ARAK SITE EVACUATED AHEAD OF STRIKE, NO RADIATION RISKS.

ARAK SITE EVACUATED AHEAD OF STRIKE, NO RADIATION RISKS.

ISAIAH 41:11
11  Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)

Turban complications-The turban represents the Shi'ite clergy that, ever since its creation in Iran almost four centuries ago, has had an ambivalent attitude towards the exercise of political power. Broadly speaking, turbans come in two contrasting colors. A white turban means that the man who wears it is not a descendant of the Prophet, and thus is of non-Arab origin. In contrast, the wearer of the black turban is marked as a descendant of the Prophet through one of the twelve imams of Twelver Shi'ism.The semiology of turbans is still more complicated. Students of theology are allowed to wear very thin turbans, denoting their position as novices. A hujjat al-Islam, or mid-ranking mullah, can wear a slightly fatter turban. The very fat turbans that require several yards of cloth are reserved for the grand ayatollahs. Rafsanjani’s white turban marked him as someone of non-Arab origin. Khatami and Khamenei both wear black turbans, as did Khomeini, denoting their Arab descent on the paternal side.The experience of the past three decades shows that many of the most senior clerics are not eager to enter the realm of politics. Once in power, however, a man with a thin turban could quickly thicken his headgear and grow a longer beard to bolster the religious aspect of his image. When first elected president, Ayatollah Khamenei was not a particularly senior cleric, but was promoted so that he could succeed Ayatollah Khomeini.

THE CITIZENS OF IRAN (ELAM IN THE BIBLE) MIGRATE TO ALL NATIONS ON EARTH.
JEREMIAH 49:34-39
34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam (IRAN) in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN) the chief of their might.(IRAN SUPLIES ARABS WITH WEAPONS AGAINST ISRAEL)
36 And upon Elam (IRAN)  will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam (IRAN) shall not come.(WORLD MIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(REG BOMBS) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(GROUND TROOPS)
38 And I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN) and will destroy from thence the king (KHEMEINI )and the princes,(IRANIAN GUARDS) saith the LORD.
39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) saith the LORD.

Psalms-Chapter 110:1-6
1 (A Psalm of David.) The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

IAEA: No fear of ‘radiological effects’ after IDF hits Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor-UN nuclear watchdog reports ‘key buildings’ at the unfinished facility were damaged in attack, which Israel said ‘targeted the component intended for plutonium production’By Reuters and ToI Staff 20 June 2025, 12:54 am

The UN nuclear watchdog confirmed Thursday that IDF strikes had hit Iran’s partially built Khondab Heavy Water Research Reactor and damaged the nearby plant that makes heavy water, a component used in nuclear react.“IAEA has information the Khondab (former Arak) heavy water research reactor, under construction, was hit. It was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so no radiological effects,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a post on X.In its first statement on the attack in central Iran, the IAEA said it had no information indicating the nearby plant that produces heavy water had been hit. The agency later issued a statement revising that assessment.“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 IAEA statement said.The strike on the Arak heavy water reactor came a week into Israel’s campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and military leadership.Heavy water reactors use heavy water, also known as deuterium oxide, as a moderator, a material that slows down fast-moving neutrons released during the nuclear fission process that generates heat in the reactor.The Arak facility that was struck overnight Thursday was originally designed in a way that would make it capable of easily producing plutonium, which could be used to produce nuclear arms.Under a 2015 deal with major powers, the heavy water plant was redesigned to reduce the nuclear weaponization risk and its core was removed and filled with concrete. Iran had informed the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency the reactor would start operation in 2026.The IDF, which issued a warning to residents of the area to evacuate ahead of the strike, said the attack on Arak “targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development.”Iran’s leaders, who are sworn to destroy Israel, publicly deny seeking nuclear arms, but have amassed highly enrich uranium that has no civilian use, according to an IAEA report last month.Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.

