Peaceful protest in front of US consulate
US consulate protest
PRETORIA - The ANC is joining pro-Palestine groups to picket outside the US Consulate.
They are protesting the ongoing Israeli strikes against Iran.
Among the groups are Islamic Centre for Africa and the Holocaust Committee.
The picket comes as US President Donald Trump considers the US involvement in the conflict.
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TimesLIVE
14 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Trump says Iran must make peace or 'we will go after' other targets
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran must now make peace or 'we will go after' other targets in Iran after US strikes that he said 'obliterated' Iranian nuclear sites. 'There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,' Trump said in a nationally televised speech at the White House.
IOL News
an hour ago
- IOL News
US military strikes on Iran: Trump declares success in obliterating nuclear sites
US President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House in Washington, DC on June 21, 2025, following the announcement that the US bombed nuclear sites in Iran. President Donald Trump said June 21, 2025 the US military has carried out a "very successful attack" on three Iranian nuclear sites, including the underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo. "We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. President Donald Trump said US air strikes on Sunday "totally obliterated" Iran's main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel's war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East. In a televised address to the nation from the White House, Trump warned that the United States would go after more targets if Iran did not make peace quickly. The intervention by a US president who had vowed to avoid another "forever war" in the region threatens to dramatically widen the conflict, with Iran having said it would retaliate if Washington got involved. "Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success," said Trump, adding that they targeted the crucial underground nuclear enrichment plant of Fordo along with facilities at Natanz and Isfahan. "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran the bully of the Middle East must now make peace," said Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on the strikes, saying that "with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history." Condemning the US attacks as "lawless and criminal," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country has a right to defend its sovereignty. "The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences," he posted on X. "Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people." Not long after, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and explosions were heard from Jerusalem as Iranian state TV announced a fresh salvo of missiles launched. Tehran said Sunday there were "no signs of contamination" after the US attacks and Saudi regulators said "no radioactive effects were detected" in the Gulf region. Iranian media confirmed that part of the Fordo plant as well as the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites were attacked. Surprise attack Trump had said Thursday that he would decide "within two weeks" whether to join Israel's campaign, in a move that many saw as a window of diplomatic opportunity. But the Republican's decision to strike Iran came far sooner. Flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump said that future attacks would be "far greater" unless Iran reached a diplomatic solution. "Remember, there are many targets left," he said. Trump however made no mention of regime change, despite having warned last week that Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an "easy target." The raid on the Iran nuclear sites was carried out by B-2 stealth bombers that dropped so-called "bunker buster bombs," along with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, US media reported. Trump said earlier on his Truth Social site that a "full payload of BOMBS" was dropped on Fordo and said that "all planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors." Pictures posted by the White House showed Trump in a red "Make America Great Again" cap meeting with top national security officials in the Situation Room, shortly before the strikes were announced. After the address, Trump warned Iran against "any retaliation." Iran and its proxies have previously attacked US military bases in the region, including in Iraq. Iran's Huthi allies in Yemen had on Saturday threatened to resume their attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if Washington joined the war. The US president had stepped up his rhetoric against Iran since Israel first struck Iran on June 13, repeating his insistence that it could never have a nuclear weapon. Israel and Iran have traded wave after wave of devastating strikes since then. MAGA split Trump spoke to Netanyahu after the attacks, while the United States also gave key ally Israel a "heads up" before the strikes, a senior White House official told AFP. Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had warned earlier Saturday of a "more devastating" retaliation should Israel's nine-day bombing campaign continue. Iran denies seeking an atomic bomb, and on Saturday Pezeshkian said its right to pursue a civilian nuclear program "cannot be taken away... by threats or war." Iran's Revolutionary Guard meanwhile announced early Sunday that "suicide drones" had been launched against "strategic targets" across Israel. The US military strikes on Iran also threaten to cause political tensions at home for Trump. The issue has opened a split in Trump's "MAGA" movement, with many key Republican supporters calling on Trump to avoid embroiling the United States in another foreign war. Trump's first 2016 election victory in particular came on the back of his promises to get America out of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats have also assailed him. Leading US Democrat Hakeem Jeffries said Trump risked US "entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East," while others have accused him of bypassing Congress to launch a new war. AFP
Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Trump says Iran's key nuclear sites ‘obliterated' by US airstrikes
Trump warns Iran of more attacks if no peace agreement Iran confirms Fordow site attacked by 'enemy airstrikes' Israel claims coordination with U.S. on Iran strikes Diplomatic efforts to stop hostilities unsuccessful, UN calls strikes dangerous escalation By Phil Stewart and Steve Holland After days of deliberation and long before his self-imposed two-week deadline, Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign against its major rival Iran is a major escalation of the conflict and risks opening a new era of instability in the Middle East. 'The strikes were a spectacular military success,' Trump said in a televised address. 'Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' In a speech that lasted just over three minutes, Trump said Iran's future held 'either peace or tragedy,' and there were many other targets that could be hit by the U.S. military. 'If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill.' The U.S. reached out to Iran diplomatically on Saturday to say the strikes are all the U.S. plans and it does not aim for regime change, CBS News reported. Trump said U.S. forces struck Iran's three principal nuclear sites: Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow. He told Fox News' Sean Hannity show that six bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were fired against other nuclear sites. U.S. B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,' Trump posted on Truth Social. 'Fordow is gone.' Reuters had reported earlier on Saturday the movement of the B-2 bombers, which can be equipped to carry massive bombs that experts say would be needed to strike Fordow, which is buried beneath a mountain south of Tehran. Given its fortification, it will likely be days, if not longer, before the impact of the strikes is known. An Iranian official, cited by Tasnim news agency, confirmed part of the Fordow site was attacked by 'enemy airstrikes.' However, Mohammad Manan Raisi, a lawmaker for Qom, near Fordow, told the semi-official Fars news agency the facility had not been seriously damaged. Iranian media quoted Iran's nuclear body as saying there were no signs of contamination after the attacks, and no danger to residents living nearby. Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran's state broadcaster, said Iran had evacuated the three sites some time ago. 'The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centres and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots,' he told the channel. DIPLOMACY UNSUCCESSFUL Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on his 'bold decision'. 'History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime, the world's most dangerous weapons,' Netanyahu said. The strikes came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched the attacks on Iran saying it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities have so far failed. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Saturday's strikes a 'dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security.' Both sides' attacks on energy infrastructure, including by Israel on Iran's South Pars gas field and the risk of a complete shutdown of the OPEC member's oil production, as well as Iran targeting shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, have fueled fears of a spike in oil prices and impacts on economies worldwide. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was due to hold a news conference at the Pentagon early on Sunday. In recent days, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have argued that Trump must receive permission from the U.S. Congress before committing the U.S. military to any combat against Iran. Republican Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi applauded the operation but cautioned that the U.S. now faced 'very serious choices ahead.' One Republican lawmaker, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, simply said, 'This is not constitutional.' Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it was 'absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.' Many in Trump's MAGA movement oppose U.S. entanglement in foreign military operations. Trump ally Steve Bannon said on his War Room podcast that the president's address was probably not what a lot of MAGA supporters wanted to hear, and he called on Trump to offer a 'deeper explanation' for why U.S. involvement was necessary. Trump-aligned commentator Charlie Kirk posted on X: 'America stands with President Trump.' Israel launched attacks on June 13, saying Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies. At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry. In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed and 1,272 people injured, according to local authorities.
