Israeli Amb. to U.S.: ‘Iran will not have a nuclear path to a nuclear bomb'
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter talks with CNN's Wolf Blitzer about why his country launched a preemptive strike against Iran and weighs in on whether there is still a chance for diplomacy.
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Vance blames California Dems for violent immigration protests and calls Sen. Alex Padilla 'Jose'
LOS ANGELES -- Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers. Vance also referred to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, the state's first Latino senator, as 'Jose Padilla,' a week after the Democrat was forcibly taken to the ground by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration raids. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,' Vance said, in an apparent reference to the altercation at Noem's event. 'I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater. And that's all it is.' 'They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, 'Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,'' Vance added. A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. 'He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,' Oswald said. Vance's visit to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted this week. That followed over a week of sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting that followed immigration raids across Southern California. Trump's dispatching of his top emissary to Los Angeles at a time of turmoil surrounding the Israel-Iran war and the U.S.'s future role in it signals the political importance Trump places on his hard-line immigration policies. Vance echoed the president's harsh rhetoric toward California Democrats as he sought to blame them for the protests in the city. 'Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,' Vance said after he toured federal immigration enforcement offices. 'What happened here was a tragedy,' Vance added. 'You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful. And it is why the president has responded so forcefully.' Newsom's spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement, 'The Vice President's claim is categorically false. The governor has consistently condemned violence and has made his stance clear.' Speaking at City Hall, Bass said Vance was 'spewing lies and utter nonsense.' She said hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted by the federal government on a 'stunt.' 'How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,' Bass said. In a statement on X, Newsom responded to Vance's reference to 'Jose Padilla,' saying the comment was no accident. Jose Padilla also is the name of a convicted al-Qaida terrorism plotter during President George W. Bush's administration, who was sentenced to two decades in prison. Padilla was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during the tense months after the 9/11 attacks and accused of the 'dirty bomb' mission. It later emerged through U.S. interrogation of other al-Qaida suspects that the 'mission' was only a sketchy idea, and those claims never surfaced in the South Florida terrorism case. Responding to the outrage, Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said of the vice president: 'He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill Trump's promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has defended his tactics against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. The friction in Los Angeles began June 6, when federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps in the region that have continued since. Amid the protests and over the objections of state and local officials, Trump ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the second-largest U.S. city, home to 3.8 million people. Trump has said that without the military's involvement, Los Angeles 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years.' Newsom has depicted the military intervention as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. Earlier Friday, Newsom urged Vance to visit victims of the deadly January wildfires while in Southern California and talk with Trump, who earlier this week suggested his feud with the governor might influence his consideration of $40 billion in federal wildfire aid for California. 'I hope we get that back on track,' Newsom wrote on X. 'We are counting on you, Mr. Vice President.'
CNN
22 minutes ago
- CNN
Video shows missiles from Iran streaking skies of Israel
CNN's Anderson Cooper reports live from Tel Aviv, as Israel's military says it identified missiles launched from Iran and that defense systems are working to intercept them. The military called on the public to "enter a protected space" and stay there until further notice. Israel has also begun a new wave of attacks in Iran, its military said Saturday.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iranians saw America as better friend than Russia before war: Official
(NewsNation) — Iran's Health Ministry spokesman told NewsNation that Iranians viewed America as a better friend than Russia before President Donald Trump backed Israel's attacks. 'There was no perception about America prior to this. Some didn't like America, some had no opinion, and some considered America a better friend than Russia,' spokesman Hossein Kermanpour in an interview with NewsNation. A week into their war, Israel and Iran exchanged more strikes Friday as new diplomatic efforts led by the Europeans took place in Geneva. Kermanpour said Iranians were 'very surprised' by Trump and European support for the Israeli operation, adding that it confirmed suspicions that 'America is not to be trusted.' He said the strikes came 'in the midst of fruitful negotiations.' Iran nuclear weapons claims: What we know and what we don't However, he said that Iranians do not support U.S. involvement in the conflict with Israel following the recent strikes. Iran's Health Ministry reported more than 3,000 people injured in Israeli strikes, with 90% being civilians, and about 400 killed, according to Kermanpour. Kermanpour said about 2,000 of the injured have been treated and discharged. The casualties include a 2-month-old baby who was killed and a 4-year-old boy among the wounded, making them the youngest victims and injured, respectively. The Health Ministry spokesman said the attacks occurred 'while the people were sleeping' and targeted 'more than ten provinces of the country, including Tehran,' killing what he described as 'a significant number of civilians and military,' calling them 'martyrs.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
