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Israel-Iran conflict: Netanyahu shares 'personal cost' of ongoing war on him, says had to cancel son's wedding due to threats

Israel-Iran conflict: Netanyahu shares 'personal cost' of ongoing war on him, says had to cancel son's wedding due to threats

Time of India7 hours ago

Amid escalating Middle East tensions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed the personal impact of the conflict, stating his son's wedding was postponed twice due to missile threats. Israel initiated attacks on Iran, aiming to prevent nuclear weapon development, while Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes.
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As tensions soar in Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while sharing the 'personal cost' of ongoing war with Iran said that he had to cancel his son's wedding twice due to missile threats.'Each of us bears a personal cost, and my family has not been exempt,' reported The Guardian quoting Netanyahu. 'This is the second time that my son Avner has cancelled a wedding due to missile threats. It is a personal cost for his fiancee as well, and I must say that my dear wife is a hero, and she bears a personal cost.'Avner Netanyahu's wedding was first scheduled for November but was postponed for security reasons. Then it was due to take place on Monday, despite the threat of opposition protests.Israel began attacking Iran last Friday, saying it aimed to prevent its longtime enemy from developing nuclear weapons. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel. It says its nuclear programme is peaceful.Israeli air attacks have killed 639 people in Iran, said the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Those killed include the military's top echelon and nuclear scientists. Israel has said at least two dozen Israeli civilians have died in Iranian missile attacks. Reuters could not independently verify the death toll from either side.Israel has targeted nuclear sites and missile capabilities, but also has sought to shatter the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Western and regional officials."Are we targeting the downfall of the regime? That may be a result, but it's up to the Iranian people to rise for their freedom," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.Iran has said it is targeting military and defense-related sites in Israel, but it has also hit a hospital and other civilian sites.Israel accused Iran on Thursday of deliberately targeting civilians through the use of cluster munitions, which disperse small bombs over a wide area. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Israel-Iran conflict: Day after Israeli attack, nuclear watchdog confirms damages to key under-construction reactor near Tehran
Israel-Iran conflict: Day after Israeli attack, nuclear watchdog confirms damages to key under-construction reactor near Tehran

Indian Express

time22 minutes ago

  • Indian Express

Israel-Iran conflict: Day after Israeli attack, nuclear watchdog confirms damages to key under-construction reactor near Tehran

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IEAE) has confirmed that Israel's strikes on Friday resulted in damages to key buildings at the partially constructed Khondab (formerly known as Arak) Heavy Water Production Plant including its distillation unit. The nuclear watchdog's statement comes a day after the global body said no damages were 'initially visible'. 'While damage to the nearby Heavy Water Production Plant was initially not visible, it is now assessed that key buildings at the facility were damaged, including the distillation unit,' the IEAE's latest statement on 'Updates on developments in Iran' said. No damage has been observed at Iran's other nuclear sites so far, it added. No radiological consequence was expected, IEAE's Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. This has been attributed to the reactor not being operational and not containing any nuclear material. 'There is a lot of nuclear material in Iran in different places, which means that the potential for a radiological accident with the dispersion in the atmosphere of radioactive materials and particles does exist,' he added, stressing on the possible nuclear safety risks. IAEA, in its statement, also sought to receive timely and regular technical information about the nuclear facilities and their respective sites in the country. 'This information is needed to promptly inform the international community and ensure an effective response and assistance to any emergency situation in Iran,' Director General Grossi said. He added that the agency was also in constant contact with other countries in the region amid the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. The Khondab reactor was hit on Thursday (June 19) as the both Israel and Iran continued to trade strikes on the seventh day of the conflict. The Israeli strikea also damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water. Heavy-water reactors can be used to produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make an atom bomb. So far, Israel has announced that its attacks have hit prominent Iranian nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan, Arak and Tehran itself. With AP inputs

What Is Operation Sindhu? Why Was It Launched? Top Queries Demystified Amid Israel-Iran War
What Is Operation Sindhu? Why Was It Launched? Top Queries Demystified Amid Israel-Iran War

News18

time29 minutes ago

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What Is Operation Sindhu? Why Was It Launched? Top Queries Demystified Amid Israel-Iran War

