Latest news with #BinyaminNetanyahu
Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
The book that may have inspired Binyamin Netanyahu's war on Iran
A picture tells a thousand words, and wartime photographs of leaders are carefully designed with that in mind. So the shot taken by the official photographer of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in action — talking on his landline, papers scattering his desk — was revealing for a particular detail. At the front of his desk there was the image of a very specific book. The cover, half in sight, revealed it to be Target Tehran, a description of years of covert operations against Iran's nuclear programme by Mossad and other Israeli forces. It is tempting to think that this was Netanyahu's playbook, being shown off for the cameras. That was partly true, partly not, Yonah Jeremy Bob, one of the book's two authors, told The Times, as he broke off from his day job covering the conflict for The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli English-language newspaper.
Economist
a day ago
- Politics
- Economist
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.
Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Israel-Iran latest: Trump says ‘nobody knows what I'm going to do'
António Guterres, the UN's secretary-general, has warned against any 'additional military interventions' in the Middle East, where Israel and Iran have continued to exchange fire for a sixth day. 'Any additional military interventions could have enormous consequences, not only for those involved, but for the whole region and for international peace and security at large,' Guterres said in a statement. The Iranian Communications Ministry has announced restrictions on internet access due to Israel's 'misuse of [the] communication network for military purposes', according to the local news outlet Mehr News. Iranian state TV has reported an evacuation warning for residents of Israel's Haifa. The port city was attacked by Iranian missiles over the weekend, and three people were killed. Israel's assault on Iran has united much of the nation after a period of bitter divisions over the war in Gaza. Most Israelis support using force to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, polling shows, despite retaliatory Iranian missile strikes that have killed 24 civilians and put normal life on hold. On Iran, 83 per cent of Jewish Israelis support his decision to attack, according to a poll by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem conducted on Sunday and Monday. 'In contrast to the ongoing war in Gaza, which is perceived by many of us as a cynical move designed to serve political purposes, the Iranian story is far above any dispute,' wrote the columnist Ben Caspit, a fierce critic of Binyamin Netanyahu, in the newspaper Ma'ariv. In further remarks outside the White House, Trump said Binyamin Netanyahu was a 'good man' who has been 'doing a good job'. 'He's a wartime president. Going through this nonsense, ridiculous,' said Trump, who said he spoke to the Israeli prime minister on Tuesday. Trump added that he told Netanyahu to 'keep going'. The US is working to evacuate its citizens from Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, the US ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday. The US embassy in Jerusalem was working on the evacuation arrangements, he said, urging Americans in the country to sign up for updates through the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. Gaza's civil defence agency now says that 33 people were killed by Israeli fire in the Palestinian territory today, including 11 who were seeking aid. Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil service' told AFP that 11 people were killed and more than 100 wounded 'after the occupation forces opened fire and launched several shells … at thousands of citizens' who had gathered to queue for food in central Gaza. The military told AFP that its forces operating in central Gaza identified 'a group of suspicious individuals' approaching 'in a manner that posed a potential threat to the forces'. It said its troops then fired 'warning shots', but that it was 'unaware of injuries'. Earlier, Hamas-run health authorities said 30 people had been killed. President Herzog of Israel has told Times Radio that President Trump has 'a brilliant strategic view' of the conflict between Israel and Iran. 'He's been negotiating with the Iranian leaders. He had a negotiator on a meeting with the Iranian leadership and then they discovered they've been goofed,' said Herzog. 'So I think that I trust Donald Trump in knowing what he wants to achieve.' He added: 'In the end, I believe what he wants to achieve is peace and quiet and well-being for Israel, for the Middle East and for the world at large.' By Larisa Brown Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, is believed to be at the Cobra meeting to discuss the unfolding situation in the Middle East. He will be speaking at the Royal United Services Institute on Wednesday evening but his speech will not be made public. Downing Street has gagged British military officers from speaking 'on the record' at the land warfare conference in Westminster. Those close to the conference said that they had not seen this amount of 'control' from No 10 in more than two decades of the conference running. Iran's mission to the United Nations has issued a strongly worded response to President Trump, saying Tehran would not 'grovel'. 'No Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House,' the mission wrote on X. 'The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to 'take out' Iran's supreme leader.' The post continued: 'Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance. Iran shall respond to any threat with a counter-threat, and to any action with reciprocal measures.' The US military is 'prepared to execute' any decision President Trump might make on matters of war and peace, the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said, even as he declined to confirm preparations of strike options on Iran. 'If and when those decisions are made, the Department [of Defence] is prepared to execute them,' Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee. President Trump said he may or may not strike Iran as he addressed reporters for the first time on Wednesday. Trump spoke at an event to mark two new flagpoles outside the White House, which he said would be 'beautiful' in a post on Tuesday evening. Asked about the possibility of a US strike on Iran, Trump said: 'You don't know that I'm going to even do it. You know, I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do. I can tell you this: Iran has got a lot of trouble, and they want to negotiate.' He also said it was 'very sad' to watch the conflict and suggested it could have been avoided. 'Why didn't you negotiate with me two weeks ago?' he asked of Iran. 