IAEA chief says report on Iran's nuclear program ‘not new'
CNN's Anderson Cooper speaks with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi about the watchdog agency's report findings cited in part by Israeli authorities for its attacks on Iran.
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Washington Post
11 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Things to know about Iran's supreme leader as he faces his greatest test
CAIRO — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who crushed internal threats repeatedly during more than three decades in power, now faces his greatest challenge yet. His archenemy, Israel, has secured free rein over Iran's skies and is decimating the country's military leadership and nuclear program with its punishing air campaign . It is also threatening his life: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'cannot continue to exist.'
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
United, American suspend some flights from U.S. to Middle East
Some airlines have continued to suspend flights between the United States and the Middle East amid the conflict between Israel and Iran. United Airlines said it will pause its daily flights between New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and Dubai "due to conflict in the region." The airline did not say when flights between the two destinations might resume. United only flies to Dubai through Newark Airport. American Airlines said it would temporarily suspend flights between Philadelphia International Airport and Doha, Qatar. The suspension will last through June 22, an American Airlines spokesperson told CBS News. The last flight from Philadelphia to Doha before the suspension took off early Thursday morning, the airline said. Delta Air Lines said last week that it had suspended flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Tel Aviv, Israel. The suspension is currently set to last until Aug. 31, the airline said. Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel's major airport, is currently closed. U.S. airlines do not fly to Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, Iran's largest airport. International airlines, including Emirates, Etihad Airways and Lufthansa, have canceled some routes in the region, according to the air travel news site AviationA2Z. Other flight activity has been suspended in the days since Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion" against Iran. Israel has been bombing nuclear and military targets in Iran since late last week, claiming intelligence shows that Iran is close to developing nuclear weapons. Iran has responded with a barrage of retaliatory missile strikes. Following Israel's launch of Operation Rising Lion, airspace was closed over Israel, Jordan, Iran and Iraq, and Israel's Ministry of Transportation said airspace would remain closed until further notice. President Trump has demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender." Mr Trump is weighing whether to strike Iran and formally join Israel's air campaign, a senior intelligence source and a Defense Department official told CBS News on Wednesday. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the president will make a decision on whether to order a strike within the next two weeks. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem told U.S. citizens in Israel on Thursday that the State Department was making plans to "assist with private U.S. citizens' departure from Israel." Some have been evacuated aboard cruise ships. The State Department recently placed a Level 4 travel advisory on Israel, telling Americans not to travel there due to "armed conflict, terrorism and civil unrest." Iran has been under a "Do Not Travel" advisory — the highest level — "due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest of U.S. citizens and wrongful detention," the State Department said. SpaceX Starship upper stage blows up Hurricane Erick approaches Mexico with destructive winds, major storm surge Biden to speak at Juneteenth event in Texas
Associated Press
19 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Things to know about Iran's supreme leader as he faces his greatest test
CAIRO (AP) — Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who crushed internal threats repeatedly during more than three decades in power, now faces his greatest challenge yet. His archenemy, Israel, has secured free rein over Iran's skies and is decimating the country's military leadership and nuclear program with its punishing air campaign. It is also threatening his life: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'cannot continue to exist.' The 86-year-old leader faces a choice. He could escalate Iran's retaliation against Israel and risk even heavier damage from Israeli bombardment. Or he could seek a diplomatic solution that keeps the U.S. out of the conflict, and risk having to give up the nuclear program he has put at the center of Iranian policy for years. In a video address Wednesday he sounded defiant, vowing 'the Iranian nation is not one to surrender' and warning that if the U.S. steps in, it will bring 'irreparable damage to them.' Here's what to know about Khamenei: He transformed the Islamic Republic When he rose to power in 1989, Khamenei had to overcome deep doubts about his authority as he succeeded the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A low-level cleric at the time, Khamenei didn't have his predecessor's religious credentials. With his thick glasses and plodding style, he didn't have his fiery charisma either. But Khamenei has ruled three times longer than the late Khomeini and has shaped Iran's Islamic Republic perhaps even more dramatically. He entrenched the system of rule by the 'mullahs,' or Shiite Muslim clerics. That secured his place in the eyes of hardliners as the unquestionable authority — below only that of God. At the same time, Khamenei built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the dominant force in Iran's military and internal politics. The Guard boasts Iran's most elite military and oversees its ballistic missile program. Its international arm, the Quds Force, pieced together the 'Axis of Resistance,' the collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave Iran considerable power across the region. Khamenei also gave the Guard a free hand to build a network of businesses allowing it to dominate Iran's economy. In return, the Guard became his loyal shock force. He fended off domestic challenges The first major threat to Khamenei's grip was the reform movement that swept into a parliament majority and the presidency soon after he became supreme leader. The movement advocated for giving greater power to elected officials – something Khamenei's hardline supporters feared would lead to dismantling the Islamic Republic system. Khamenei stymied the reformists by rallying the clerical establishment. Unelected bodies run by the mullahs succeeded in shutting down major reforms and barring reform candidates from running in elections. The Revolutionary Guard and Iran's other security agencies crushed waves of protests that followed the failure of the reform movement. Huge nationwide protests erupted in 2009 over allegations of vote-rigging. Under the weight of sanctions, economic protests broke out in 2017 and 2019. More nationwide protests broke out in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini after police detained her for not wearing her mandatory headscarf properly. Hundreds were killed in crackdowns on the protests, and hundreds more arrested amid reports of detainees tortured to death or raped in prison. Still, the successive protests showed the strains in Iran's theocratic system and lay bare widespread resentment of clerical rule, corruption and economic troubles. Trying to defuse anger, authorities often eased enforcement of some of the Islamic Republic's social restrictions. He built Iran into a regional power When Khamenei took power, Iran was just emerging from its long war with Iraq that left the country battered and isolated. Over the next three decades, Khamenei turned Iran around into as assertive power wielding influence across the Middle East. One major boost was the U.S.'s 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, which eventually brought Iranian-allied Shiite politicians and militias to power in Iraq. Iraq provided a linchpin in Iran's Axis of Resistance, grouping Bashar Assad's Syria, Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. By 2015, the alliance was at its height, putting Iran on Israel's doorstep. The past two years brought a dramatic reversal Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel brought a massive Israeli retaliation on the Gaza Strip. It also brought a turnaround in Israeli policy. After years of trying to fend off and tamp down Iran's allies, Israel made crushing them it's goal. Hamas has been crippled, though not eliminated, even at the cost of the decimation of Gaza. Israel has similarly sidelined Hezbollah — at least for the moment — with weeks of bombardment in Lebanon last year, along with a dramatic attack with booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies that stunned the group. An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Syria's Bashar Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus. Iran's Axis of Resistance is at its lowest ebb ever.