Analysis-Ayatollah Khamenei may fall, but there’s no telling what could come next-As Israel reportedly mulls assassinating supreme leader and monarchists hope for return, analysts say chaotic attempt at regime change could end with IRGC in power By Stuart Williams Today, 9:26 pm-JUN 19,25

PARIS, France (AFP) — Israel increasingly appears eager to oust the clerical leadership that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, but is taking a gamble given the Iranian opposition is divided and there is no guarantee new rulers would be any less hardline, analysts say.By striking targets other than nuclear or ballistic facilities, such as Iran’s IRIB broadcaster, expectations have grown that Israel has goals beyond degrading Iranian atomic and missile capabilities and eyes on removing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.But while US President Donald Trump has warned “we know” where Khamenei “is hiding,” what would follow his removal after over three-and-a-half decades in power is shrouded in uncertainty and risk.European leaders are haunted by the aftermath of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the NATO-led intervention in Libya in 2011.They resulted in the removal of dictators Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, but also in years of bloody mayhem in both countries.“The biggest mistake today is to seek regime change in Iran through military means because that would lead to chaos,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the end of the G7 summit in Canada.“Does anyone think that what was done in Iraq in 2003… or what was done in Libya the previous decade was a good idea? No!” Macron said.Analysts say ousting Khamenei and his fellow clerical leaders risks creating a vacuum that could be filled by hardline elements in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ideological force or the Iranian military.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is not pursuing regime change, but notes that it could come about as a result of the military campaign, which is also aimed at symbols of the regime’s power.“Israel’s strikes seem more focused on regime change than non-proliferation,” said Nicole Grajewski, fellow at the Carnegie Endowment.“Of course, Israel is targeting ballistic missile and military related facilities but they are also targeting leadership and symbols of the regime like the IRIB,” she told AFP.“If the regime were to fall, the hope would be for a liberal and democratic government. However, there is a strong likelihood that other powerful entities like the IRGC could emerge as the replacement,” she said.‘No organized alternative’Among the highest-profile opposition figures is the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.He has declared that the Islamic Republic is “on the verge of collapse,” accusing Khamenei of “hiding underground” like a “frightened rat.”Pahlavi has long called for the restoration of the warm relationship that existed between his late father and Israel, to reverse the Islamic Republic’s refusal to recognize the existence of Israel.Monarchists would like such a rapprochement to be termed the “Cyrus Accords” after the ancient Persian king credited with freeing the Jews from Babylon.But Pahlavi is far from enjoying universal support inside Iran or among exiles.The nationalism of supporters and his ties with Israel are divisive, especially after he refused to condemn the Israeli air strikes on Iran.Another major organized group is the People’s Mujahedin (MEK), whose leader, Maryam Rajavi, told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “The people of Iran want the overthrow of this regime.”But the MEK is despised by other opposition factions and regarded with suspicion by some Iranians for its support of Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war.“Part of the challenge in thinking about alternatives to the Islamic Republic in case it collapses is that there is no organized, democratic alternative,” said Thomas Juneau, professor at the University of Ottawa.He said that while Reza Pahlavi is the opposition leader “who has by far the most name recognition both in and out of Iran,” his supporters “tend to exaggerate his support inside the country.”“The only alternative — and this is among the worrying scenarios — is a coup d’etat by the Revolutionary Guards or changing from a theocracy to a military dictatorship.”‘Unpredictable scenario’Analysts also warn that a potential — and often overlooked — factor for future instability could be Iran’s complex ethnic makeup.Large Kurdish, Arab, Baluch and Turkic minorities co-exist alongside the Persian population.“There will also be an effort to capitalize on ethnic divisions by hostile countries,” said Grajewski.Analysts at the US-based think tank Soufan Center said that with the survival of the Iranian regime now viewed as a “strategic failure,” the prospect of an “Iraq 2.0” is looming.“The post-regime-change scenario remains unpredictable and could trigger regional destabilization on a scale greater than Iraq, with global ramifications,” they said.'The Iranian nation is not one to surrender'

