What to know about the conflict between Israel and Iran
ATHENS, Greece — The open conflict sparked by Israel's sudden barrage of attacks against Iran's nuclear and military structure shows no signs of abating on the seventh day of hostilities between the two longtime foes that threatens to spiral into a wider, more dangerous regional war.
An Iranian missile hit a hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, while others struck an apartment building in Tel Aviv and other sites in central Israel, wounding at least 40 people. The barrage led Israel's defense minister to overtly threaten Iran's supreme leader.
Israel, meanwhile, struck Iran's heavy water reactor, part of the country's nuclear program, which its government insists is meant for peaceful purposes only. Israel says Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
President Donald Trump has been making increasingly sharp warnings about the possibility of the U.S. joining in attacks against Iran, while Iran's leader has warned the United States would suffer 'irreparable damage' if it does so.
President Trump says he'll decide whether US will directly attack Iran within 2 weeksThe strikes began last Friday, with Israel targeting Iranian military and nuclear sites, killing several top military officials and nuclear scientists. Iran retaliated by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, some of which have penetrated the country's vaunted multi-tiered air defense system.
The region has been on edge for the past two years as Israel seeks to annihilate the Hamas group, an Iranian ally, in the Gaza Strip, where war still rages after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
Here's what to know about the conflict between Israel and Iran:
An Iranian missile hit Soroka Medical Center, in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, early Thursday, striking an old surgery building that had been evacuated in recent days. The hospital, the largest health-care facility in southern Israel, has over 1,000 beds and serves around 1 million residents of the area.
Several people were lightly wounded in the strike, local authorities said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, vowing to 'exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran.'
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz blamed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for the strike, and said the military 'has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist.'
U.S. officials said this week that Trump had vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Khamenei. Trump later said there were no plans to kill him, 'at least not for now.'
Many Israeli hospitals have activated emergency plans in the past week, moving patients underground to be treated in parking areas converted into hospital floors. Israel also boasts a fortified, subterranean blood bank.
On Monday, Iranian authorities said at least 224 people had been killed and more than 1,200 wounded in Israeli strikes. No updated figures have been made available, but a Washington-based Iranian human rights group said at least 639 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded. Retaliatory Iranian strikes on Israel have killed 24 people and wounded hundreds.
Israeli fighter jets targeted Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, located about 155 miles southwest of Tehran, on Thursday. Heavy water is used as a coolant for certain types of reactors, with plutonium — which can be used to make an atomic bomb — produced as a byproduct.
'The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,' the Israeli military said.
Iranian state television said there was 'no radiation danger whatsoever' and that the facility had been evacuated before the attack.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed the heavy water research reactor was hit, adding that 'it was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects.' The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said it had no information on whether the heavy water plant next to the reactor had been hit.
Israel views Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat, and has said its airstrikes are necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon. U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA have repeatedly said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon when Israel unleashed its airstrikes.
But the U.N. agency has questioned Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and last week censured the country for failing to comply with inspectors. Iran enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. It is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich at that level.
Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed state in the Middle East but does not acknowledge having such weapons.
Trump has made increasingly pointed warnings about the possibility of U.S. military involvement in the conflict. On Wednesday, he said he didn't want to carry out a U.S. strike on Iran but suggested he was ready to act if necessary.
'I'm not looking to fight,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'But if it's a choice between fighting and having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do.'
He has been noncommittal on what his plans might be.
'I may do it, I may not do it,' Trump said of a potential U.S. strike. 'I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. Nothing is finished until it is finished. The next week is going to be very big — maybe less than a week.'
Khamenei has rejected U.S. calls for surrender, saying that 'the Iranian nation is not one to surrender.'
'Americans should know that any military involvement by the U.S. will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them,' he said in a video statement Wednesday.
