Iran air defences 'confront hostile targets' over Tehran: state media
05:34
19/06/2025
'Aid being deliberately engineered' to displace Palestinians, NGO says
Middle East
19/06/2025
As US considers joining operation against Iran, 'region reaching tension levels not seen in decades'
Middle East
19/06/2025
In Tel Aviv, residents flock to overnight bunkers to avoid missile strikes
Middle East
19/06/2025
Israeli government in 'full bore' campaign to persuade Trump to join Iran war
Middle East
19/06/2025
'I may do it, I may not': Trump weighs US involvement in Israel-Iran war
Middle East
18/06/2025
Toppling Iran's regime only way to end nuclear program, says former Israeli PM Barak
Middle East
18/06/2025
Ehud Barak asserts US won't battle Iran in full-scale war: 'US has not won any war in last 75 years'
Middle East
18/06/2025
Israeli government 'defiant' as conflict with Iran escalates
Middle East
18/06/2025
'Trump did not have the desire, the courage, or the will to tell Israelis not to start this war'
Middle East
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France 24
36 minutes ago
- France 24
Trump to decide 'in two weeks' whether US will directly attack Iran
President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide within two weeks whether the US military will get directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran given the 'substantial chance' for renewed negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program, as the two sides attacked one another for a seventh day. Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. His statement was read out by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Earlier in the day, Israel's defense minister threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after Iranian missiles crashed into a major hospital in southern Israel and hit residential buildings near Tel Aviv, wounding at least 240 people. Israel's military 'has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist," Defense Minister Israel Katz said. As rescuers wheeled patients out of the smoldering hospital, Israeli warplanes launched their latest attack on Iran's nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would 'do what's best for America.' Speaking from the rubble and shattered glass around the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, he added: 'I can tell you that they're already helping a lot." A new diplomatic initiative seemed to be underway as Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepared to travel Friday to Geneva for meetings with the European Union's top diplomat and counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany. 01:35 The open conflict between Israel and Iran erupted last Friday with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's multitiered air defenses, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's Home Front Command asserted that one of the Iranian ballistic missiles fired Thursday morning had been rigged with fragmenting cluster munitions. Rather than a conventional warhead, a cluster munition warhead carries dozens of submunitions that can explode on impact, showering small bomblets around a large area and posing major safety risks on the ground. The Israeli military did not say where that missile had been fired. At least 80 patients and medical workers were wounded in the strike on Soroka Medical Center. The vast majority were lightly wounded, as much of the hospital building had been evacuated in recent days. Iranian officials insisted they had not sought to strike the hospital and claimed the attack hit a facility belonging to the Israeli military's elite technological unit, called C4i. The website for the Gav-Yam Negev advanced technologies park, some 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the hospital, said C4i had a branch campus in the area. 12:05 The Israeli army did not respond to a request for comment. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, acknowledged that there was no specific intelligence that Iran had planned to target the hospital. Many hospitals in Israel, including Soroka, had activated emergency plans in the past week. They converted parking garages to wards and transferred vulnerable patients underground. Israel also has a fortified, subterranean blood bank that kicked into action after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. Doctors at Soroka said the Iranian missile struck almost immediately after air raid sirens went off, causing an explosion that could be heard from a safe room. The strike inflicted the greatest damage on an old surgery building and affected key infrastructure, including gas, water and air-conditioning systems, the medical center said. The hospital, which provides services to around 1 million residents, had been caring for 700 patients at the time. After the strike, the hospital closed to all patients except for life-threatening cases. Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. 04:52 Israel is widely believed to be the only country with a nuclear weapons program in the Middle East but has never acknowledged the existence of its arsenal. The Israeli air campaign has targeted Iran's enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, a nuclear site in Isfahan and what the army assesses to be most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers. The destruction of those launchers has contributed to the steady decline in Iranian attacks since the start of the conflict. Israeli airstrikes reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday, Iranian media reported. The Israeli military had warned the public to flee the area around Rasht's Industrial City, southwest of the city's downtown. But with Iran's internet shut off to the outside world, it's unclear just how many people could see the message. On Thursday, anti-aircraft artillery was audible across Tehran, and witnesses in the central city of Isfahan reported seeing anti-aircraft fire after nightfall. Trump's announcement of a decision in the next two weeks opened up diplomatic options, with the apparent hope Iran would make concessions after suffering major military losses. But at least publicly, Iran has struck a hard line. Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday rejected US calls for surrender and warned that any US military involvement would cause 'irreparable damage to them.' Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf on Thursday criticised Trump for using military pressure to gain an advantage in nuclear negotiations. The latest indirect talks between Iran and the US, set for last Sunday, were cancelled. 'The delusional American president knows that he cannot impose peace on us by imposing war and threatening us,' he said. 01:46 Israel's military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak heavy water reactor, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran, to prevent it from being used to produce plutonium. Iranian state TV said there was 'no radiation danger whatsoever' around the Arak site, which it said had been evacuated ahead of the strike. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that potentially can be used in nuclear weapons. That would provide Iran another path to the bomb beyond enriched uranium, should it choose to pursue the weapon. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to alleviate proliferation concerns. That work was never completed. The reactor became a point of contention after Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. Ali Akbar Salehi, a high-ranking nuclear official in Iran, said in 2019 that Tehran bought extra parts to replace a portion of the reactor that it had poured concrete into under the deal. Israel said strikes were carried out "in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development.' The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that due to restrictions imposed by Iran on inspectors, the UN nuclear watchdog has lost 'continuity of knowledge' about Iran's heavy water production — meaning it could not absolutely verify Tehran's production and stockpile.
