North Korea fired multiple-launch rockets from near Pyongyang, South Korea says

SEOUL, June 19 (Reuters) - North Korea fired more than 10 multiple-launched rockets on Thursday morning from Sunan near the capital Pyongyang in a north-westerly direction, South Korea's military said.
It did not immediately provide other details. The weapons used by the North's military are typically categorized as short-range ballistic missiles by South Korea. North Korea is banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions from using ballistic missiles.

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The Independent

2 hours ago

• The Independent

After Trump rebuked her on Iran, Tulsi Gabbard left out of Situation Room photos of Midnight Hammer strikes

Photos of President Donald Trump's Situation Room released by the White House in the hours since he authorized a U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, appear to hide the participation of one key member of his military and intelligence apparatus. The photos show Trump in a red MAGA cap watching the proceedings while surrounded by his top officials. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were all shown taking part. But U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was nowhere to be found in the images. It seems unlikely that Gabbard's absence from the situation room photo release is a coincidence, considering the president has repeatedly tossed her under bus on the very issue of Iran the past week. According to a New York Times report, Gabbard has been in trouble with Trump since the start of the month. Earlier in June, Gabbard posted a video on social media talking about a trip she took to Hiroshima, Japan and sharing a warning against war in an age when nuclear weapons threaten global annihilation. 'As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before,' she says in the video. The clip continues, with Gabbard warning that "political elites and warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tension between nuclear powers." Trump reportedly had a problem with her comments. According to sources who spoke to the Times, Trump took Gabbard's video as a sign she was only using her time in his White House as a stepping stone. He reportedly told her if she wanted to run for president then she shouldn't be in his administration. His issues with Gabbard — who according to CBS was among the officials in the Situation Room Saturday — became more obvious after Trump was forced to respond to testimony she gave in March in which she said Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons through its refinement efforts. "She's wrong," Trump told reporters on Friday after he landed in New Jersey. It wasn't the first time he dismissed her commentary either; Trump told another reporter on Monday during an Air Force One flight that "I don't care what she says" after he was asked about Gabbard's testimony. During his Friday comments, Trump made clear any action the U.S. took would be under the pretense of stopping Iran from creating a nuclear weapon. 'It looks like I'm right about the material that they've gathered already. It's a tremendous amount of material. And I think within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months, they were going to be able to have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "We can't let that happen.' After the strike, Hegseth told reporters that Trump had looked at the intelligence he reportedly had received about Iran's nuclear ambitions and acted. "I would just simply say that the president's made it very clear he's looked at all of this, all of the intelligence, all the information, and come to the conclusion that the Iranian nuclear Program is a threat," Hegseth told reporters on Sunday. "He looked at all of it, understood the nature of the threat, and took bold action." On Friday — the same day Trump threw her under the bus — Gabbard broadly pointed to unspecific 'intelligence' justify why she was flipping from her own testimony in March in order to back Trump's Iran agenda. On X, she claimed that the "dishonest media" was "intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division." She also insisted — despite saying Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons in March — that the U..S. had intelligence saying that Iran "can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly." "President Trump has been clear that can't happen, and I agree," Gabbard wrote. Unfortunately for Gabbard, it seems like she started playing Trump ball a little too late to get invited to the situation room on Saturday night.

The Sun

2 hours ago

• The Sun

Inside Operation Midnight Hammer: How Trump carried out unprecedented Iran attack using decoys in 37-hour covert mission

AMERICA'S colossal bomb raid on Iran's key nuclear sites was a masterclass in military might and strategy "months in the making", officials said. Covert tactics and the world's biggest conventional bombs came together in a "spectacular success", according to Trump, which caught the Iranians completely off-guard. 8 8 8 8 Iran has sworn " everlasting consequences" are coming, but Trump warned the US would not be afraid of striking again. While the world now waits to see how Iran and its Axis of Evil will respond, the US has shared details of its daring Operation Midnight Hammer. General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said: 'This was a complex and high-risk mission carried out with exceptional skill and discipline by our Joint Force." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: "Our B-2s went in and out and back without the world knowing at all." The mission was simple: to inflict serious damage on Iran's nuclear programme so that it is unable to produce nuclear weapons. Plans were worked for months, and the key groundwork was laid by Trump on Thursday when he announced a two-week delay to his decision about striking Iran. It's now clear that was a ploy to lull the regime into a false sense of security. The full mobilisation began on Friday night when a unit of B-2 bombers took off from the US at midnight. Some of the planes flew west towards the Pacific, leading analysts to suggest they might be heading to the UK's Diego Garcia base - but that was a decoy. Only "an extremely small number of planners and key leaders" knew the truth about the ruse, General Caine said. Trump's shock Iran strikes take us to bring of global conflict and will strengthen Axis of Evil alliance, experts warn The actual fleet comprised of seven B-2 spirit bombers, which quietly set off east over the Atlantic. Each was manned by a crew of two, but the pilots were instructed to stick to minimal communication to avoid detection. It was an 18-hour non-stop journey to reach the target area, so the bombers had to refuel multiple times in the air by linking up with escort and support aircraft. Mid-air synchronisation is difficult enough, but crews had to maintain minimal comms whilst lining up. At half past midnight Iranian time, a US submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles at the Isfahan nuclear site in east Iran. This coincided with the bomber squad entering Iranian airspace - undetected. 8 8 Decoy and scout planes swooped out ahead of the main unit to scan for and distract any awaiting Iranian defence jets - but there were none. The protection group stood ready to launch preemptive fire on any surface-to-air threats, such as air defence systems, but not a single shot was fired at the operatives. Go-time was 2:10am - the midst of the Iranian night. Over a period of just 25 minutes, the bombers released their powerful payload. Officials revealed that about 75 precision-guided weapons were unleashed in total. Amongst these were 14 of the famed "bunker-buster" bombs dropped on the mountain-fortress Fordow plant. Israel had not even attempted to destroy this facility, buried beneath 300ft of rock and steel, because it knew only US's superbombs could do the job. The B-2s were programmed to drop one bomb, followed by another shortly afterwards onto the exact same point of impact. 8 8 It was the first time that the 30,000-pound GBU, 57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) had been deployed in a live combat situation. Caine said: 'Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice. 'We will defend ourselves. The safety of our service members and civilians remains our highest priority. 'This mission demonstrates the unmatched reach, coordination and capability of the United States military. 'In just a matter of weeks, this went from strategic planning to global execution. 'This operation underscores the unmatched capabilities and global reach of the United States military."

