateral damage. Global powers, from the United States to China to the European Union, must reinforce the principle that sovereignty is not negotiable and that military aggression against peaceful states will not be tolerated.
The Iranian government must take away a key lesson and recognize that even if it feels strategically cornered, the answer is not to lash out at its neighbors. That path only leads to broader instability and long-term isolation. There are diplomatic channels, regional security frameworks, and international mechanisms through which Iran can voice its grievances – without making innocent nations pay the price. In conclusion, the Iran-Israel ceasefire may bring temporary relief, but it should not obscure the dangerous precedent Iran set by striking into Qatar. The Gulf states have consistently called for peace and acted with restraint. To punish them with missiles was not only unjust – it was a strategic miscalculation that could have sparked a much wider conflict. The global community must make clear that any future hostilities must remain limited to the original belligerents. The Gulf must not be turned into a battleground.

The Israel-Iran War Is Bigger Than Its Protagonists… And Its Spectators
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
The ongoing exchange of missiles, and the accompanying psychological and intelligence warfare, seems like a foregone conclusion, because all the supposed dividing lines in the Israeli-Iranian conflict have collapsed. These lines collapsed as the possibility of saving the Middle East, alongside the United States and Israel, from an ominous unknown began to vanish. In the Arab portion of the Middle East, we are witnessing two distinct realities: One that has already surrendered to an imbalanced and inherently lopsided status quo. And another, existentially threatened, because its political discourse had long relied, albeit out of necessity, on formulas that now belong to the past.
In the first case, the rapid pace of unfolding events suggests that those who advocated accepting this imbalance may have won the wager of engagement with Israel. This outcome is, of course, understandable in light of the United States’ clear and forceful insistence on tying its relations with any country in the world to that country’s relationship with Israel. Normalization is no longer just an option. Washington no longer treats it as negotiable.
For the record, I cannot recall a comparable situation in modern international relations between sovereign, independent states that are members of the United Nations. Arguably, the current scenario differs even from the United States’ alliance with Taiwan. There, Washington’s “carrot and stick” policy regarding the world’s dealings with Beijing and Taipei was primarily driven by hostility and apprehension toward China, not out of fondness for Chiang Kai-shek’s regime.
By contrast, the situation with Israel is entirely different. Every Israeli government enjoys near-unanimous support in both houses of the US Congress, a level of bipartisan backing that no American president can claim. The deeply entrenched and influential Israeli lobbies in Washington’s political, economic, and cultural fabric have long monopolized narratives such as the “shared Judeo-Christian values,” weaponized accusations of “anti-Semitism,” and bankrolled electoral campaigns from Capitol Hill to the White House and state legislatures.
Even though recent weeks have exposed an unprecedented rift since the Cold War’s end, between the hardline Jewish Likud movement and the white evangelical Christian right, most observers doubt that this “dissonance” will escalate into open hostility or soften the Trump administration’s zeal in supporting Benjamin Netanyahu’s military and political agenda.
As for the second Arab reality, it concerns the Arab entities currently under full or partial Iranian influence. Here, the picture is far from reassuring either in terms of sovereignty or internal security. Any military defeat or serious threat to Iran’s regime is likely to destabilize countries like Iraq and Lebanon, and certainly Yemen.
Iranian-backed militias, which took center stage in Iraqi politics following the 2003 US invasion, remain a powerful force across both political and military arenas. As such, any radical shift within Iran is likely to produce unpredictable consequences in Iraq. This becomes even more apparent when considering the intricate ties between Washington and Iraq’s Kurdish population, as well as the transformations that have unfolded in Syria and their far-reaching effects on both Syria and Lebanon.
On the Kurdish front, I would argue that the Iraqi state cannot prevent full Kurdish secession if that’s the course chosen by Kurdish leadership, especially if this decision aligns with American endorsement of Israel’s regional vision and Türkiye proves incapable of stopping it. Regarding Syria: Should Iranian influence be expelled, and a new government emerge in Damascus that explicitly deprioritizes confrontation with Israel, we’d be looking at a significant transformation, one that must not be overlooked.
Most importantly, Syria and Lebanon share long borders with Israel that remain unstable, fluid and volatile.
Another critical factor: both countries suffer from deep internal sectarian fragility. This latest Israeli campaign against Iran pours salt into wounds long opened by decades of Assad family dictatorship, propped up by Iran and its Revolutionary Guard.
A third factor is the Syrian-Lebanese diaspora in the United States, particularly its Christians, who are poised to play an influential role in reconfiguring the political futures of both Syria and Lebanon. Already, there are American figures of Syrian and Lebanese descent, closely tied to the current US administration and not hostile to Israel, moving behind the scenes in various key posts, such as Ambassador Tom Barrack, President Trump’s envoy to Syria.
With all this in mind, if we acknowledge that the current war is, above all, an American–Iranian confrontation, then we must also admit, at least in my view, that Iran’s chances of enduring it are very slim.
But that’s not the end of the story. There are urgent questions still awaiting answers that are unlikely to be simple or come without a heavy price. Chief among them: What will the region’s map look like when the dust settles? Which entities will remain, and which ones will be transformed? And how will Israel’s radical expansionist right capitalize on the outcome?

The Supreme Leader and the Emperor
Nadim Koteich/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
There is an immense moral and political gap between Israel’s blatant unhinged incitement on the life of the symbolic figurehead of the Islamic Republic of Iran (which the Americans eventually sympathized with after their initial opposition) and calm reflection on Iran’s fate after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Although the ongoing Israeli-Iranian conflict has put this question under the limelight, this conversation predates the conflict- even in the corridors of power in Iran, in think tanks inside and outside Iran, and among ordinary citizens who are mindful of their leader’s advanced age. There are real question marks around political continuity.