LeMonde
an hour ago
- LeMonde
UN: violence against children in war zones hits record high in 2024
From Gaza to the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence against children in conflict zones reached "unprecedented levels" in 2024, a United Nations annual report said Thursday, June 19. "In 2024, violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels, with a staggering 25% surge in the number of grave violations in comparison with 2023," according to the report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The report verified 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024 – including 36,221 committed in 2024 and 5,149 committed previously but confirmed in 2024 – the highest number since the monitoring tool was established nearly 30 years ago. The new high beats 2023, another record year, which itself represented a 21% increase over the preceding year. With more than 4,500 killed and 7,000 injured, children continue to bear "the brunt of relentless hostilities and indiscriminate attacks," the report said. There was also a marked increase in the number of child victims of multiple violations to 22,495. "The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball – but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings – should keep all of us awake at night," said Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict. "This must serve as a wake-up call. We are at the point of no return." In its annual report, the UN compiles violations of the rights of children, those aged under 18, in some 20 conflict zones around the world. In its appendix, a "list of shame" calls out those responsible for these violations – a powerful coalition of Haitian gangs was added this year – which include child killings and mutilations, recruitment to violence, kidnappings, denial of humanitarian aid and sexual violence. The Israeli armed forces, which were named last year along with Palestinian militant group Hamas, remain on the list. Conflict casualties The Palestinian territories occupy the top spot in the dismal rankings, with more than 8,500 serious violations, the vast majority attributed to Israeli forces, including more than 4,800 in the Gaza Strip. This figure includes confirmation of 1,259 Palestinian children killed in Gaza, and the UN notes it is currently verifying information on an additional 4,470 children killed in 2024 in the war-torn territory. Violence erupted there following Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. The report also calls out Israel's military operations in Lebanon, where more than 500 children were killed or injured last year. Following the Palestinian territories, the countries where the UN recorded the most violence against children in 2024 are: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (more than 4,000 grave violations), Somalia (more than 2,500), Nigeria (nearly 2,500), and Haiti (more than 2,200). "List of shame" inductees include Haitian gang coalition "Viv Ansanm," blamed for a 490% increase in violations, including child recruitment, murders and gang rapes. Another addition to the list is Colombian drug cartel Clan del Golfo, which is accused of child recruitment. Colombia in general recorded a significant increase in cases of forced recruitment, with 450 children in 2024 compared to 262 the previous year. Remaining on the list are the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which have been fighting in Sudan for more than two years. Also listed again is the Russian army for its actions in Ukraine, where the report records a 105% increase in serious violations between 2023 and 2024.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Can NATO keep Trump on-message about Russia threat?
But the loudest voice in the room likely won't be on the same page. Since coming back to office, US President Donald Trump has upended the West's approach towards Russia's war on Ukraine by undercutting Kyiv and opening the door to closer ties with Moscow. While the volatile leader has expressed some frustration with Russia's Vladimir Putin for refusing a ceasefire, he has steered clear of punishing the Kremlin. At a G7 summit this week Trump made waves by saying the group of industrialised countries should never have expelled Russia. Ahead of the Hague gathering, diplomats at NATO have been wrangling over a five-paragraph summit statement, with many countries pressing for a full-throated assertion of the menace from Moscow. That, they say, will help explain the main thrust of the meeting: an agreement for countries to ramp up defence spending to satisfy Trump's demand for it to reach five percent of GDP. Statement on Russia 'threat' Since the Kremlin launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the alliance has called Russia "the most significant and direct threat to allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area". But this time around the United States -- backed up by Moscow-friendly Hungary and Slovakia -- has been intent on watering that down. Diplomats have been juggling with variants such as referring to "threats, including Russia" or mentioning "the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security". The verbal nuances may seem slight, but they mean a lot to those countries being asked to massively ramp up spending and those on NATO's eastern flank most threatened by the Kremlin. NATO has warned that Russia could be ready to attack an alliance country within five years. "If we can get Trump to sign off on calling Russia a long-term threat then that would be a good result," a senior European diplomat told AFP. 'Near threat' As US peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine have stalled, the diplomat said that Washington appeared to have "moved a centimetre in our direction" on taking a stronger stance on Russia. "Of course more hawkish countries want to go further -- but just getting Trump to agree that would still be fine," the diplomat said. Part of the US reasoning is that Washington is more worried about the threat China poses worldwide -- and that Russia is more a problem just in Europe. "Russia is the near threat," said US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker. "But China is obviously a big challenge for all of us, and we need to be allied and address those threats as well." Camille Grand of the European Council on Foreign Relations said that beneath the diplomatic fine-tuning, NATO was being confronted by a "fundamental question". "How does the United States view Russia?" he said. "So far we haven't really got an answer." Even if NATO does opt for stronger wording on Moscow, there is always the possibility that Trump could show up in The Hague and directly contradict it. But the debate could come into sharper focus in the months after the summit when the United States could announce a pull-back of forces in Europe as part of a review of its global deployments. Division on Ukraine One area where Washington appears clearly not on board with most other allies is on backing Ukraine. Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is set to attend on the sidelines of the summit but his involvement is being kept to a minimum to avoid a bust-up with Trump. Diplomats said there should be a reference in the summit statement linking new defence spending to helping Ukraine -- but there will be no talk of Kyiv's long-term push to join NATO. "The US does not see Ukrainian security as essential to European security," said Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to NATO.
