Latest news with #NuclearWeapons
SBS Australia
33 minutes ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Thousands from Tehran have fled their home. Those who've stayed say they feel 'constant anxiety'
As Iran and Israel continue to trade strikes, human rights organisations have warned of the humanitarian toll of the conflict on both sides. Credit: Middle East Images / ABACA / PA/ Alamy / SBS Persian Columns of "black smoke" rising from different corners of the city, "loud explosive sounds", the constant noise of "gunfire", and empty streets — this is how some in Iran's capital of Tehran are describing their city, a week into the country's conflict with Israel. "I'm in constant anxiety," one citizen told SBS News, hours before the latest internet blackout in Iran. "When I want to sleep in the evening, I think to myself, should I tell my wife, 'I love you'? Should I tell her 'I had a good life with you'? What if this is the last moment?" Another person from Tehran said: "If I say I'm not scared, I'd be lying. We were all scared, we're all anxious. The future is uncertain for all of us." The conflict between Israel and Iran erupted on Friday, 13 June, after Israel launched an aerial assault that it said was aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Nuclear facilities, military sites and residential buildings were hit, while Iranian media said military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians were killed. Iran retaliated with missile and drone strikes on Israel, and the two countries have continued to trade deadly attacks since. As of Friday, at least 25 people have been killed in Iranian strikes, according to Israel. Iran said on Sunday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, but authorities have not issued an updated toll since. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a Washington-based Iranian human rights group, has said at least 639 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Iran. Human rights groups are urging Israeli and Iranian authorities to protect civilians. "What we are seeing in both of these countries is a pattern of indiscriminate and unlawful attacks," Kyinzom Dhongdue, advocacy manager at Amnesty International Australia, told SBS News. "These are not just morally unconscionable, these are a direct breach of human rights law." Iran's capital has been one of the main targets of Israel's attacks in the past seven days. Eyewitnesses from Tehran told SBS News that many had left their homes in recent days. "Many people have left the city to save their lives. The city is almost empty. Most shops are closed. Right now, life in Tehran is not in a good state," one person said. Another person from Tehran said "the usual sound of the city has disappeared". Living in a state of uncertainty, Tehranis say they are concerned for their city, which is completely different from just a week ago. "I'm seeing my city just from the window," a person from Tehran said. "On one hand, I want to go and see up close what's happening," they said. "I want to see it with my own eyes. "But I can't, because I'm scared." Evacuating Tehran has come at a cost for some of its people. Iranian Australian Ramak Bamzar worries for her father in Iran. The Tehran resident was diagnosed with colon cancer a few weeks ago and was receiving urgent treatment at a hospital in the capital. Bamzar said her father was forced to evacuate Tehran amid strikes, as an area near the hospital was bombed. This has meant he has had to stop chemotherapy. "They shot the spot near the hospital, not exactly the hospital, but the shock was really massive," she told SBS News. "He was on the bed in the hospital to start the chemo[therapy] and the nurses, they fainted." Bamzar said her father is now living in limbo. 'We don't know when he can start doing treatment, and it could be very dangerous for him if he doesn't do it as soon as possible. "It's really serious — having cancer and war, it's just like which one is more important?" Amir Ali Savadkoohi, an ICU doctor in Tehran, told SBS News there is dwindling medical support in the city. "Many people have left Tehran, and we're facing a shortage of nurses and doctors," he said. "We've mostly tried to merge departments to make the most of the limited medical staff we have." While Bamzar has not been able to contact her father in the last two days, as many Iranians have lost access to the internet, the distance between father and daughter is being felt more than ever before. "If I was there, maybe I could do something. Here, you are just desperate. You feel like you have no power to do anything to help," she said. While some have decided to flee Tehran, others have decided to stay. Iranian Australian Fariman Kashani's 72-year-old mother is one of them. "She's very strong. She decided to stay at home. She said, 'If they're gonna bomb me, I choose to stay and die in my house,'" he said. Separated by thousands of kilometres, Kashani says he feels "helpless". "I can feel how damaging war can be," he said. "I can feel it with my whole body and my heart."