Those who know Iran understand that it is a nation (regardless of political affiliation) that is highly sensitive about the independence of the state, the security of society, and the integrity of the country’s resources and institutions, particularly in the face of foreign meddling. It is no coincidence that Iranians continue to speak of the coup against Mohammad Mosaddegh’s government, which has become a collective wound foundational for the national consciousness. The issue has never been about a single person, but rather an untouchable principle. Within this framework, reflecting on Iran’s post-Khamenei future becomes a conversation not about safeguarding the state, not dismantling it; renewing the social contract, not tearing it up.
The key question emerges here: Can the Supreme Leader pave a path toward change? Can he lead Iran to reinvent itself through the framework of the current regime, rather than over its ruins?What if Khamenei chose to follow Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s example? After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the emperor redefined himself and his country. He remained on the throne, not as a sacred leader of war but as a constitutional symbol of a nation that had chosen peace and democracy. He lost the war, but he saved the future.
Iran faces the same “challenge-opportunity.”
Of course, this comparison risks oversimplification. History doesn’t repeat itself verbatim, and the two men are hardly identical. Hirohito was a symbolic figure who denied any real power; supported by an ancient imperial institution, he was surrounded by occupying forces who rebuilt the state. The Supreme Leader, on the other hand, has the final say in Iran, and he is the embodiment of its ideology. His state’s foundations are being fiercely attacked, and there is no clear roadmap for a post-revolutionary era.
Nonetheless, Khamenei possesses something no one else does: the legitimacy of endurance, if not a popular mandate. It is largely to the credit of his strikingly pragmatic flexibility that the regime has survived. He compromised with reformists when necessary, negotiated with the US when that was the only way to avoid isolation, and repeatedly changed his tune at critical junctures. Each of these steps was necessary for survival. His agility could help him once again. He must present flexibility not as a betrayal of the revolution, but as a means for safeguarding it.
In 1988, Imam Khomeini likened his decision to end the Iran–Iraq war to “drinking the cup of poison.” It wasn’t a victory for his doctrine, but a strategic bow by Iran’s founding father that allowed the country and the revolution to survive. The poison may have changed, but the goal remains the same: to save Iran. Moreover, it is hard to think of anyone other than Khamenei who has the symbolic and institutional capital needed to manage this difficult transition without risking descent into chaos. It is almost as though only Khamenei can frame the steps needed as a sacrifice, not a defeat; as wisdom, not retreat.
There are subtle signals coming from within the regime itself. Its political fatigue is evident. The largely silent technocrats and reformists now see the failure of perpetual confrontation as a strategic investment. Decades of quiet change have given rise to a new class within the regime. This class thinks in terms of state survival, not exporting the revolution. Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once the very symbol of hardline ideology, now focuses on economic dignity and national sovereignty: “Iran First.”
Ideology hasn’t disappeared, but it has fragmented, planting the seeds of a potential shift.
Even the severity of foreign pressure, especially since the US entered the war, offers Khamenei a dignified exit. He could claim that God has entrusted him with saving Iran from a “world war,” not just a conflict against Israel, but against a silent and expanding international coalition. He could frame Iran’s resilience as the ultimate victory: the Islamic Republic endured until the world’s major powers were forced to unite against it.
From an abstract theoretical standpoint, the comparison with Emperor Hirohito is highly flawed. From a political perspective, it opens a realistic- albeit narrow- window of opportunity. A window that some may believe is not likely to be used, but it is possible.
In our region, it is precisely within that margin (between the unlikely and the not impossible) that we find historical shifts, provided the presence of exceptional leaders.

Closing Hormuz is More Dangerous for Iraq and China
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/June 24/2025
Iran makes threats, but it will not act. It will not mine the Strait of Hormuz or block it by bombing passing ships. This scenario would backfire and primarily harm China – the largest buyer of Gulf oil – which would lose four million barrels a day.
Iran’s enemies – the Americans and Israelis – would be the ones to benefit, because Beijing would adopt an angry stance toward Iran.
When a cargo ship blocked the Suez Canal for just six days in 2021, the world was paralyzed – similar to what happened when the Houthis disrupted global maritime movement by targeting ships passing through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Therefore, closing the Strait of Hormuz would hurt Iran’s allies the most.
In the past, the Strait of Hormuz was a card used to blackmail the world. Today, it is no longer a strategic concern for the Americans, who have become nearly self-sufficient thanks to their own oil production and that of neighboring Canada.
What if Iran’s goal in closing the Strait is to choke its Gulf neighbors and pressure them without entering into military confrontation? These countries have been planning for such a dark day for decades. Even if the strait were completely closed for several months, they are capable of absorbing the losses with limited damage. The biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, owns a pipeline that allows it to export through the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Its capacity is five million barrels – and it can be increased. This means it won’t lose a single barrel from its market. The UAE also has the port of Fujairah, located beyond the Strait of Hormuz, through which it can export more than 1.5 million barrels a day. Then there’s Qatar, the largest gas producer. Although it has no alternative sea routes, it can withstand several months of forced interruption, thanks to its massive financial reserves.
Kuwait and Bahrain will be affected, but their Gulf Cooperation Council partners can support them. The biggest Gulf loser would be Iraq – Iran’s ally – as it exports nearly three million barrels per day through Hormuz. If it were deprived of exports, it would not have the financial capacity to meet its obligations to its citizens or to its external commitments.