Beleaguered Khamenei warns of ‘irreparable damage’ to US if it strikes, vows to ‘punish’ Israel-In low-resolution video aired on state TV from undisclosed location, supreme leader vows defiance in face of Trump’s demand for ‘unconditional surrender,’ says Israel made a ‘huge mistake’By Agencies 18 June 2025, 2:38 pm

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that his country will not accept US President Donald Trump’s call for an unconditional surrender.In his first remarks outside of social media posts since Friday, when he delivered a speech broadcast on state media after Israel began bombarding Iran, Khamenei said peace or war could not be imposed on the Islamic Republic.“Wise individuals who know Iran, its people, and its history never speak to this nation with the language of threats, because the Iranian nation is not one to surrender,” he said in the low-resolution video aired on state TV, his voice echoing. “Americans should know that any military involvement by the US will undoubtedly result in irreparable damage to them.”Khamenei also said that Israel made a “huge mistake” in attacking Iran, and “will be punished for that.”Iran followed a similar sequence in releasing Khamenei’s statement before the video was aired, perhaps as a security measure. His location is not known and was impossible to discern from a tight shot that showed only beige curtains, an Iranian flag and a portrait of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei’s immediate predecessor who died in 1989.Israel on Friday launched a campaign of airstrikes in Iran to decimate the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which Jerusalem characterized as an imminent, existential threat. Iran has responded with deadly barrages of ballistic missiles at civilian population centers and military targets in Israel.The US says it has so far only taken indirect actions in the conflict, including helping to shoot down missiles fired toward Israel, but it’s begun to bolster its forces in the region, with Trump reportedly weighing taking a direct role in Israel’s strikes.Trump called Tuesday for Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” and said Washington knows the exact whereabouts of Khamenei but was holding off on assassinating him “for now.”Earlier Wednesday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ali Bahreini called Trump’s remarks “completely unwarranted and very hostile. We cannot ignore them. We are vigilant about what Trump is saying. We will put it in our calculations and assessments.”Speaking about Israeli strikes, he said Iran was “resolute” in responding, and would continue to do so “very, very, very seriously and strongly,” adding: “Nobody should expect Iran to show any kind of restraint.”Speaking to the Human Rights Council, Bahreini said the Israeli attacks represented an act of “war against humanity” and criticized countries for not condemning them.“We are hearing almost nothing from those self-proclaimed champions of human rights,” he said, calling on countries to condemn acts that he said exposed people to the risk of hazardous leaks.“The deliberate targeting of Iran’s nuclear facilities not only constitutes a grave violation of international law and UN Charter but also risks [exposure] of all people in our neighborhood to possible hazardous leak. This is not an act of war against our country, it is war against humanity,” said Bahreini.The UN’s nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has confirmed Israeli strikes on both the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and nuclear facilities in Isfahan, but said there have been no increases in radiation in the surrounding areas — though it warned there was a risk of contamination inside Natanz.Iran, which has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, insists that its nuclear program is peaceful; however, it has been enriching uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and has greatly expanded its ballistic missile capabilities.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Greenpeace warns tanker crash in Strait of Hormuz may cause environmental disaster-Group says one of the tankers was operating below standards; vessels catch fire as Iran mulls closing strait as Israel attacks its nuclear and military sites-By GABE LEVIN 19 June 2025, 6:07 pm