'You could have done fine. You would have had a country. It's very sad to watch this. I mean, I've never, I've never seen anything like it'. Trump also said Iranian officials had expressed a desire to meet with him. 'They've suggested that they come to the White House. That's, you know, courageous, but you know it's like not easy for them to do,' Trump said. Asked if he had given Iran an ultimatum, he said: 'You could say so. Maybe you could call it the ultimate ultimatum.' Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister, has responded to President Erdogan of Turkey, who earlier accused Israel of 'state terrorism'. Saar said the Turkish leader had no right to speak, pointing to Ankara's presence in Syria and in the divided island of Cyprus, where it controls the northern part. 'It is particularly ironic that someone who does not hide his imperialist ambitions, who invaded northern Syria and illegally holds northern Cyprus, claims to speak in the name of morality and international law,' Saar wrote on X. 'A little self-awareness could be helpful.' Trump declined to answer reporters' questions on whether the US was planning to strike Iran or its nuclear facilities, and said the Iranians had reached out but he felt 'it's very late to be talking'. 'There's a big difference between now and a week ago,' Trump told reporters outside the White House. 'Nobody knows what I'm going to do.' Trump said that Iran had proposed to come for talks at the White House. He did not provide details. He described Iran as totally defenseless, with no air defence whatsoever. President Trump has said that Iran has 'got a lot of trouble' and repeated he wanted Tehran's 'unconditional surrender'. Speaking on the lawns of the White House, where two flagpoles are being put up, Trump said Iran wants 'to make a deal' but said he did not think it was going to happen. 'Unconditional surrender, that means I've had it, that means no more,' he said. 'That means we go blow all the nuclear stuff.' He added: 'The next week is going to be big, very big, maybe less than a week.' By Larisa Brown American and British military sources say that if the US wants to use Diego Garcia as a staging post for an attack on Iran then President Trump would need permission from Sir Keir Starmer. If the UK agrees, there is a risk that Iran would view Britain as a party to the conflict. There will be fears that British assets or people in the region could be attacked as a result. RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, where the UK has Typhoon fighter jets, could become a target. British military personnel based in Iraq could be exposed to attack — so too could shipping sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. There are also concerns for British diplomats in Tehran: the UK, unlike America, has an embassy there. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry, has warned of nuclear disaster as the crisis escalates in the Middle East. 'Nuclear facilities are being struck,' she said. 'Where is the (concern from the) entire world community? Where are all the environmentalists? I don't know if they think they are far away and that this (radiation) wave won't reach them. Well, let them read what happened at Fukushima. ' A major nuclear accident took place at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan in 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami damaged its backup power sources. The reactors could not be cooled, resulting in a release of radioactive contaminants. By Steven Swinford, Political Editor, and Larisa Brown, Defence Editor Britain is weighing up whether to provide military support to the US in the event that President Trump decides to bomb Iran. Sir Keir Starmer will chair a Cobra meeting with senior officials and ministers this afternoon to discuss a series of potential scenarios. Ministers are expected to discuss what the UK should do in the event that Trump asks for the country's support in conducting military operations. British military sources believe the US may want to use Diego Garcia — the joint UK-US base in the Indian Ocean — as a staging post for any US operation on Iran. B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, the only aircraft certified to carry the bunker-buster bomb capable of destroying Iran's Fordow nuclear site, are often stationed at the base in the Indian Ocean. By Katy Balls in Washington Tucker Carlson, the influential Maga figure, has clashed with Republican senator Ted Cruz in an interview that highlights the growing conservative rift over Iran. Carlson has warned against US involvement but Cruz has said that regime change would be in America's interest. The full episode is yet to air but two clips have been published. First, Cruz struggles to answer Carlson's questions on Iran's population, leading to an accusation from Carlson that he is ill-equipped to speak on the question. 'You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?' asks Carlson, before adding: 'How could you not know that?' Cruz responds that he 'doesn't sit around memorising population tables'. Second, Cruz appears to suggest that the US is already involved, saying: 'We're carrying out military strikes today'. After Carlson points out the official line is that the strikes were carried out by Israel, Cruz tries to backtrack, suggesting that the US is merely 'supporting' Israel. The clips are being shared online by members of the Maga movement as evidence that President Trump should think twice before getting further involved. Israel has many supporters in the Republican Party — but according to one of Trump's most ardent loyalists, the president would be wrong to embroil the US in another conflict in the Middle East. 'For decades, we've watched our men and women in uniform go all over the world and fight in wars that most Americans don't think that our country should have been in,' Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Times from her Capitol Hill office last week, before the Israeli attack on Iran. 'Americans are very sick and tired of that.' Read in full: Marjorie Taylor Greene: Why Trump should not go to war with Iran A fresh series of strong blasts in east Tehran have been reported. Multiple explosions were heard and images show rising smoke. Two large billboards calling on President Trump 'to finish the job' have appeared on they Ayalon Highway in central Tel Aviv. By Larisa Brown Experts say there is no evidence for Iran's claims that it has fired hypersonic missiles at Israel. The Revolutionary Guards said today that they had launched hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles at Tel Aviv, but Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, raised doubts. He said: 'The Iranians have a track record of claiming that they are using new and novel missiles which they call hypersonics. I don't think there is any evidence they have.' Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept. Savill said that although the missiles were able to travel at high speeds and could alter their trajectories, they did not make significant manoeuvres while powered — so were still ballistic missiles. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is to hold a cabinet meeting at 10pm (8pm UK time), The Times of Israel is reporting. The government is advising British citizens in Israel not to attempt to leave, even though it is helping the families of embassy staff to get out. The prime minister's official spokesman said that Britons should follow the advice of local authorities, which is to 'stay close to shelter'. He also said, however, that they could take taxis or buses to the Jordanian border, despite the potential risk. 'Routes via land currently remain open,' the spokesman said, pointing out that some buses are not full. The spokesman did not comment on the contradictory nature of the advice. Keir Starmer will hold a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee with senior ministers and officials this afternoon to discuss the 'fast moving' situation in Israel. The prime minister will return from the G7 summit to chair the meeting amid suggestions that the US could become involved in the conflict with Iran. Britain has so far refrained from offering Israel military support in an attempt to de-escalate the conflict. Starmer said yesterday that he was confident that Trump would not get involved in the conflict. His official spokesman declined to repeat the suggestion today. Khamenei has also taken to Twitter again to issue further warnings, accusing President Trump of using 'absurd rhetoric'. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Khamenei also claimed that the Israeli attacks began while Iran was in talks with Washington. 'The Zionist regime's malicious attack on our country took place at a time when Iranian officials were indirectly engaged in negotiations with the US side.' Iranian state TV has shown Ayatollah Khamenei, reading his message personally. Earlier, the statement was read by a television presenter. They were Khamenei's first remarks since Israel began airstrikes on Iran. President Putin and President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE have spoken by phone and agreed that there needed to be an immediate end to the conflict between Israel and Iran, the Kremlin said. Putin reiterated Russia's readiness to serve as a mediator to help find a diplomatic solution to Israeli and Western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, the Kremlin added. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has warned that direct American military assistance to Israel could 'radically destabilise' the situation in the Middle East. Ryabkov warned the US against direct military assistance to Israel or even considering 'speculative options', according to Russia's Interfax news agency. 'This would be a step that would radically destabilise the entire situation,' he said. Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the world was 'millimetres away from catastrophe' because of the daily Israeli strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Overnight the United States moved air force refuelling tankers and C-17 aircraft to European bases including Prestwick, as well as Aviano in Italy, according to Aurora Intel, a group that reviews open-source information in real time. Washington is shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel from Iranian attacks as President Trump has warned Tehran to step back from the conflict. On Tuesday the US relocated a dozen F-16s from the Italian base to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, reported the Associated Press. Israeli troops have raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. The IDF told the AFP news agency that Israeli forces had entered Balata camp at about 4am, near the northern city of Nablus, for 'a routine counter-terrorism operation'. It added that the troops had been deployed to the nearby Askar camp prior to the operation in Balata. Imad Zaki, head of the popular services committee of Balata camp, said: 'They closed all entrances to the camp, seized several homes after evicting their residents, and ordered the homeowners not to return for 72 hours. These homes were turned into military outposts and interrogation centres.' Throughout the war in Gaza, violence in the West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory, has soared. Since October 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 939 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis have been killed . A YouGov poll found that 49 per cent of Britons were against 'helping to defend Israel by assisting in the shooting down of missiles and drones from Iran'. Twenty-five per cent of people surveyed supported the idea. Germany's foreign minister has appealed to Iran's leaders to make credible assurances it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and to show it is willing to find a negotiated solution as fears mount of further military escalation. 'We are still ready to negotiate a solution. However, Iran must act urgently … it is never too late to come to the negotiating table if one comes with sincere intentions,' Johann Wadephul Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed strong support for Israel and its strikes against Iran, saying: 'This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.' Khamenei's statement was read by a television presenter and not made in person. These were the supreme leader's first remarks since Friday, when Israel launched its strikes on Iran. President Trump had said: 'We know exactly where the so-called 'supreme leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — we are not going to take him out (kill!) at least not for now.' In further remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei responded directly to President Trump's call for Iran's 'unconditional surrender' warning that a US strike would have 'serious irreparable consequences'. Khamenei said: 'Wise people who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation in the language of threats, because Iranians are not those who surrender.' Israel claims to have struck more than 40 missile infrastructure components directed towards it, and, in a tweet, posted video of a strike on an Iranian missile launcher. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. President Erdogan of Turkey has said that Iran has the 'legitimate' right to defend itself in the face of Israel's ongoing bombing campaign. 'It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel's thuggery and state terrorism,' he said, a day after referring to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, as 'the biggest threat to the security of the region'. He also claimed Israel's attacks began before nuclear talks had finished. 'These attacks were organised while the Iranian nuclear negotiations were taking place,' Erdogan said. 'Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons and does not recognise any international rules.. did not wait for the negotiations to end, but carried out a terrorist act without waiting for the result.