We know that Iran has repeatedly trained for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz through dedicated military drills. If it does act, it would drive up oil prices and cause harm to China and Iraq, primarily.
Since the 1980s, the threat of closing the strait has been Tehran’s card to intimidate both the Americans and the Gulf states. But yesterday’s strategies are no longer effective today. The United States has become the world’s largest oil producer. China is the Gulf’s biggest buyer. And the Gulf states have prepared for such a possibility by building export networks that bypass the bottleneck that is Hormuz. Tehran’s other options to widen the scope of conflict remain dangerous for the region – and dangerous for itself. Each option is akin to a suicide mission that would threaten a regime long bent on domination and expansion. This may be its last chance. It must accept peaceful coexistence in the region and stay within its borders.

Khamenei necessary to save Iran from chaos
Hassan Al-Mustafa/Arab News/June 24, 2025
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini on June 4, 1989, is far from an ordinary figure in the balance of power and hierarchical structure. Therefore, Israeli threats to assassinate him carry extremely serious consequences for the security of the entire Middle East, especially in the wake of the US military operation that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, causing widespread destruction.
Subsequently, Iran launched several ballistic missiles that struck targets inside Israel, which were followed by an announcement from the Iranian Shoura Council approving the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, pending the approval of the Supreme National Security Council. If carried out, this step will take the conflict into a more complex escalation — one that could involve attacks on or disruption of oil tankers, directly affecting global energy prices and supply chains.
These rapidly unfolding developments may push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toward greater “euphoria” and an inflated sense of power, thus prompting a military operation that leads to the assassination of Khamenei, especially since the Israeli leader previously succeeded in targeting Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, his successor Hashem Safieddine, and the party’s most prominent military leaders, in addition to the assassination of senior Hamas leaders such as Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
In the Israeli target bank, many of which have been achieved, Netanyahu fails to take into account that Iran’s supreme leader cannot be equated with Nasrallah, who was killed last year. The difference in symbolic weight is enormous, and the consequences of a miscalculation are grave, as Abdulrahman Al-Rashed wrote in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on June 20. Al-Rashed described the idea of “targeting the leader as madness,” considering that “this issue is far more serious than just another military objective: It could become a matter of ideology and trigger deeply dangerous cycles of revenge.”
The Iranian leader’s continued survival is crucial
Al-Rashed, one of the most prominent Arab writers and a political critic of Iranian policies in the Middle East, sought in his approach to the topic to provide a long-term, realistic political perspective. He considered that the assassination of Khamenei would cause “wounds that may never heal — regardless of how decisive the Israeli or American victories are on the battlefield.”
In this context, a prominent figure such as Ali Al-Sistani, the supreme religious authority of Shiite Muslims, issued a statement, his second since the start of the Israeli war on Iran, warning against “any threat to target its supreme religious and political leadership.” He considered that “any criminal measure of such kind, in addition to violating clear religious and moral standards and constituting a blatant violation of international laws and norms, will have dire consequences for the region as a whole,” potentially “spiraling out of control and leading to widespread chaos.”
Although Al-Sistani is a classical religious leader who often prefers to refrain from political involvement, this statement indicates his deep concern, prompting him to warn against further escalation in the Middle East.
Khamenei is not seen merely as the leader of the revolution in Iran; he is also a religious authority for millions of Shiite Muslims worldwide. In terms of the number of believers who adhere to his jurisprudential rulings, he likely ranks second or third after Al-Sistani, who is regarded as the highest-ranking Shiite religious figure in the world.
From this perspective, Khamenei’s assassination would give a greater ideological dimension to a conflict that already contains religious elements. This would unleash more rhetoric of extremism, hatred, and hostility between Muslims and Jews at a time when efforts should focus on interfaith dialogue and coexistence among religions and their adherents rather than fueling conflict between them.
Even politically, Khamenei remains the only leader capable of making a bold strategic decision in the Islamic Republic, one that would be binding for everyone, hard-liners and moderates, if Iran decides to sign any future agreement with the US that could end the current crisis.
Israeli and US strikes have inflicted a deep national wound
The Israeli and US military strikes against Iran, and the severe losses in its leadership, missile program, and nuclear facilities, have inflicted a deep national wound, damaging the Islamic Republic’s prestige in the eyes of the public, and most importantly, in the eyes of its own people, where the state now appears less capable of responding effectively. Its air defenses are ineffective, despite the significant damage it has inflicted on several Israeli cities. This blow to Iranian national pride cannot be overcome without a bold decision, and only Khamenei has the experience, legitimacy, and authority to make such a decision. His continued survival is, therefore, crucial, because without it, no Iranian leader, no matter how popular, would dare sign any future agreement between Washington and Tehran, as it may be perceived by the public as surrender or betrayal.
In terms of security in the Middle East, the assassination of Khamenei would trigger a wave of chaos and violence, especially if armed factions affiliated with the “Axis of Resistance” follow through with their threats. Despite the heavy losses these factions have suffered, they retain the capacity to cause widespread destruction, and target oil refineries and military targets. Such acts could come through Iraqi factions, Hezbollah in Lebanon, or the Houthis in Yemen — an outcome that the Arab Gulf states do not want to happen.
The best course of action, as the Saudi Foreign Ministry emphasized in a statement on June 22, is to “intensify efforts in these extremely sensitive circumstances to reach a political solution that ensures an end to the crisis and opens the door to achieving security and stability in the region.” The statement highlighted “the need to exert all efforts to exercise restraint, calm and avoid escalation,” as the alternative will be further confrontations that may lead to an uncalculated expansion of the parties involved in the war, which will result in casualties among innocent civilians.