Sky News

2 hours ago

• Sky News

Iran has little choice but to retaliate against US - as Russia faces urgent decision on how to back Tehran

Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran could trigger a wider regional or even global war, but much will hinge on how Russia and China - Tehran's most powerful allies - respond. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said he will hold "serious consultations" with Vladimir Putin on Monday morning in Moscow. His country is also in contact with Beijing. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are regarded by Western allies as a new axis of authoritarian powers, increasingly aligned and supportive of each other. Donald Trump, though, has broken ranks from his country's traditional democratic partners to forge a closer relationship with Mr Putin than any other US leader in recent years. How much that might affect the Kremlin's calculations, as Moscow weighs up how to respond to his actions in Iran, adds a new layer of unpredictability to the crisis. 0:54 Another limiting factor is the Russian military's physical capacity - should it wish - to bolster Iran with military support given its war in Ukraine. Unlike the NATO alliance, there is no formal agreement between Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang to come to each other's assistance in a crisis. However, the weakening of one member of the quartet would impact on the vital national interests of the other three, making it mutually beneficial to help each other out - including with military force or at the very least by supplying weapons. 0:40 Iran has little choice but to retaliate directly against the United States after three of its main nuclear facilities were struck overnight. But its ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones has been severely degraded by waves of Israeli strikes since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went to war with Iran a week and a half ago. What are Iran's options? US bases, warships, and aircraft across the region are well within range of Iranian missiles and drones, but the Pentagon has significantly strengthened its air defences in anticipation of an Iranian counterattack. There are plenty of softer targets, though, such as American embassies or other diplomatic missions. 1:40 Iran could also choose to mine the Strait of Hormuz - a move that would have global ramifications by disrupting the flow of large amounts of oil and gas, as well as other trade. In addition, the military assets of American allies could be viewed as legitimate targets. The UK has said it played no part in the US attack. But Britain's Ministry of Defence has further increased "force protection" measures for its military bases and personnel in the Middle East to their highest level in the wake of the US strikes, it is understood. 3:34 What was hit in US attack? In an operation that has been in the planning for years, American B-2 stealth bombers dropped enormous bunker-busting bombs - the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator - on the Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant, around 70 miles (110km) southwest of Tehran. It was built under a mountain - about 80 to 90 metres beneath the ground - to be beyond the reach of Israel's armed forces. Only the US Air Force carries munitions large enough to penetrate the rock, earth and concrete to inflict meaningful damage. Also targeted with the enormous munitions was Iran's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, 155 miles (250km) southeast of the Iranian capital. In addition, US submarines launched TLAM cruise missiles against Natanz and at a site outside the city of Isfahan, which is 260 miles (420km) south of Tehran. Near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel is thought to be stored here. 1:41 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, however, said the six buildings at Isfahan that were hit contained little or no nuclear material. Mr Trump has said he ordered the attack to destroy Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a level that could be used to make a nuclear bomb. Tehran has always insisted its nuclear programme is purely for civilian purposes. Analysts warn, though, that it would be very difficult to stop the Iranian nuclear programme through military action alone and that such a move may spur Iran to accelerate efforts to make a bomb if it has managed to protect key components. The Russian foreign ministry on Sunday strongly condemned the American strikes against Iranian nuclear sites as a "dangerous escalation" that could further undermine "regional and global security". "The risk of an escalation of conflict in the Middle East already beset by multiple crises, has increased significantly," it said in a statement. Last week, the Russian government warned the US against joining Israel's war in Iran, saying this "would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences". The remarks came after Mr Putin held a call with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. It means the Russian government in particular - given Tehran's military support to Moscow in the Russian invasion of Ukraine - faces an urgent decision about how to support Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, whose very existence is under threat from Israel.