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has warned that Israel has made 'a huge mistake and will be punished' in a televised message to the Iranian people. IRIB, an Iranian state broadcaster, has urged the public to delete WhatsApp, claiming it was sharing users' 'last known locations and communications' with Israel. WhatsApp dismissed the claims and said that all messages sent on the platform were 'end-to-end encrypted' and the only people with access were the sender and recipient. 'We're concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most,' a spokesman said, adding that the company, owned by Meta, did not track users' precise location or messaging logs. On Friday, Tehran placed temporary restrictions on the internet for the duration of the has since banned civil servants and their security teams from using any connected devices and appealed to the public to 'minimise their use of equipment connected to the internet and to take appropriate precautions' online. President Trump will have one mission on his mind if he decides to join the war against Iran — destroying Fordow, its most heavily fortified nuclear site. Only the Americans have the weapon capable of annihilating it. The 13.6-tonne class GBU-57/B, otherwise known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb (Mop), has a thick steel outer casing that can penetrate fortifications up to 60m below ground — and Fordow is buried beneath a mountain. • Read in full: How US military could destroy Fordow Israeli gunfire and airstrikes have killed at least 30 people across the Gaza Strip today, according to local health authorities. Some Palestinians say their plight is being forgotten as attention shifts to the air war between Israel and Iran. Medics said separate airstrikes on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza and the Zeitoun area of the north had killed at least 14 people. Another five died in an airstrike on an encampment in Khan Yunis. They also said that eleven others were killed when Israeli forces fired at crowds of displaced Palestinians awaiting aid UN aid lorries on the Salahuddin road in central Gaza. The Israel Defence Forces said they were investigating the reported deaths. On Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said that 397 Palestinians trying to get food had been killed and more than 3,000 had been wounded since aid deliveries restarted in late May. Israeli strikes have hit two facilities in Iran that made parts for centrifuges, says the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog. It identified the facilities as the TESA Karaj workshop and the Tehran Research Centre. 'At the Tehran site, one building was hit where advanced centrifuge rotors were manufactured and tested. At Karaj, two buildings were destroyed where different centrifuge components were manufactured,' the IAEA said. 'Both sites were previously under IAEA monitoring and verification as part of the JCPOA.' Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. The JCPOA was the international agreement signed in 2015 to limit Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The US, under Trump in his first term as president, pulled out of the 'horrible' deal, claiming 'it didn't bring peace, and it never will'. A televised message from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, will be aired shortly, state media reports. Khamenei's last appearance was on Friday shortly after Israel attacked Iran. • Profile: Who is Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ruthless supreme leader? Britain is temporarily withdrawing the families of staff at its embassy and consulate in Israel. 'Family members of staff at the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the British consulate in Jerusalem have been temporarily withdrawn as a precautionary measure,' the Foreign Office said on its travel advice page for Israel. 'The embassy and consulate continues with essential work including services to British nationals.' Thousands of people are fleeing Tehran and other major Iranian cities. Heavy traffic was reported on roads heading from the capital towards northern provinces. Limits have been placed on fuel purchases. Mohsen Paknejad, the oil minister, told state TV that restrictions were to prevent shortages but there would be no problems with supply. Ali Bahreini, Iran's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, went on to accuse Israel of a 'war against humanity'. He said: 'The deliberate targeting of Iran's nuclear facilities not only constitutes a grave violation of international law and UN charter but also risks exposition of all people in our neighbourhood to possible hazardous leak. This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity'. He also criticised the failure of states to condemn Israel's attacks. 'We are hearing almost nothing from those self-proclaimed champions of human rights.' Iran says it has conveyed to Washington that it will respond firmly to the United States if it becomes directly involved in Israel's military campaign. Ali Bahreini, Tehran's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said that he saw America as 'complicit in what Israel is doing'. So far, the US has taken only indirect action such as helping to shoot down missiles fired toward Israel. It is also deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes. Bahreini said Iran would also respond strongly to Israeli strikes. 'We will not show any reluctance in defending our people, security and land — we will respond seriously and strongly, without restraint.' The FTSE 100 defied the conflict in the Middle East to start the session in positive territory, as defence-facing stocks sustained gains and anxiety eased over international travel. London's blue chip index was up 0.25 per cent, or 21 points, to 8,855 as trading got underway. Aerospace engineers Melrose (up 3.6 per cent), Babcock (up 1.2 per cent) and Rolls-Royce (up 0.99 per cent) led the way, with British Airways owner IAG reversing several days of decline to add 1 per cent. Almost 800 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Iran since Israel launched military strikes against the country last week. 'Currently … 791 Chinese nationals have been relocated from Iran to safe areas,' Guo Jiakun, the foreign ministry spokesman, said. 'More than 1,000 other people are in the process of relocating and withdrawing.' Some Chinese citizens had also left Israel, he said. 