**Hassan Al-Mustafa is a Saudi writer and researcher interested in Islamic movements, the development of religious discourse and the relationship between the Gulf Cooperation Council states and Iran. X: @Halmustafa

Opinion: If RCMP is probing Israel for war crimes, it has no morality
Special to National Post | Dagny Pawlak & Joe Adam George/National Post/June 24, 2025
As the sun shines over the ghost town of Metula which abuts the Israel-Lebanon border, blue jacaranda petals softly fall from their trees to blanket its missile-torn streets in a vibrant lavender hue. It is a scene of heartbreaking juxtaposition — nature’s relentless beauty blooming against the backdrop of human devastation, where time stands still in an eerie dance between lush abundance and complete war-torn destruction.
“Most of them will return,” David Azoulay, the mayor of Metula, told our group on our recent tour — speaking of his 2,000 evacuated residents — “because this is our home. We will rebuild and pull through.” These words come from a man who slept on the floor of his tiny subterranean office for months after October 7, as his town was mercilessly shelled by Hezbollah in a devastating campaign entirely unprovoked by Israel, one that obliterated over 60 per cent of the city’s buildings and homes and forced the evacuation of an entire community. Once-beautiful family homes now lie in piles of rubble, with all that remains of everyday life found in the charred remnants of furniture and melted appliances. Yet here, rolling up their sleeves, the people of Metula are rebuilding their city piece by piece, determined to breathe life back into what was once a vibrant community in northern Israel.
A Dubious Investigation
Amidst rising tensions with Israel, Canada’s premier law enforcement agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), is preparing the ground for an investigation into potential war crimes related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Should the target of the investigation be the state of Israel, or Israeli Canadians who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it would expose a moral blindness so profound it borders on the obscene.
Perhaps, Ottawa needs reminding that Hamas set the region ablaze in its barbarous rampage on October 7, forcing Israel into a seven-front war of survival against the Iranian regime’s genocidal Islamist terror proxies. Inexplicably, the RCMP didn’t disclose any plans to prosecute Hamas for murdering eight Canadians. While Canada launched a thunderous campaign for its Ukraine investigation — complete with hotlines, dedicated webpages, airport signage, and breathless media interviews — the Israel-Hamas war probe has skulked in shadows, acknowledged only when pressed by journalists.
Treating Israel like Russia isn’t merely a false analogy or bureaucratic inconsistency. It is the manifestation of a grotesque double-standard and the weaponization of the justice system against a long-time ally, revealing how deeply the malignant mix of moral relativism and vote-bank politics has infected Canadian institutions and society.
The Forgotten Massacre
In the communities of southern Israel’s Gaza envelope, the scene is even more harrowing. Among the rubble lay children’s clothes and the toys they were playing with moments before Hamas terrorists and Gazan civilians plowed through the security fences and massacred them in cold blood — for the unforgivable crime of being Jewish. Residents walk through these ruins as the sound of bombs and artillery fire echoes in the near distance, an ongoing reminder of the Israeli nation’s unwavering determination to seek justice for these victims, and to reunite the 58 hostages still withering in Hamas’s subterranean tunnels of horror. This was not war. This was butchery. Systematic, premeditated, celebratory butchery that Hamas terrorists livestreamed to the world with gleeful pride. They did not merely kill — they savoured the killing, reveled in it, and made their victims’ final moments exercises in unimaginable pain and terror.
The Moral Abyss of False Equivalence
When we speak of war crimes, let us be unequivocal about what we have witnessed. Hamas has constructed the most extensive military tunnel network in the world beneath Gaza — not for civilian protection, but for predatory warfare. When 95 per cent of cement transferred to Gaza for humanitarian reconstruction was systematically diverted to build these tunnels of terror, there was no outrage from the international community. The evidence of Hamas’s depravity extends beyond conventional warfare. In those underground lairs, Israeli forces discovered not only the expected arsenal of weapons, but also disturbing quantities of lubricants, Viagra and condoms — the calculated implements of systematic sexual violence. Even Gazans are not spared from Hamas’s cold-blooded war tactics. The use of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza is a documented human shield strategy of the terror group. Hamas doesn’t merely commit war crimes; it premeditates and executes them with methodical precision. Urban warfare expert John Spencer has observed that Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history — measures that exceed what international law requires and surpass what the United States employed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, Israel stands accused while Hamas, which weaponizes every hospital, school, and mosque escapes condemnation.
The Compromised Arbiters
If war crimes investigations are relying on UN statistics and testimonies, an inconvenient truth must be confronted: 12 UNRWA employees were fired for allegedly participating in the October 7th massacre of Israeli civilians. Indeed, the very organization providing “neutral” assessments had personnel directly complicit in the terrorist atrocities they now claim to investigate objectively. This isn’t a footnote to be dismissed — it is a cancer that metastasizes through pretty much every UN report, every casualty figure, every moral pronouncement. How can any investigation maintain credibility when the parent body is institutionally compromised?
