Israel's blitz on Iran is fraught with uncertainty

JUST OVER a month ago, Donald Trump was in Saudi Arabia denouncing 'interventionists' who tried to reshape the Middle East. The president decided not to stop in Israel on his way back home, a sign of his strained relationship with the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who was also facing a series of political crises at home. Instead Mr Trump was eager to negotiate with Iran, which he hoped would become a 'really successful' country. He shared a video of a top adviser to Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, proposing a deal over its nuclear-weapons programme.

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South Wales Guardian

11 minutes ago

• South Wales Guardian

Israel-Iran war stretches into a second week without diplomatic breakthrough

European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met for four hours on Friday in Geneva, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,' he told reporters. No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear programme and arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israel's top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready 'for a prolonged campaign'. But Mr Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Mr Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the Iranian Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran, and that he was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom.

South Wales Argus

23 minutes ago

• South Wales Argus

Israel-Iran war stretches into a second week without diplomatic breakthrough

European ministers and Iran's top diplomat met for four hours on Friday in Geneva, as President Donald Trump continued to weigh US military involvement and worries rose over potential strikes on nuclear reactors. European officials expressed hope for future negotiations, and Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said he was open to further dialogue while emphasising that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,' he told reporters. Benjamin Netanyahu visits the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by missiles fired from Iran (Jack Guez/Pool Photo via AP) No date was set for the next round of talks. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of Iran's nuclear programme and arsenal of ballistic missiles. Israel's top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready 'for a prolonged campaign'. But Mr Netanyahu's goal could be out of reach without US help. Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility is considered to be out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Mr Trump said he would put off deciding whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran for up to two weeks. The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Israel's defence minister said on Saturday it killed a commander in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard who financed and armed Hamas in preparation for the October 7 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the 20-month long war in Gaza. Israel said Saeed Izadi was commander of the Palestine Corps for the Iranian Quds Force, an elite arm of the Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran, and that he was killed in an apartment in the city of Qom.

The National

30 minutes ago

• The National

BBC axes Gaza doctors documentary over 'impartiality'

Gaza: Doctors Under Attack explored the destruction of the health service in Gaza under Israel's brutal bombardment, and was reportedly ready to be broadcast in February. We told how the documentary was shelved last month following the controversy around How to Survive a Warzone, which featured the son of a Hamas official. READ MORE: UK Government 'set to proscribe Palestine Action after RAF protest' The production firm behind Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, Basement Films, said at the time that the BBC had postponed airing their film until after a review into How to Survive a Warzone is complete. However, despite the fact that this review remains ongoing, the BBC has now officially scrapped plans to show the documentary after concluding that it "risked creating a perception of partiality" over the corporation's coverage of Israel and Gaza. In a statement published on Friday, the BBC said: 'Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published. "For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms.' It added: 'Yesterday it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. "We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. "Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world's most trusted broadcaster." READ MORE: Presiding Officer to step down at Holyrood election The BBC said it was transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films, and that the documentary had "not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes", as some reports had suggested. The corporation also "thank[ed" those who contributed to the documentary and said "we are sorry we could not tell their stories". The BBC has been increasingly accused of failing to report on Israel's assault on Gaza in an impartial manner. A report published this week by the Centre for Media Monitoring found that the corporation's coverage showed a "pattern of bias, double standards and silencing of Palestinian voices". It found that the word massacre(d) was used 18 times more frequently in the context of Israeli deaths than Palestinian deaths in BBC articles. Emotive terms such as 'atrocities', 'slaughter', 'barbaric', 'deadly', 'brutal' were used four times more often when reporting on Israeli victims, while 'murder(ed)' was used 220 times in the Israeli context and just once for Palestinians. The report analysed a total of 3873 articles and 32,092 TV and radio broadcasts between October 7, 2023 to October 7, 2024.