'China expresses its thanks to the relevant countries for providing full support and assistance,' he said. By Liz Cookman Russia believes Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities are pushing the world toward a 'nuclear catastrophe'. Moscow's foreign ministry called the strikes 'illegal from the point of view of international law' and said they would 'create unacceptable threats to international security and push the world towards a nuclear catastrophe, the consequences of which will be felt everywhere, including in Israel itself'. Maria Zakharova, the ministry's spokeswoman, said that Iran 'had, has and will have the right' to 'peaceful' nuclear facilities. She told Sputnik radio: 'This all leads not just to escalation, but to a direct threat to the region and the world due to the fact that strikes are being carried out on peaceful atomic or nuclear facilities. The nuclear threat has a practical, not a hypothetical dimension.' Russia has repeatedly made veiled threats concerning the use of its own nuclear weapons in relation to the war in Ukraine. By Gabrielle Weiniger in Tel Aviv British Jews stranded in Tel Aviv after five days of Iranian missile bombardment are wondering how to return to the UK. Karen Tuhrim said: 'Having driven myself mad, I'm going to book the Sharm el-Sheikh flight because we've got very good friends here from London and … they're on that flight on the first of July. Even though things might change, I have to have something concrete booked. I can't stay in a hotel indefinitely.' The Barzilay family arrived in Israel to surprise their father on his 60th birthday and were supposed to leave today. Simon Barzilay said: 'It looks as though we'll be staying a lot longer. Initially, having to get up two or three times during the night to go to the bomb shelter was a scary experience, but we quickly got used to it.' The British authorities have advised those stranded to follow guidelines on the Foreign Office website. At least 2,800 stranded Israelis are expected to be repatriated today. The first two flights bringing Israeli citizens home from Larnaca, Cyprus, have landed at Ben Gurion airport. Between 100,000 and 150,000 Israelis have been unable to return since the air war led to the closure of Israeli Kedmi, chief executive of Israel Airports Authority, said: 'Our aim is to bring back as many people as possible, but it is more important that they are safe. We are carrying out assessments on an hourly basis.' Matthew Pennycook has told Times Radio that Britain is 'sending military assets to the region to support regional security in general terms — contingency support throughout the Middle East should the escalation of the conflict continue'. Pennycook, the housing minister, said he would not comment on future operational decisions or specific decisions. 'We obviously already have RAF jets in the region as part of our operation against Daesh. So it's right that they are protected. So we have already sent military assets to the region,' he said. Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz has alluded to the collapse of the Iranian government in a post on X. 'A tornado passes over Tehran,' he wrote. 'Symbols of government are being bombed and destroyed — from the Broadcasting Authority and soon other target — and crowds of residents are fleeing. This is how dictatorships collapse.' Katz, speaking to senior military officials yestereday, said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could suffer the same end as Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Iran has arrested five suspected agents of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, on charges of 'tarnishing' the country's image, Iranian news agencies have reported. 'These mercenaries sought to sow fear among the public and tarnish the image of the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their calculated activities online,' the Tasnim and ISNA news agencies said, quoting a statement from the Revolutionary Guards. The arrests were made in western Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has made his first public comments since President Trump made a veiled threat on his life, saying that he was an 'easy target'. Khamenei wrote two messages on X. In Farsi, one said: 'In the name of the noble Haidar, the battle begins,' referring to Ali, considered by Shia Muslims to be the rightful successor to the prophet Mohammed. It was accompanied with an image of fireballs falling on what appeared to be an ancient city or castle. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. In a second post, in English, he wrote: 'We must give a strong response to the terrorist Zionist regime. We will show the Zionists no mercy.' Israel has launched a strike on Imam Hussein University in Tehran, which is affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Following the attack, smoke was seen rising from the area. Israeli authorities said that at least 24 people had been killed and hundreds injured in Iranian missile attacks. Iran said that at least 224 people had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in Israeli attacks. More than 700 foreigners living in Iran have crossed into neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia since Israel launched its campaign on Friday, according to Tehran government figures. Among those fleeing were citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United States. Israel is running low on defensive Arrow interceptors, which are designed to destroy ballistic missiles. The shortage introduces concerns about Israel's ability to counter long-range ballistic missiles from Iran in a drawn-out conflict. A US official told The Wall Street Journal that Washington had been aware of the capacity problems for months. Since the onset of the recent conflict, the Pentagon has sent additional missile-defence assets to the region, raising concerns about its supplies. 'Neither the US nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,' Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, said. 'The Israelis and their friends need to move with all deliberate haste to do whatever needs to be done because we cannot afford to sit and play catch.' The first aircraft bringing home Israelis stranded abroad landed at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday. Flights had been cancelled and Israeli airspace closed because of the conflict. 'Just a short while ago, the first flight of Operation Safe Return landed at Ben Gurion Airport,' the airport's authority said in a statement. It added that the flight had been operated by the national carrier El Al and brought Israelis home from Larnaca in Cyprus. Israel's new bombing campaign against Iran began with strikes on nuclear facilities and military commanders on Friday and has continued with daily attacks on missile launchers, air-defence systems and even a state television channel. Iran has responded by firing salvoes of ballistic missiles at Israel, including some that have penetrated the Iron Dome missile-defence system, sending the population hurrying for shelter at the sound of air-raid alerts. • How the conflict unfolded The Israeli army said it had struck Iran's centrifuge-production and weapons-manufacturing sites in overnight strikes. 'More than 50 air force fighter jets, guided by precise intelligence from the intelligence directorate, completed a series of strikes on military targets in the Tehran area in recent hours,' the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said. The army said a centrifuge-production site in Tehran used by Iran to expand the scope of its uranium enrichment was attacked. 