The Cruel Irony of Our Times
There is a cruel irony in how major media outlets seem to have inexhaustible space for coverage of Hamas’s fictional tales of Israeli brutality in Gaza, while the death and destruction the terror group unleashed on innocent Israelis almost immediately disappeared into a memory hole of willful amnesia. Israel did not want this war. It was thrust into conflict by the most savage terrorist attack in its history — an invasion of Israeli territory unseen since 1948. Its response, while necessarily devastating, has been constrained by unprecedented efforts to minimize civilian casualties while confronting an enemy that systematically maximizes them. Those who have borne witness to the devastation wrought upon Israel on October 7th perceive a naked truth that Canada’s selective justice refuses to acknowledge: There is no moral equivalence between a democratic nation that defends its citizens and a genocidal death cult that celebrates their slaughter. Applying different standards to different conflicts, or granting terrorists the cover of false moral equivalence, does not advance the cause of justice — it desecrates it. The victims of the October 7 attacks deserve better. The families of Metula deserve better. If Canada’s commitment to international justice is sincere, it must call out evil by its name — without equivocation, hesitation, or the moral cowardice that masquerades as neutrality. True justice sees all victims and names all perpetrators. Anything less is not justice — it is complicity dressed in the language of law. **Dagny Pawlak is senior communications officer at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Joe Adam George is national security analyst at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Research Lead — Islamist Threats at the Middle East Forum. The authors’ trips to Israel were sponsored by Phaze 3 Associates, Exigent Foundation and the Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

Why Trump Must Now Ban the Muslim Brotherhood
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 24/2025
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/2025/06/144541/
The letter [from the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salah Abdel Haq] shows that the Muslim Brotherhood has officially endorsed the Iranian regime's slogans of "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!"
The [Muslim Brotherhood's] founder, Hassan al-Banna, accepted the utility of political violence, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood conducted assassinations....
The takfirism doctrine's endorsement of "extreme violence" is why several Islamic countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Mauritania have banned the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood has dozens of branches, offshoots and affiliates in many countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Kuwait, Mauritania, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States.
Qatar has publicly funded and supported Islamist groups, and its state-owned Al-Jazeera TV network continues to serve as a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood.
"What is needed today is a genuine dismantling of the Muslim Brotherhood's machinery in the Arab world: Its platforms, associations, online accounts, and cultural facades. The Muslim Brotherhood is still alive and kicking, just waiting for the right moment to reproduce itself through more violence...." — UAE columnist Hani Salem Masshour, al-ain.com, June 20, 2025.
It is time for the US government to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. There is no reason why Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is designated by the US as a terrorist organization, while the Muslim Brotherhood itself has not been banned.
In a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured), the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's largest and most influential Islamist Sunni organization, has come out in support of the Iranian regime. The letter shows that the Muslim Brotherhood has officially endorsed the Iranian regime's slogans of "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!"
As the Iran-Israel war enters its second week, the Muslim Brotherhood, the world's largest and most influential Islamist Sunni organization, has come out in support of the Iranian regime.
In a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Salah Abdel Haq, named Israel, the US, and other western countries as a common enemy of the Islamic ummah (nation). The letter reflects an ideological affinity with the rhetoric of the Iranian regime and its terror proxies: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. The letter shows that the Muslim Brotherhood has officially endorsed the Iranian regime's slogans of "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!" Abdel Haq wrote in the letter:
"On behalf of myself and the Muslim Brotherhood, I would like to reaffirm our full support for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of the brutal Israeli aggression...
"The Israeli aggression against Iran represents a new phase of aggression against Palestine, where the [Israeli] occupying government is motivated by retaliation due to the support provided by the Islamic Republic to the Palestinian resistance, in addition to other strategic motives represented by the occupying entity's quest to impose its hegemony over the region by undermining its centers of power, exploiting the extensive support provided to it by the USA and other Western countries..."
The Muslim Brotherhood leader said it was time for Sunni and Shia Muslims to put aside their differences and unite against the enemies of the Islamic ummah.
"We are one nation, in the religious, spiritual, civilizational, and geopolitical senses alike...
"Therefore, the Muslim Brotherhood has no doubt that our enemy is the same: the Zionist entity. Our primary weapon, which we must adhere to, is the unity of the Islamic Ummah, and working to unify efforts in a comprehensive strategic vision that directs the Ummah's compass toward its true enemy...
"Today, the Muslim Brotherhood adheres to the call of [Muslim Brotherhood founder] Imam Hassan al-Banna; He defined our approach towards all Islamic bodies and organizations, saying: 'We strive to bring viewpoints closer together and reconcile different ideas in a way that will make truth prevail under the shadow of cooperation and love. No jurisprudential opinion or sectarian disagreement will separate us. We believe that the day will come when names, titles, formal differences, and theoretical barriers will disappear, and in their place will be a practical unity that unites the ranks of the Muhammadan battalion, where Muslim brothers work for the religion...'"
By voicing support for the genocidal anti-Western regime of the mullahs in Tehran, the Muslim Brotherhood is showing its true colors: It views Israel and all Western countries as the real enemy of Muslims.
The Muslim Brotherhood also considers pro-Western Arab and Islamic regimes as traitors. The group's founder, Hassan al-Banna, accepted the utility of political violence, and members of the Muslim Brotherhood conducted assassinations on Egyptian state figures during his lifetime, including Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmoud El Nokrashi in 1948. Sayid Qutb, one of the organization's most prominent thinkers, promoted the "takfirism" doctrine, which, according to an internal report commissioned in 2014 by then UK Prime Minister David Cameron:
"... has consistently been understood as a doctrine permitting the stigmatisation of other Muslims as infidel or apostate, and of existing states as unIslamic, and the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society."
This doctrine continues to inspire many jihadist movements, including the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas, which is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The takfirism doctrine's endorsement of "extreme violence" is why several Islamic countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Mauritania have banned the Muslim Brotherhood. While Arab and Muslim leaders understand the threats posed by the Muslim Brotherhood, many Western countries continue to live in denial or choose a policy of appeasement toward the organization and its followers.
The Muslim Brotherhood has dozens of branches, offshoots and affiliates in many countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Kuwait, Mauritania, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Belgium and the United States.
