Recovery Of Judy Weinstein And Gad Haggai
Earlier today, Israeli forces recovered the remains of Judy Weinstein and Gad Haggai, two Americans who were kidnapped on October 7 and murdered by Hamas terrorists. My heart goes out to their family and to all families of hostages who remain separated from their loved ones. While this may bring a measure of closure to the Weinstein-Haggai family, it is a stark reminder of the enduring cruelty 56 families continue to face – including those of Americans Omer Neutra and Itay Chen – whose loved ones have been held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7. All hostages must be released immediately.
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1News
2 hours ago
- 1News
Trump says US has attacked three Iranian nuclear sites
The United States has attacked three Iranian nuclear sites, President Donald Trump says, joining an Israeli air campaign as Tehran promises to retaliate. The move means the US has directly joined Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Follow 1News' live updates for the latest developments In a post on social media, Trump announced the apparent military strike. He wrote: "We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. ADVERTISEMENT "All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. "Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE!" The decision to directly involve the US comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and a 30,000-pound. bunker buster bomb, they alone can carry, offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground. The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joins the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. More to come ADVERTISEMENT Israel says it's preparing for possibility of lengthy war Earlier, Israel's military said it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war after it announced it had struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks. The prospect of a wider war was threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels and warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel's military campaign against Iran. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US. The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first such flights from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, that sparked the ongoing war in Gaza. Parnia Rahmanian, 13, lies unconscious in a hospital bed following Israeli strike that targeted her neighborhood, in Tehran (Source: Associated Press) Inside Iran, smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province's deputy governor for security affairs, Akbar Salehi, confirmed the Israeli strikes damaged the facility but caused no casualties. ADVERTISEMENT The target was a centrifuge production site, Israel's military said. Isfahan was also hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel's goal to destroy Iran's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the latest attack. Iran again launched drones and missiles at Israel, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage. An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters, called it a 'small barrage' that was largely intercepted by Israel's defences. The official estimated that Israel's military has taken out more than 50% of Iran's launchers. 'We're making it harder for them to fire toward Israel,' he said. 'Having said all that, I want to say the Iranian regime obviously still has capabilities.' ADVERTISEMENT The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig Gen Effie Defrin, later said Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir told the army to prepare for a 'prolonged campaign." Iran says US military involvement would be 'dangerous' Trump was previously weighing up active US military involvement in the war. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, 'I think that it would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi listens to speeches as he attends the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting, in Istanbul (Source: Associated Press) He spoke on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Turkey. Barring a commando raid or even a nuclear strike, Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Trump said he would put off his decision on military involvement for up to two weeks. ADVERTISEMENT The war erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran's nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 722 people, including 285 civilians, have been killed in Iran, and more than 2500 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. One Tehran resident, Nasrin, writhed in her hospital bed as she described how a blast threw her against a wall in her apartment. 'I've had five surgeries. I think I have nothing right here that is intact,' she said Saturday. Another patient, Shahram Nourmohammadi, said he had been making deliveries when 'something blew up right in front of me' at an intersection. A number of Iranians fled the country. 'Everyone is leaving Tehran right now,' said one who did not give his name after crossing into Armenia. Iran has retaliated by firing more than 450 missiles and 1000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. ADVERTISEMENT Israel's multitiered air defences have shot down most of them, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. A person illuminates a light inside a tent while spending the night in a public shelter as a precaution against possible Iranian missile attacks, in Tel Aviv (Source: Associated Press) Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program, but has never acknowledged it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's military operation will continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear program and ballistic missile arsenal. No date set for new talks While talks in Geneva on Friday failed to produce a breakthrough, Iran's foreign minister said he was open to further dialogue. He emphasised that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continues to attack. ADVERTISEMENT No date was set for a new round of talks. For many Iranians, updates remained difficult. Internet-access advocacy group said Saturday that limited internet access had again 'collapsed.' A nationwide internet shutdown has been in place for several days. More attacks on Iranian military commanders Israel's defence minister said the military killed a paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commander who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing 20-month war in Gaza. Iranian officials did not immediately confirm Saeed Izadi's death, but the Qom governor's office said there had been an attack on a four-story apartment building and local media reported two people had been killed. Israel also said it killed the commander of the Quds Force's weapons transfer unit, who it said was responsible for providing weapons to Hezbollah and Hamas. Behnam Shahriyari was killed while travelling in western Iran, the military said. ADVERTISEMENT Iran threatens head of UN nuclear watchdog Iranian leaders say IAEA chief Rafael Grossi's statements about the status of Iran's nuclear program prompted Israel's attack. On Saturday, a senior adviser for Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani, said on social media, without elaboration, that Iran would make Grossi 'pay' once the war is over. Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, on Friday warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 'In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity,' Grossi said, adding: 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.' Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor southwest of the capital. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal in exchange for sanctions relief. ADVERTISEMENT But after Trump pulled the US out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium — at lower levels — in recent talks over its nuclear program. But Trump, like Israel, has demanded Iran end its enrichment program altogether.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
'She's wrong': Trump contradicts spy boss on Iran nuclear programme
US President Donald Trump said on Friday (local time) that his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was wrong in suggesting there was no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Trump contested intelligence assessments relayed earlier this year by his spy chief that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon when he spoke with reporters at an airport in Morristown, New Jersey. "She's wrong," Trump said. In March, Gabbard testified to Congress that the US intelligence community continued to believe that Tehran was not building a nuclear weapon. "The (intelligence community) continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon," she said. On Friday, Gabbard said in a post on the social media platform X that: "America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it 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." She said the media had taken her March testimony "out of context" and was trying to "manufacture division." The White House has said Trump will weigh involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict over the next two weeks. On Tuesday, Trump made similar comments to reporters about Gabbard's assessment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified a week of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets by saying Tehran was on the verge of having a warhead. Iran denies developing nuclear weapons, saying its uranium enrichment programme is only for peaceful purposes. In March, Gabbard described Iran's enriched uranium stockpile as unprecedented for a state without such weapons and said the government was watching the situation closely. She also said that Iran had started discussing nuclear weapons in public, "emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus." A source with access to US intelligence reports told Reuters that the assessment presented by Gabbard has not changed. They said US spy services also judged that it would take up to three years for Iran to build a warhead with which it could hit a target of its choice. Some experts, however, believe it could take Iran a much shorter time to build and deliver an untested crude nuclear device, although there would be no guarantee it would work. Trump has frequently disavowed the findings of US intelligence agencies, which he and his supporters have charged - without providing proof - are part of a "deep state" cabal of US officials opposed to his presidency. Gabbard, a fierce Trump loyalist, has been among the president's backers who have aired such allegations. The Republican president repeatedly clashed with US spy agencies during his first term, including over an assessment that Moscow worked to sway the 2016 presidential vote in his favour and his acceptance of Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Iran missile strike injures 19 in Haifa amid ongoing conflict
At least 19 people were injured in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa when Iran fired a fresh barrage of missiles, say authorities. One projectile slammed into an area by the docks in Haifa on Friday afternoon (local time) where it damaged a building and blew out windows, littering