'As part of the broad effort to disrupt Iran's nuclear weapons development programme, a centrifuge-production facility in Tehran was targeted.' In what it described as a 'wave of attacks', Israel struck several arms factories it claims were producing raw materials and components for assembling ground-to-ground missiles. 'Additionally, sites producing systems and components for ground-to-air missiles designed to target aircraft were attacked. These targets were struck as part of the IDF's effort to disrupt the Iranian regime's nuclear-weapons programme and its missile-production industry,' the IDF wrote on X. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Israeli strikes have killed at least 585 people across Iran and wounded 1,326 others, according to a human rights group. The Human Rights Activists, based in Washington, said it had identified 239 of the dead as civilians and 126 as security personnel. Iran has not published regular death tolls during the conflict. Its last update, issued on Monday, put the death toll at 224 people killed and 1,277 wounded — however, the regime has minimised casualties in the past. Human Rights Activists provided detailed casualty figures during the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear the headscarf. The group cross-checks local reports in Iran against a network of sources it has developed in the country. The US embassy in Jerusalem said it will close until Friday. It directed government employees to shelter in place as the air war between Israel and Iran continued. In a statement posted to its website, the embassy said on Tuesday evening that the closure was 'a result of the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran'. It added: 'Given the security situation and in compliance with Israel Home Front Command guidance, the US embassy in Jerusalem will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday, June 18) through Friday (June 20).' Iran claims to have fired hypersonic missiles at the Israeli city in the latest round of overnight strikes. In retaliation for attacks on Tehran overnight Wednesday, Iran told residents of Tel Aviv to prepare for an attack, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming its hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles were 'repeatedly shaking the shelters' in the city. 'The 11th wave of the proud Operation Honest Promise 3 using Fattah-1 missiles' was carried out, the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state television early Wednesday. Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre mid-flight, making them harder to track and intercept. Iran also sent a 'swarm of drones' towards Israel, according to the army. Israeli warplanes targeted Tehran in a predawn raid on Wednesday as the air war entered its sixth day. The Israeli military issued a warning on social media for civilians in an area of the Iranian capital known as District 18, near the city's international airport, to evacuate. Iranian state media reported explosions ricocheting in the Piroozi, Sabalan and Sayyad areas of Tehran. Overnight, at least 60 Israeli air force jets carried out 'an extensive wave of strikes in the heart of Iran', targeting ballistic missile launchers that were aimed at Israel, according to the country's military. President Trump demanded an unconditional surrender from Iran and warned its supreme leader that he was an 'easy target' who would not be killed 'at least for now'. Increasing pressure on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while weighing up bombing raids on Iran's nuclear facilities, Trump said America's patience with the regime was running out. He aligned the US with Israel, boasting that 'we' have 'total control of the skies over Iran'. Trump posted: 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there — We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don't want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin.' Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister, has responded to President Erdogan of Turkey, who earlier accused Israel of 'state terrorism'. Saar said the Turkish leader had no right to speak, pointing to Ankara's presence in Syria and in the divided island of Cyprus, where it controls the northern part. 'It is particularly ironic that someone who does not hide his imperialist ambitions, who invaded northern Syria and illegally holds northern Cyprus, claims to speak in the name of morality and international law,' Saar wrote on X. 'A little self-awareness could be helpful.' Donald Trump has said Iran has 'got a lot of trouble' and repeated he wanted Tehran's 'unconditional surrender'. Speaking on the lawns of the White House, where two flagpoles are being put up, Trump said Iran wants 'to make a deal' but said he did not think it was going to happen. 'Unconditional surrender. That means I've had it, that means no more,' he said. 'That means we go blow all the nuclear stuff.' He added: 'The next week is going to be big, very big, maybe less than a week.' Israeli troops have raided two Palestinian refugee camps in the occupied West Bank. The IDF told the AFP news agency that at 'around 4am Israeli forces entered Balata camp', near the northern city of Nablus, for 'a routine counterterrorism operation'. It added that the troops had been deployed to the nearby Askar camp prior to the operation in Zaki, head of the services committee of Balata camp, said: 'They closed all entrances to the camp, seized several homes after evicting their residents, and ordered the homeowners not to return for 72 hours. These homes were turned into military outposts and interrogation centres.' Germany's foreign minister has appealed to Iran's leaders to make credible assurances it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and to show it is willing to find a negotiated solution as fears mount of further military escalation. 'We are still ready to negotiate a solution. However, Iran must act urgently … it is never too late to come to the negotiating table if one comes with sincere intentions,' Johann Wadephul Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed strong support for Israel and its strikes against Iran, saying: 'This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.' Germany's foreign minister has appealed to Iran's leaders to make credible assurances it is not seeking a nuclear weapon and to show it is willing to find a negotiated solution as fears mount of further military escalation. 'We are still ready to negotiate a solution. However, Iran must act urgently … it is never too late to come to the negotiating table if one comes with sincere intentions,' Johann Wadephul Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed strong support for Israel and its strikes against Iran, saying: 'This is the dirty work Israel is doing for all of us.'
Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Who'll rule Iran if the ayatollahs are ousted?