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New York Post
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Iran retaliated with a barrage of missiles and drone strikes on Israel — fully igniting the deadly conflict between the two Middle Eastern nations. 5 Israel's Foreign Affairs Minister, Israel Katz, listens during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the war in Gaza, on March 11, 2024. AP On Thursday, Iran launched a missile barrage that damaged the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba and hit a high-rise and several other residential buildings near Tel Aviv. At least 240 people were wounded by the Iranian missiles, four of them seriously, Israel's Health Ministry said. Early Friday morning, Israeli officials warned of an incoming barrage of missiles from Iran, with at least one making a strike on the nation's largest southern city, Beersheba. 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On Friday, foreign ministers from the European Union, including Britain, France, and Germany, are set to meet with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Geneva in hopes of de-escalating the conflict. with Post wires
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I think of others in the LGBTQ+ community who live lives at much greater risk than I do, thanks to their sexual identity and the color of their skin, and I know that I need to step into the light on behalf of those who must still live in the shadows. That's why I've hung the pride flag on my front porch, for everyone to see. It's a beacon in these dark times. Now, when people ask me where I live, I tell them, 'It's the house with the pride flag. You can't miss it.' Steven Petrow is a columnist who writes on civility and manners and the author of seven books, including 'The Joy You Make' and "Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old." Follow him on Threads: @
USA Today
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LA riots proved Trump right – but he learned a hard lesson about immigration
LA riots proved Trump right – but he learned a hard lesson about immigration | Opinion You can't deport 11 million hardworking immigrants. You can deport the much smaller subgroup of bad guys who commit serious crimes. Show Caption Hide Caption Sen. Alex Padilla physically removed from DHS news conference Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla was forced out and handcuffed at a Homeland Security news conference in Los Angeles. The 2025 Los Angeles ICE raids and riots quickly faded from national news due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. The raids highlighted the difficulty of deporting undocumented immigrants, a challenge faced by previous administrations. Public opinion, including among Latinos, disapproves of both the riots and the Trump administration's handling of the raids. California's increasing cost of living and housing, driven by taxation and regulation, is pushing out residents, particularly the working class. The most interesting aspect of the 2025 Los Angeles immigration raids and riots is how quickly they vanished from the news. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, had just punched his 15 minutes of fame on June 12 when the Israeli air force took off for Tehran and whispers of World War III wiped LA from the national consciousness. Padilla was back on the U.S. Senate floor five days later trying to reprise the impromptu speech he gave after the Trump FBI ran him out of a Homeland Security news conference and handcuffed him on the floor. But his words were lost in the torrent of news flashes from the Middle East. Americans were talking about bunker busters and missile defense, the Mullahs and Bibi. Burning Waymos had become an afterthought. Trump can't deport all immigrants, try as he might In those few smoke-filled days, however, Los Angeles had reaffirmed a long established truth in this country: It's a lot easier to bring migrants into America than to push them out. If the Trump administration had ambitions of deporting every last one of the 11 million-plus undocumented immigrants now in the United States – and don't put it past White House aide Stephen Miller to believe he can do that – today the president is the wiser. He has to be. Right? For a moment, it looked like President Donald Trump would backtrack from deporting undocumented farm and hospitality workers, but already facing a MAGA insurrection on Iran, he quickly reversed, yet again. But Trump has to know. There isn't enough time, money, federal officers or political capital to repeat for much longer what happened in Los Angeles. History is clear: Americans won't stand for it You can deport violent offenders by the millions, as the Obama administration proved over and over, but you'll never deport the millions of migrants whose only crime was to cross the U.S.-Mexico border to partake in American prosperity. History keeps teaching that lesson: 'Operation Wetback,' 1954. The program to deport Mexican workers is short-lived and highly controversial, even in the Eisenhower era. The program to deport Mexican workers is short-lived and highly controversial, even in the Eisenhower era. California Proposition 187, 1994. The successful ballot measure to cut off migrants from social services ends in its obliteration by the courts. The California Republican Party slinks into irrelevancy. The successful ballot measure to cut off migrants from social services ends in its obliteration by the courts. The California Republican Party slinks into irrelevancy. 'Chandler Roundup,' 1997. The papers-please arrests of those who look undocumented leads to recriminations and recall efforts against the mayor and two council members. The papers-please arrests of those who look undocumented leads to recriminations and recall efforts against the mayor and two council members. Arizona Senate Bill 1070, 2010. Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Hard-nosed immigration law provokes boycotts against the state and is dismantled by the courts. Los Angeles ICE raids, 2025. A week of protest and rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement tells the Trump administration it can try to deport 11 million-plus people but will do so at its peril. Left-wing rent-a-mob did the damage in LA The Los Angeles protests were infiltrated by the so-called Omnicause, the left-wing rent-a-mob that moves from city to city trying to destabilize the old order. It's a motley crew of anarchists, ethno-nationalists and Marxists that bring their black bloc and umbrellas to social justice protests, university encampments and now immigration pushback. It wasn't migrant dishwashers who burned Waymos or menaced ICE agents in LA. 'The people who are out there doing the violence ... they have a hoodie on, they have a face mask on ... these are people who do this all the time,' said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell, as reported by Los Angeles Magazine. 'Many come in from other places just to hurt people and cause havoc. ... The violence I have seen is disgusting." But California has also become an experiment in how far you can press the immigration accelerator and still maintain a cohesive society. Opinion: Waymo cars get torched by LA protesters, burning Google – an immigration ally Biden let millions of immigrants in. That produced a reaction. The Los Angeles protests were as much a production of the Biden White House as they were the reactionary Trump administration. Democrats used the Biden years to stoke the largest mass migration of immigrants in this country's history, The New York Times reported in December. An average 2.4 million people annually poured across the border from 2021 to 2023. 'Even after taking into account today's larger U.S. population, the recent surge is the most rapid since at least 1850,' The Times reported. By 2023, the share of the U.S. population born in another country had soared to a new high ‒ 15.2%, The Times reported. In California that number is much larger – 27%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. As for Los Angeles County, a third of its residents are now foreign born. It is not a political statement to say that mass migration is disruptive. Virtually everywhere you see it today, in the United States, Western Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, it roils the masses. There is a reaction, and one that is often consequential. Trump is the least of California's problems The Los Angeles ICE raids were the reaction to the Biden immigration surge. Trump swooped in with federal agents, National Guard and the U.S. military with little or no consultation with his California counterparts. That triggered a counterreaction. But Trump is the least of the worries confronting California and its biggest city. Opinion: Democrats scream democracy is in peril ... while proving that it's absolutely fine Joel Kotkin, a longtime Angelino and national expert on urban form and policy, wrote in his June 11 Spiked column 'Los Angeles has fallen' that the city 'offers a masterclass in urban dysfunction." 'Drive through the streets of the South Side or along Central Avenue," he said, "and the ambience increasingly resembles that of Mexico City or Mumbai: cracked pavements, dilapidated buildings, outdoor swap-meet markets and food stalls serving customers, much as one would see in the developing world." Kotkin continued: 'LA's political establishment is now dominated by people who barely, if at all, support capitalism. While cities such as San Francisco, Houston and even New York shift back towards the political center ground, Los Angeles in 2022 elected Mayor Karen Bass, a lifelong leftist who travelled to Castro's Cuba as part of the Venceremos brigade.' The cost of living is pushing out the working class Kotkin isn't the voice of MAGA. He's a fierce Trump critic who was a lifelong Democrat until he grew disillusioned with both parties and registered independent. The one-party state of California has produced taxation and regulation that has been raising the cost of living and housing and pushing Californians – and in particular, the working class – out. That puts the state on track to lose four of its 52 congressional seats by 2030, according to the Public Policy Institute. Today, there is evidence that even in immigrant-friendly California, where Latinos are a plurality, patience is wearing thin. Asked in February 2024 if immigrants are a benefit or a burden to California, 60% of Californians said immigrants are a benefit. But that was down from 66% in June 2023 and 78% in February 2021, the Public Policy Institute reported. Latinos oppose LA riots and Trump's raids even more We have seen nationally that Latinos are assimilating into American culture and are becoming less of a distinguishable voting bloc for any political party. Opinion: Trump isn't destroying our 'democratic norms.' Progressives are. Perhaps that is why a YouGov survey of American attitudes on the Los Angeles protests shows that a plurality of Latinos, 44%, disapprove while 39% approve. That almost mirrors American attitudes across the board, with 45% disapproval and 36% approval. Good news for the Trump administration? Yes. But the same poll shows Latinos and Americans think even less of his immigration raids: 50% of Americans, including 55% of Latinos, disapprove of how Trump is conducting the ICE raids. If that isn't clear to Trump, let me make it clear. It's time to tune out your fanatic in the West Wing – Stephen Miller – and get a grip. You can't deport 11 million hardworking immigrants. You can deport the much smaller subgroup of bad guys who commit serious crimes. Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic, where this column originally published. Email him at