Russia Today
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Pentagon & US national intelligence chiefs sidelined from Iran‑Israel discussions
President Donald Trump has excluded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard from high-level discussions on the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, NBC News and The Washington Post have reported, citing senior administration officials. Gabbard's sidelining, according to NBC, reportedly stems from her public and internal pushback against the official US and Israeli narrative that Tehran is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon. Meanwhile, Hegseth has also been edged out of operational discussions, with The Washington Post reporting that two four-star generals overseeing the deployment of additional US military assets in the Middle East have taken the lead. Trump is now said to be relying on a smaller, more experienced 'Tier One' advisory group – comprising Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs Vice Chair General Dan Caine – which is now reportedly shaping US policy on Iran, rather than the traditional civilian defense and intelligence leadership. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell has denied the reports, insisting that Hegseth is 'speaking with the President multiple times a day each day and has been with the President in the Situation Room this week.' Gabbard also told reporters that she and the president were 'on the same page.' Israel launched a large-scale bombing campaign against Iran last week, claiming Tehran was close to producing a nuclear weapon. Trump will decide whether to join the Israeli campaign 'within the next two weeks,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday. However, US intelligence still assesses that Iran, while it has stockpiled enriched uranium, has not taken concrete steps toward developing nuclear weapons, according to Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. This view has remained unchanged since March, when Gabbard told Congress that the US intelligence community 'does not believe Iran is building a nuclear weapon.' Trump contradicted this assessment on Tuesday, stating that Iran was 'weeks away' from obtaining a bomb and dismissing Gabbard's remarks by saying, 'I don't care what she said.' A former Democratic congresswoman and Iraq War veteran, Gabbard has long been critical of the US intelligence community she now oversees, and she was known for supporting NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Her release of a video warning about the horrors of nuclear war following a visit to Hiroshima reportedly annoyed Trump's advisers. Her absence from a key June 8 meeting at Camp David on Iran policy has fueled speculation about her diminished influence, with multiple sources telling NBC that she has not participated in recent strategic discussions.
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Trump to decide on US action in Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks
US President Donald Trump will decide whether or not the US gets directly involved in the Iran-Israel conflict within the next two weeks, the White House has said. In a White House press briefing, Press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a message directly from Trump:"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks."Earlier, Iran's deputy foreign minister told the BBC it would cause "hell" in the region if the US got involved, adding: "This is not America's war." The news comes 24 hours after Trump said he had not made up his mind on joining the conflict. Asked what the message was for "everyday Trump supporters" who have concerns about US involvement, Leavitt said to "trust in President Trump".She added that the president's "top priority" is ensuring that Iran does not successfully construct a nuclear press secretary has so far repeatedly declined to discuss "hypotheticals", including on whether Iranian officials could come to the White House, or whether Trump would seek approval from Congress over any US and his administration have sought to maintain an air of strategic ambiguity - not revealing much publicly about their thinking or potential courses of action."I may do it," he told reporters on Wednesday. "I may not do it."The administration has maintained it believes that Iran has "never been closer" to successfully building a nuclear weapon. Trump has dismissed intelligence assessments - including some given by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in Congress earlier this year - that Iran was not planning to do mounted about Trump's intentions on Wednesday after Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected his demand for BBC's US partner CBS reported that Trump had approved plans to attack Iran, but had not made a final decision on whether to go ahead. The US president was holding off in case Iran agreed to abandon its nuclear programme, an intelligence source said. On Thursday Trump responded on Truth Social, saying the Wall Street Journal, where the reports first appeared, had "no idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran". He did not address whether plans had been president is reportedly considering strikes on the Iranian nuclear site Fordo, a subterranean uranium enrichment facility. Iran insists Fordo is used for civilian purposes site's location, hidden away in a mountainside, puts it out of reach of Israel's weaponry. Only the US is considered to have a bomb that might be large enough to destroy Fordo. Diplomatic efforts are under way as the conflict continues, with European foreign ministers set to meet their Iranian counterpart in Switzerland on Friday. Leavitt said that correspondence between American negotiators and the Iranians was earlier reported that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi had spoken on the phone several times since Israel began its strikes on Iran last week, in a bid to find a diplomatic end to the deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told the BBC he was hoping for diplomacy as a "first option", but that while bombardment continues "we cannot start any negotiation".He said US involvement would be "hell for the whole region", that would turn the conflict into a "quagmire", continue aggression, and delay an end to the "brutal atrocities".This is "not America's war" and if Trump does get involved, he will always be remembered as "a president who entered a war he doesn't belong in", Khatibzadeh added. Trump's two-week deadline came after a hospital in southern Israel was hit during an Iranian missile attack on Thursday state media reported that the strike targeted a military site next to the hospital, and not the facility itself. Israel's Ministry of Health said 71 people were wounded during the attack on the Soroka Medical Centre. Israel said at least 24 people had been killed in the country since the start of the conflict. Iranian state media last updated its death toll on Sunday 15 June, when it said 224 people had been Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) - a Washington-based human rights organisation that has long tracked Iran - has said 639 people have been killed in Iran since Friday last military continued its strikes on Iran's nuclear infrastructure on Thursday, saying it had struck an "inactive nuclear reactor" in Arak in overnight raids which also saw the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz targeted again.