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Israel's missile shield is failing, and shows Trump's Golden Dome unlikely to protect US from Russian and Chinese hypersonic nuke threats
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Time of India

time30 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Israel's missile shield is failing, and shows Trump's Golden Dome unlikely to protect US from Russian and Chinese hypersonic nuke threats

Israel much-vaunted multi-layered defensive system to protect from aerial attacks including missiles, drones, rockets and artillery shells has blunted the enemy attack on several occasions, starting 2011 when it was first deployed. Taking a cue from Israel's success, US President Donald Trump in May 2025 announced the Golden Dome missile umbrella for America, an ambitious space-based defensive system. Israel claims threats from terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, and countries like Iran, Syria, Türkiye, Jordan and Egypt. None of them posses any technological/ military edge over or even parity with Israel. Unlike Israel, which has nuclear weapons, the others have no nukes in their arsenal. Israel's Iron Dome is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells at a range of 4 to 70 kilometres, while David's Sling, and Arrow 2 and 3 along with the US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries can take out threats at a longer range, even in space. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Yet, after one week of missile and drone barrage by Iran following the June 13, 2025, strike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Jerusalem's missile shield seemed to be overwhelmed and bleeding, in terms of their response time as well the cost. From a claimed success rate of almost "80 to 90 percent" in the first couple of days of Iranian attack, the Israeli defense is now able to only intercept only 65% of the incoming missiles. NBC News quoted a "senior intelligence official in Israel" as stating that on June 19 only 65 per cent of Iranian missiles launched in the last 24 hours were intercepted. Live Events You Might Also Like: Sejjil, Iran's highly maneuverable new missile a major threat to Israel; know all about it The Iranians, too, seemed to have changed their strategy. Starting with ballistic missiles and drones, Iran is now launching highly maneuvrable hypersonic projectiles to hits targets in Israel. As revealed by the Israeli defense officer above, from just 10 percent of Iranian missiles finding their targets, the percentage has gone up to almost 35. Israel also claims that Iranians are now firing a lot less missiles than they did in the first couple of days. From a reported 150 on the first day on June 13, the number of Iranian missiles flying towards Israel has come down to about three dozen. But many of attacks in the last couple of days have seen Iran firing hypersonic missiles like Fattah-1 and Sejjil, which have tested Israel's defense to the extreme and also punched holes through it. Stopping one missile costs several interceptors, sometimes going up to even double digits. Yet, as the Israelis are increasingly finding out, there is no guarantee that the incoming missile will be blown up in the skies by its interceptors. According to Israeli financial daily The Marker, Jerusalem is spending nearly 1 billion shekels ($285 million) each nigh in defending the country from Iran's barrage. The cost an Arrow interceptor is $3 million. Moreover, there is a limited number of interceptors left with a Wall Street Journal report on June 18 claiming for Israel has just enough for the next 10 to 12 more days if the Iranian armed forces continue with their current rate of firing missiles. You Might Also Like: Hypersonic missiles are stirring fears in the Iran-Israel conflict. Here's why Lessons for Trump's proposed Golden Dome US faces formidable adversaries like Russia and China, and to a lesser extent North Korea and Iran. Russia, China and North Korea have nukes as well as the means to deliver them at targets thousands of miles away. While the Americans claims to have better technology and a massive military, which can hit a target anywhere on the globe, its rivals are no pushover. Compared to Israel, the US have a near-equal and in some areas a technologically advanced enemy. Russia is the world largest nuclear power with a huge array of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The country has in the last few years rapidly developed and deployed highly maneuvrable hypersonic missiles. It's almost a similar case with China which is going ahead with rapid military expansion and the use of cutting-edge technologies. North Korea, too, has tested missiles which can reach the western coast of the US. You Might Also Like: Blind radar, blistering speed: How Israeli jets crippled Iran's air defence in 48 hours, something Russia couldn't do in 3 years To counter such threats, Trump in May 2025 announced the Golden Dome defence system. Estimated to cost around $175 billion, Trump stated that the shield would be operational by 2029, just before his term as the 47th President of the United States comes to an end. Mirroring Israel's system that has been active since 2011 but is essentially able to intercept short and medium range rockets and missiles, the US shield will face ICBMs and hypersonic missiles. 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