Qatar has historically provided refuge and support to Muslim Brotherhood leaders and members, especially those fleeing crackdowns against it in countries such as Egypt and Syria. Qatar has publicly funded and supported Islamist groups, and its state-owned Al-Jazeera TV network continues to serve as a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Qatar has for many years provided political and economic support to Hamas. In 2008, Qatar reportedly pledged $250 million to Hamas. In 2012, Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani became the first head of state to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, pledging $400 million to Hamas.
"Following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood found in Iran a new model for the Islamic system it had long sought," according to the Yemeni newspaper Al-Ayyam.
"Although the Iranian regime is Shiite, the Brotherhood admired the idea of ​​an Islamic state that had overthrown the Shah, a US ally. The Brotherhood viewed what had happened in Iran as a victory for political Islam, even if the doctrines differed.
"Iran, in turn, began seeking to employ the Brotherhood in its strategy for regional expansion, supporting some Brotherhood branches in the region as part of a policy of strengthening its influence in the Arab world. During this period, cooperation emerged between Iran and Islamist movements such as Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iran providing financial and military support to these movements, which embraced the Brotherhood's ideology.
"Despite the apparent alliances between Iran and the Brotherhood, this cooperation was viewed by Arab states, particularly those hostile to Iran such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as a stab in the back. These countries view Iran as a threat to their stability, given its interference in the internal affairs of some Arab countries and its support for armed Shiite groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.
"For Arab countries that disagree with Iranian policy in the region, the Brotherhood's alliance with Iran is seen as a strengthening of Iran's influence, as these Islamist groups are used as tools to undermine existing political regimes in Sunni Arab countries....
"Arab states harmed by Iran's regional politics view the Brotherhood's alliance with Tehran as support for Iranian agendas aimed at expanding its regional influence at the expense of Arab security. At the same time, the Brotherhood views Iran as an ally capable of providing financial and military support...
"Despite sectarian and ideological differences, both sides seek to achieve their own interests, even if this comes at the expense of Arab unity or regional stability. Through this alliance, Iran seeks to expand its influence in the Sunni world, while the Brotherhood attempts to exploit Iranian support to remain in the political arena.
"This alliance places the Brotherhood in a difficult position, as its political opponents accuse it of contributing to the destabilization of the Arab world through its alliance with Iran. Although the Brotherhood attempts to portray this alliance as a tactical one aimed at confronting Western powers, the truth is that this alliance harms the interests of Arab countries resisting Iranian influence in the region."
Hani Salem Masshour, a columnist in the UAE, wrote that the Muslim Brotherhood leader's letter of support to Khamenei proves that the mask has fallen from the face of the Islamist organization.
"The group's statement is not, in reality, a text of solidarity with Palestine, but rather a document of political and ideological submission to the Tehran axis. Iran which has burned Syria, drowned Iraq, produced Hezbollah in Lebanon, and unleashed the Houthi monster in Yemen, has become, in the group's lore, the 'citadel of the nation' and its 'resistance shield.'
"Khamenei, who has never uttered a word about the bombing of [Arab civilians], or burning of Arab cities, has become, for the Muslim Brotherhood, a legitimate leader of the 'oppressed,' an infallible leader by political necessity.
"What is dangerous about the letter is not only what it contains, but also the timing, context, and hidden messages. The letter was written at the height of the escalation between Israel and Iran, at the moment where Khamenei's international legitimacy is eroding after he crossed all red lines with his direct bombing of civilian areas inside Israel."
Masshour warned that some Muslims will interpret the Muslim Brotherhood's support for the Iranian regime as a green light to launch terror attacks, not only against the West, but also against Arabs.
"This letter cannot be considered a 'political opinion,.' It is a document aligning with an anti-Arab axis, written in religious language and directed at minds ready for recruitment. Those among the organization's youth who read it will not understand it as a call for dialogue, but rather as an operational order [to engage in terrorism].
"What is needed today is a genuine dismantling of the Muslim Brotherhood's machinery in the Arab world: Its platforms, associations, online accounts, and cultural facades. The Muslim Brotherhood is still alive and kicking, just waiting for the right moment to reproduce itself through more violence and under more flamboyant slogans...
"Palestine will not be liberated by those who praise Khamenei, and [Arab] capitals will not be protected by those who view Hezbollah as an ally. It is time to call things by their proper names: those who write a statement of thanks to Tehran are writing a testimony of their betrayal of truth, history, and their nation."
There is no difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime when it comes to waging jihad (holy war) against Israel, the West and its Arab and Muslim allies. It is time for the US government to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. There is no reason why Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, is designated by the US as a terrorist organization, while the Muslim Brotherhood itself has not been banned.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
**Follow Khaled Abu Toameh on X (formerly Twitter)
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21700/ban-muslim-brotherhood

Israel sees increasing success against Iranian drones, drone and missile attacks continue
Seth J. Frantzman/FDD's Long War Journal/June 24/2025
On June 23, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that its Spectrum Warfare 5114th Battalion had played a “significant” role in confronting the Iranian drone threat. “In recent days, the soldiers thwarted dozens of attempted infiltrations by hostile aircraft using electronic warfare. This activity constitutes an additional layer of defense leveraging advanced technological means to detect and neutralize aerial threats in real time,” the IDF said. It is one of many methods the Israeli military has employed, including manned aircraft and various types of interceptors, to stop hundreds of Iranian drones from striking Israel.