NHK
a day ago
- Politics
- NHK
Trump says he hasn't made final decision on responding to Iran situation
US President Donald Trump has said he still hasn't made a final decision on how the US should respond to the conflict between Israel and Iran. In response to questions from reporters in the White House on Wednesday, Trump said he has ideas on what to do but hasn't made a final decision. He said, "I like to make the final decision one second before it's done, because things change, especially with war. It can go from one extreme to the other." Trump went on to say, "I'm not looking to fight. But if it's a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do," in reference to Iran's nuclear program. On Wednesday, Trump convened a meeting in the War Room, also known as Situation Room, in the White House to discuss the Iran situation. The day before, he held a meeting, also in the White House, with his National Security Council. The Wall Street Journal says Trump told senior aides late on Tuesday that he had approved plans to attack Iran. But it added that he was still holding off on giving the final order to see if the country would abandon its nuclear-development program.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP senators back up Trump on Israel-Iran conflict as MAGA base splits on issue
Senate Republicans largely lined up behind President Donald Trump's handling of the conflict between Iran and Israel and said they trusted Trump's judgment on whether the United States ought to involve itself. Trump said again Wednesday that he has not decided whether the U.S. should get more involved in the He signaled to reporters that he would decide at the last moment, stating he'd make the decision 'one second before.' The issue of getting more involved in the conflict has divided Trump's MAGA base, with some pointing to his campaign promise to keep America out of foreign wars. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a defense hawk who said he spoke to Trump last night, endorsed the use of force if diplomatic efforts fail. "Either you want them to have a nuclear weapon, or you don't," Graham said. "And if you don't, if diplomacy fails, you use force." MORE: Israel and Iran are waging an existential battle. What does it mean for the US?: ANALYSIS Most Republicans said that they agreed with Trump that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. "I think this is something on which the entire world can agree: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, or the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead, period," Sen. John Kennedy said. "American foreign policy is always a balance between ... between values and interests. The value here is obvious to everyone. Iran cannot have a bomb. It's just unthinkable, and I support the president unconditionally on that," Kennedy said. Sen. Mike Rounds said there is evidence that Iran was getting closer to building a nuclear weapon. "If Israel has a plan which is appropriate to take care of the problem, then we don't need to be there, but we should never take or eliminate options that are available to the president in exercising his authority as the commander-in-chief," Rounds said. Sen. Kevin Cramer said he would support Trump's decision if he decided to enter the conflict, but would also support a decision to instead "assist Israel in getting the job done." "Iran's made that really crystal clear. They pledged to wipe out the United States of America. I prefer not to let them get here," Cramer said. "I prefer preemptive prevention of war rather than having to end one after it gets to our soil, right?" MORE: Israel-Iran live updates Cramer said Trump has been handling the crisis "brilliantly"and applauded Trump's suggestion that he may or may not get involved. "I think that's pretty honest, right? I may or I may not. I think that that the element of of surprise, if you will, is maintained by an answer that doesn't tell you what he's going to do," he said. "It'd be crazy for the president to give a warning, if you will, of what he may do." Both Republicans and Democrats said they would like Congress to have a role in determining whether the U.S. gets involved in the conflict, but Republicans were much less forceful. "I would love to see Congress have a role, but we certainly don't have time in the midst of what we all see going on for Congress to sit and cogitate for six or eight months," Kennedy said. Democrats, on the other hand, said Trump should get Congress' approval before taking any military action. MORE: Trump on his 'unconditional surrender' demand to Iran: 'I've had it' "At some point, the president must come to Congress if there is to be active, kinetic military involvement that constitutes war. That's the Constitution, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. "And I believe that the president has to face accountability at some point, for the use of military force in combat, in a war. And the question is, when that point is." Other Democrats said the U.S. should be trying to de-escalate the conflict rather than inflame it. "We don't need to escalate in Iran. That doesn't make anyone in the Middle East safer, and it certainly doesn't make the United States any safer right now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said. "The role of the United States should be to help de-escalate, to push for negotiations, not to try to set more things afire."