Back in 2014 the US security expert Matthew Kroenig set out the difference between an Israeli and an American bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities. A US strike would, he said, impose at least a five-year delay in Iran's nuclear progress while an 'Israeli strike would only buy us two to three years'. His conclusion: let the US handle the problem. The difference between the two predicted outcomes is still politically crucial. Putting Iran's nuclear ambitions on ice for five years could coincide with a shift in thinking in the country's defence establishment, a recalculation of the value of the goal of nuclear status. A shorter delay, bought by the flattening that Israel is inflicting on Iran's enrichment centres, might merely radicalise Tehran's nuclear lobby. The calculus has changed a little since Kroenig first set out his stall in his book A Time to Attack. Iran's proxy armies have grown and then withered, the nuclear diplomacy led by Barack Obama has run its course and Iran, creaking under the weight of western sanctions, does not look much like a regional leader any more. But the principles remain the same: a US attack changes the whole Middle East order while a solo Israeli assault keeps Iran, with Russian and Chinese backing, still in contention, a wounded big beast. This is where Binyamin Netanyahu's repeated, broad hints about accelerating regime change come into play. In the absence of a US military campaign against Tehran, Israel's best bet is the installation of a credible, even partially legitimate government in Iran that decides nuclear weapons are not essential for its status in the world. More important for Iranians is the country's reintegration into the world, sensible relations with neighbours and open-minded non-corrupt government. • Israel–Iran latest: Trump demands 'unconditional surrender' from Tehran Netanyahu describes this not as a war aim but rather as a desirable by-product of a short war. Donald Trump meanwhile knows how resistant America is to a revival of neocon, impose-democracy-by-force arguments but is open to the idea that Iran's rulers can change their mind. Hence his sudden return from the G7 summit this week, his warning to residents of Tehran to flee the city and the repositioning of forces that suggest he might after all order a bunker-busting raid on Iran's mountain enrichment plant. The point: to present Iran with an existential choice between a humiliating end to the nuclear dream or a negotiated face-saving exit while the ruling establishment is still intact enough to govern. Both options on offer from the US actually point to regime change even while loudly denying it. Despite all their intelligence savviness, the CIA and Mossad cannot predict how the next few weeks will play out. But one useful template is provided by Syria, once a close ally of Tehran which bankrolled the country in return for allowing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to establish bases and arms depots there in order to build weapons supply routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Assads ruled Syria from the 1970s by building corrupt networks and using the secret police to muzzle the nation. But this year, in a helter-skelter fortnight, their regime was toppled by an ex-jihadist, backed and groomed (new suits, a shorter beard) by Turkish intelligence, and Bashar al-Assad disappeared under cover of darkness to a luxury apartment in Moscow. Could the ayatollahs be toppled with such surgical precision? They too have been in power since the 1970s; they too have kept control by playing one group off against another and have, through a series of missteps, near-bankrupted their country and alienated their young people. Ahmed al-Sharaa's rise in Syria was dizzying. In November his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took over Aleppo and Hama and cut off Damascus from Assad's Alawite strongholds on the coast. By December he was sitting in Assad's palace. Last month President Sharaa had a meeting with Trump ('he's a young, attractive tough guy'). He has now started a normalisation process with Israel, made peace with the Kurds, expelled foreign militias, kept Islamic State at bay, got some western sanctions lifted and gained access to global credit markets. Not bad for someone who in his youth had been interned by the US in Iraq, in Camp Bucca where hardened jihadists from Islamic State and al-Qaeda ignored the American guards and ran their own sharia courts. In Camp Bucca, it used to be said, you entered as a nationalist and you left as a jihadist. Now Syria's new leader has become a nationalist again, albeit a religiously observant one. Does Trump think that a similar transition can be made in Iran? It would require an intelligence-spotting operation capable of finding a strong communicator who could unite the diverse pockets of resistance: the workers in the factories, the farmers who feel cheated, the students who chafe at the intellectual closing of Iran. Traditionally in this situation a figure can emerge from prison like Nelson Mandela, or from daily persecution and bureaucratic exclusion like Lech Walesa. Iran needs not only a rallying figure but one who has the flexibility to work with non-dogmatic elements of the ancien régime; a leader could even, some suggest, emerge from modernisers within the hated IRGC, providing that they retain a sense of honour, fairness and a sensitivity to what ordinary Iranians really need and want. One thing is clear: clerical rule, backed by an iron-fisted police state machinery, has failed Iran. The old guard protects only its own interests and hidden fortunes. Every day of this exhausting gallop of a war has demonstrated they cannot defend, inspire or mobilise Iranians. The country is on the brink of implosion.
Mint
4 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Will Iran's hated regime implode?