According to various reports, by June 23, more than 1,000 Iranian drones had been launched at Israel since Israeli strikes on Iran began on June 12. Iran has also launched hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. Iran’s initial attacks were deadly, with 24 Israelis killed and dozens injured by June 16. However, Israel has intercepted around 90 percent of the missile threats and almost all the drones from Iran. One drone, reportedly a Shahed 136, impacted Beit Shean on June 21.
The number of missiles Iran has fired per day has lessened since the first 72 hours of the conflict. By June 21, a total of 450 missiles had been launched, and there were more than 50 impact sites in Israel. A total of 2,835 people had been injured, the Israeli Ministry of Health said on the morning of June 23. The number of people displaced by the war due to missile impacts rose to more than 8,000.
Israel’s air defenses have received widespread praise from officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar visited an Arrow air defense system unit on June 23. “Prime Minister Netanyahu commended the array’s soldiers and officers and expressed his appreciation for their contribution in defending the skies over Israel,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. Netanyahu also received an operational briefing about the Arrow array and the “operational challenges it faces.”
On June 21, Israeli Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited the 136th Battalion of Israel’s air defense array. “We are hunting their launchers. Yesterday, we intercepted three of four launchers just minutes before launch and neutralized them using our systems directly over their heads. What you are doing here is remarkable. Without your work, the damage to Israel’s home front and our infrastructure would have been catastrophic,” Zamir said.
Major General Bar visited Israel’s Hatzerim and Palmachim airbases that same day and spoke about Israel’s efforts to strike Iran’s ballistic missiles and reduce the number of launches. “We are deeply engaged in suppressing the surface-to-surface missile fire being directed at us. We’re not at zero—but our efforts are stopping a great deal and surprised the Iranians,” Bar said. Palmachim is one of the bases Israel uses for its long-range drones, which Bar indicated are flying over Iran as part of the effort to suppress missile fire.
The IDF has revealed the use of several new defense systems in the war. In addition to deploying an electromagnetic system to stop drone threats, Israel has also employed the Israeli Navy’s Barak “Magen” system to down UAVs. The IDF calls it a “long-range air defense system” (LRAD) and states that the navy’s new Sa’ar 6 corvettes carry the interceptors. Israeli ships have intercepted more than 500 drones since the conflict began.
Israel has a multi-layered air defense array that also consists of the David’s Sling and Iron Dome systems. It appears both have also been used to confront Iranian missile and drone threats, though the IDF has not released details on their recent employment.
While there were fewer Iranian missile attacks on June 22, Iran launched several rounds of missiles on June 23. Sirens sounded in Israel due to missiles at around three in the morning, while drone sirens sounded around five in the morning. In addition, sirens went off in numerous areas of Israel at around 10 am for about 40 minutes straight. Even though Israel’s Home Front Command said Israelis could leave their shelters, more sirens sounded at 11:35 am. Overall, Home Front Command continued restrictions on activity in the wake of the US strikes on Iran on June 22 in the expectation of increased Iranian threats.
As the war with Iran continues, Israelis abroad have been trying to return to the country on emergency flights. Some have also returned by sea. In some cases, this route has involved private arrangements, with people paying skippers of sailboats and yachts to take passengers from Cyprus. The Israeli Navy and Ministry of Transportation also arranged for the entry of a passenger ship carrying 1,500 people on June 20.
Overall, around 70,000 Israelis have returned during the war, some by land borders and 25,000 via “rescue” flights operated by Israeli airlines. Israel’s airspace was largely closed during the first week of the operation against Iran. Israel is restricting the number of individuals allowed on each flight going in and out. It is unclear how many people have left Israel since the conflict began.
**Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).

Video Link For A Commentary fron "GotQuestions" Youtube Platform/What role does Iran play in the end times?
/June 19, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCchWnM1aK8&t=20s
Current events have many wondering about Iran's role in biblical end times prophecy. The Bible, referring to Iran as Persia or Elam, speaks of a significant future for this nation, especially in light of its modern-day ambitions and the June 2025 conflict with Israel. But what exactly does ancient prophecy say about Iran's ultimate destiny? And how will a powerful alliance involving Iran and Russia impact Israel in the battle of Gog and Magog, where God Himself steps in to deliver a shocking, final blow? This video explores the riveting historical context and urgent biblical predictions surrounding Iran, Israel, and the end of days

What role does Iran play in the end times?
GotQuestions.org/June 19, 2025
Answer
There are several biblical prophecies of the end times that mention Iran, called Persia or Elam in the Bible. Given the fact that Iran is often in the news as a nation seeking armaments (possibly nuclear) and repeatedly issuing threats against Israel, students of Bible prophecy are taking note. The conflict with Israel in June of 2025 definitely brought Iran to the forefront of Bible prophecy conversations.
Iran does have a role to play in the end times, but, first, a little history of Iran and its neighborhood, as it relates to biblical history. Jeremiah prophesied that Elam, a nation east of Babylon, west of Persia, and south of Media, would be conquered and then rise to power again (Jeremiah 49:34–39). True to that prophecy, Babylon conquered Elam in 596 BC. But then Persia, under Cyrus the Great, took control of that area, and the Elamites and Medes became part of the Persian Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire ascended to power and conquered Babylon in 539 BC, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 21:2. This happened during the time of Daniel (Daniel 5); in fact, Daniel later resided “in the province of Elam” in Persia (Daniel 8:2). Persia is the setting for the book of Esther and the first part of Nehemiah.
Alexander the Great’s conquests put an end to Persia as a world power, fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel 8. In the following centuries, Persia was ruled by the Seleucids, the Parthians, the Sassanians, the Romans, the Byzantines, and finally, in AD 636, the Muslims. In 1501, the state of Iran was founded.
In the New Testament, men from Iran are mentioned indirectly as “Parthians, Medes and Elamites” were present in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:9). All three of these people groups were Jews who lived in the area of ancient Persia, modern-day Iran, and they were present in Jerusalem to witness the birth of the church.
Iran’s involvement in the end times will be as one of the nations involved in the battle of Gog and Magog, which probably occurs during the first half of the tribulation. Ezekiel 38:5 specifically mentions Persia as an ally of Magog/Russia. Other nations included in this coalition will be Sudan, Turkey, Libya, and others. This vast army will come against Israel, who at that time will be “a peaceful and unsuspecting people” (verse 11). The outcome of this end-times invasion is predicted: God supernaturally intervenes, and Gog’s coalition is utterly destroyed. “On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals” (Ezekiel 39:4–5). Iran, allied with Russia, will think their invasion of Israel is a sure victory, but God has different plans. In protecting Jerusalem, God will send a strong message to the world: “I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel” (verse 7).

A fragmenting world can unite around immunization
Jose Manuel Barroso/Arab News/June 24, 2025
We live in a world that seems increasingly fractured and prone to conflict. But experience in both the public and private sectors has taught me that periods of geopolitical unrest are precisely the moments when we should take a step back and consider what unites us. The ties that bind people together across borders, generations, and cultures must be celebrated and strengthened. Many of our differences and disagreements melt away when we recognize the simple truth that everyone wants the next generation to grow and thrive in a world that is safer, fairer, and more prosperous than the one they entered. The question is how to translate this universal instinct into concrete collective action.
One answer that almost everyone can agree on is protecting children and communities through immunization. To show their commitment to this important cause, heads of state and government will convene in Brussels on June 25 for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s Global Summit: Health & Prosperity through Immunization. With their pledges of support, Gavi — where I have chaired the board for the past five years — can continue preventing the spread of deadly and debilitating infectious diseases, especially among the most vulnerable segments of society.
Increased uptake of vaccines has already transformed the world for the better. When Gavi was established a quarter-century ago, millions of children died annually from diseases such as measles and pneumonia. These deaths represented an unconscionable tragedy because they could have been prevented easily. Gavi was founded to put a stop to this needless suffering.
Gavi’s public-private model is unique among global health organizations. By bringing together vaccine manufacturers, national governments, donors, and grassroots organizations, Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in low- and middle-income countries since its inception, preventing nearly 19 million deaths and helping to halve childhood mortality. Moreover, the organization has built effective global defenses against pandemics and other infectious threats by creating and maintaining emergency vaccine stockpiles.
Investing in Gavi’s immunization efforts has produced remarkable returns. Since 2000, the organization’s work has generated $250 billion in broader economic benefits in the low- and middle-income countries where it operates, helping 19 of them to outgrow the need for vaccine support. Recognizing the vital role that immunization plays in enhancing public health and resiliency, several of these “Gavi graduates” are now donors themselves.
We should take a step back and consider what unites us.
This week’s global summit will determine the future of Gavi’s immunization efforts. As the organization approaches its next five-year strategic period — possibly the most consequential in its history — we are calling for renewed financial and political commitments to protect the next generation. Our goal over the next five years is to vaccinate 500 million children in the world’s poorest countries against 19 diseases.
For the first time in history, we have a vaccine that can turn the tide against malaria. We can also protect millions of girls against cervical cancer with the HPV vaccine, maintain progress against preventable killers such as measles and typhoid, and provide children in conflict-riven and displaced communities with basic vaccinations. But none of this can be achieved without the financial backing of donor countries and partners.
Of course, most donors are juggling competing budget priorities, particularly as policymakers, confronting geopolitical uncertainty and deepening polarization between countries, push for higher defense spending. But, as the global pandemic illustrated, ensuring our citizens’ safety cannot be achieved through military might alone. Resilience requires investment in health security. Moreover, because immunization is a global public good, efforts to provide it can create fertile ground for further cooperation.
Even amid all of life’s economic, political, and scientific complexities, sometimes the choices we face are simple. There is no future without children. Improving access to vaccines is perhaps the single most effective and scalable tool at our disposal to stem the spread of preventable diseases that threaten too many young people and cause unnecessary deaths. Regardless of our differences and disagreements, I am confident that the world can find common purpose when it comes to immunization, and that, working together, we can begin to create the conditions for a better and more hopeful future.
• Jose Manuel Barroso, a former president of the European Commission and prime minister of Portugal, is chair of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
©Project Syndicate

Selected Twitters For Today June 24/2025
Reza Pahlavi
My fellow compatriots,
We are now moving to the final phase of our struggle. It will be hard. But the regime is weak. It is near collapse. Only we, the Iranian people, can end it.
To the military—as you’re given orders to lash out at the people—stand down. This is your final chance. You are being watched. We will remember who stood with the people and who committed crimes against them.
To the world—do not save this corrupt, crumbling, terrorist regime. At this historic moment, stand with the Iranian people. Shield them from the regime’s desperate backlash. Do not prop up a regime that will, soon again, turn its guns, missiles, and terror toward you.
Do not fear. Be bold. Victory is in our hands.

Guila Fakhoury
‎The Islamic republic of Iran’s defeat was clear the moment their leaders and scientists were taken out, and the war ended when their nuclear sites were attacked. They didn’t send in their proxies because they had already lost control of the Middle East. Israel had destroyed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, all while Iran watched from the sidelines. This is the start of a new Middle East, one without the influence of Iran’s Islamic Republic. Peace is coming.