Iran's regime is often described as decaying, corrupt, bankrupt and despised by its citizens. Is it about to collapse? Israel's shock-and-awe campaign continues relentlessly: on June 16th it said it had 'full air supremacy over Tehran". Cars have streamed out of the city in recent days (pictured below). Its shops are shuttered. On social media some Iranians have celebrated the assasination of their generals with emojis of barbequed meat. The humiliation illuminates the failure of the regime's military strategy and, some hope, may trigger an uprising or a coup d'état, in turn creating chaos or national renewal. Yet Iran's default is to defy its aggressors, not to capitulate. And an extended war with large civilian casualties could act to rally public opinion in an intensely nationalistic country, allowing the regime to survive and redouble its efforts to race for a bomb. Iran's internal weakness has encouraged attacks before. Some 45 years ago, amid its post-revolutionary disarray, Saddam Hussein, Iraq's president, started the Iran-Iraq war. It lasted eight years and killed hundreds of thousands. Far from weakening the Iranian regime it strengthened its leadership and the grip of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime's political militia. Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, wants Iranians to rise up. 'The time has come for the Iranian people to unite around its flag," he has proclaimed. His operation, 'Rising Lion", has evoked the pre-revolutionary flag of the Shah and the Persian symbol of kingship in its centre. Iran International, a satellite channel in London, beamed his appeal into people's homes. More on the war between Israel and Iran: The chasm between Iran's rulers and ruled is as great now as it was when Iranians toppled the Shah in 1979. Israel's dazzling assault has left Iran's leaders reeling and exposed their incompetence. Despite warnings, they were not prepared—'a paper cat", mocks a stockbroker. In Israel missile attacks are met with sirens and instructions for people to seek shelter. Iranians get no such warnings. Israel's success in assassinating the regime's commanders in their bedrooms could only have happened with the help of insiders at the highest level, revealing the extent of disloyalty. Cronyism and paranoia course through the regime's core. Some liken the stench of decay to that of the effete Qajars, who were unseated when Reza Pahlavi, then an army officer, staged a coup, founded a new dynasty and set Iran on a course of modernisation exactly a century ago. The authorities are trying to calm nerves with a business-as-usual approach. Street parades to mark the feast of Eid al-Ghadeer, which began on June 14th, have taken place as usual. Yet there are plenty of signs of dissent. After the initial strikes a few people draped themselves in the Israeli flag, passing around celebratory cakes. Young Iranians have derided the dead generals as 'enemies of the people" for killing some 500 protesters who in 2022 called for freedom from their rulers' religious constraints. Israel's killing on June 13th of Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the air-force chief, prompted cheers online; he never apologised for his role in shooting down a passenger jet full of Iranian students in 2020. Reflecting its desperation, the government has restricted access to social media countrywide. Mr Netanyahu seems to be following the template used to cripple Hizbullah, an Iranian-backed militia in Lebanon, in 2024. After eliminating Iran's military command, he may now turn to its political leadership. The resulting power vacuum, some Israelis hope, could lead to an internal struggle among competing factions of regime insiders, spiralling regional fragmentation or even a popular revolt in Iran's big cities, the scene of periodic large-scale protests, most recently in 2023. The trouble with this prognosis is that after the initial shock of what one observer called Iran's 'Pearl Harbour moment", the regime has recovered some of its poise. Within 18 hours of the first strikes, a new tier of commanders had fired hundreds of missiles at Israel's cities, though the numbers have been decreasing each day. To ordinary people the appeal of an uprising has limits. Several times in the past two decades Iranians have tried, only to be beaten back: the regime might be weak, but its people are weaker. The protest movement lacks a leader or a common agenda. Older generations cling to the mantras of death to enemies and the Shia ideology of martyrdom in the face of external aggression. If Israel's strikes inflict a greater humanitarian toll by, say, cutting off Tehran's water or power in the stifling summer, the mood among younger rebels could turn. A rising civilian death toll may trigger patriotism. 'Iran's independence should not be sacrificed because of hatred of the Islamic Republic," Ali Afshari, a student who led protests against the regime, said after a second day of attacks. If the protesters lack coherence, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader (pictured above), has recently tried to shore up his own ranks. Rivalries between hardliners and reformists had threatened to split his regime, but a year ago he orchestrated the election of Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist physician, as president. Decisions to relax the veil, embrace negotiations with America and seek investment from it brought some reformists back on board. This month one of the most ardent, Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the daughter of an ex-president and political prisoner, endorsed Mr Khamenei's son, Mojtaba, as his successor. She likened him to Saudi Arabia's autocratic moderniser Muhammad bin Salman. Mr Khamanei's recent sermons have been chilling. 'We will show them no mercy," he said of Israel on June 13th, referring to the 'evil, despicable, terrorist Zionist identity". But he also has hinted that whoever or whatever might replace him could make things worse. His successors might abandon his fatwa against nuclear weapons that has prevented Iran from breakout, warn his advisers. A different leader, a military commander or a monarch, might rush to a bomb and wave the nationalist card. After all, it was the Shah who pushed forward Iran's nuclear programme in the 1970s. Mr Khamanei suggests that his exit could spark violent struggles between the regime's competing clusters of clerics, democratic reformists and the armed forces. Separatists might resurface in Kurdish and Azeri provinces, as after the fall of the Shah. A civil war is possible, as in Syria and Iraq, a prospect that terrifies many Iranians. All this means that the mockery of the regime that followed Israel's opening salvo is turning to fear for the country. Iranians share anonymous maps online of Tehran's neighbourhoods slated for evacuation ahead of an Israeli attack. 'It feels like we're the only ones left," says a carer after Israel struck the state broadcasting station close to her home. The authorities have begun rationing petrol. With no clear alternative leadership and ever more fearful, Iranians increasingly wonder if they are better off sticking with what they have. Yet an entrenched regime with nothing to lose could pose an even greater threat to its foes, neighbours and citizens.