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A collision this week between two oil tankers just east of the world’s most critical oil choke point, the Strait of Hormuz, could bring about a potential environmental disaster, Greenpeace said on Thursday.The two giant tankers, ADALYNN and Front Eagle, crashed Tuesday in the Gulf of Oman and caught fire before the Emirati national guard intervened to evacuate crew members. No injuries were reported, according to Emirati authorities.Satellite data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed heat signatures in the area early Tuesday morning.Greenpeace said it had reviewed satellite imagery that showed a plume of oil stretching up to about 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) from the crash site. The 23-year-old tanker ADALYNN belonged to a so-called Russian “shadow fleet” — known to operate older ships below basic security standards — and may have been carrying around 70,000 tons of crude oil, the group said.“This is just one of many dangerous incidents to take place in the past years,” said Farah Al Hattab of Greenpeace’s Middle East and North Africa division, adding that such oil spills “endanger marine life.”The United Arab Emirates Energy and Infrastructure Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.It was not immediately clear what caused Tuesday’s incident. British maritime security firm Ambrey said it was unrelated to the fighting between Israel and nearby Iran.The Strait of Hormuz, near where the collision took place, is the strategic maritime entryway to the Persian Gulf and sees about a fifth of the world’s oil pass through it, according to the US Energy Information Administration. In 2024, an average of 20 million barrels of oil traveled through it daily.After Israel launched airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear and missile program on June 13, oil prices surged as worry mounted over whether the Islamic Republic might block the waterway.Maritime ship experts say shipowners are increasingly wary of using the waterway, with some ships having tightened security and others canceling routes there. As the Israel-Iran conflict intensified over the weekend, hundreds of ships in the strait saw spotty navigation signals and had to rely more on radar.The Financial Times reported on June 13 that the world’s largest publicly listed oil tanker company, Frontline — which owns the Front Eagle oil tanker involved in Tuesday’s crash — said it would turn down new contracts to sail into the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Hackers, reportedly linked to Israel, claim cyberattack on Iranian crypto exchange-Group known as Gonjeshke Darande says it seized $90 million worth of currency from company it accuses of evading Western sanctions on nuclear program-By AP and Emanuel Fabian-19 June 2025, 8:46 pm

Hackers with alleged links to Israel have drained more than $90 million from Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to blockchain analytics firms.The group that claimed responsibility for the hack leaked on Thursday what it said was the company’s full source code. “ASSETS LEFT IN NOBITEX ARE NOW ENTIRELY OUT IN THE OPEN,” the group wrote on its Telegram account.The stolen funds were transferred to addresses bearing messages that criticized Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic wrote in a blog post. It said the attack likely was not financially motivated, as the wallets the hackers had poured the money into “effectively burned the funds in order to send Nobitex a political message.”The hacker group, Gonjeshke Darande — “Predatory Sparrow” in Persian — accused Nobitex of having helped Iran’s government to evade Western sanctions over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and to transfer money to proxy terror groups, in a post on X claiming the attack.“The Nobitex exchange is at the heart of the regime’s efforts to finance terror worldwide, as well as being the regime’s favorite sanctions violation tool. Nobitex doesn’t even pretend to abide by sanctions. In fact, it publicly instructs users on how to use its infrastructure to bypass sanctions,” Gonjeshke Darande said in a post on X.“Bypassing sanctions doesn’t pay,” Gonjeshke Darande added in a separate post, attaching screenshots purportedly showing seized crypto funds worth tens of millions of dollars.Nobitex appeared to have confirmed the attack. Its app and website were down as it assessed “unauthorized access” to its systems, it said in a post on X.The theft spanned a range of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and more, said head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis Andrew Fierman. The breach is “particularly significant given the comparatively modest size of Iran’s cryptocurrency market,” he added.The hack appears to be motivated by escalating tensions in the Israel-Iran conflict, which broke out last week when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear and military sites, drawing barrages of ballistic missiles from Tehran, largely at Israeli population centers. The group also said it had destroyed data in a cyberattack against Iran’s state-controlled Bank Sepah on Tuesday.Elliptic said that relatives of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were linked to the exchange and that sanctioned Revolutionary Guard operatives had used Nobitex. It shared evidence that the exchange had sent and received funds from cryptocurrency wallets controlled by Iranian allies, including Yemen’s Houthis and Hamas.US senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King last year raised concerns about Iran’s use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.Gonjeshke Darande has previously claimed responsibility for other high-level cyberattacks against Iran, including a 2021 operation that paralyzed gas stations and a 2022 effort against a steel mill that sparked a large fire.In recent years, Iran has seen a series of cyberattacks on its filling stations, railway system, and industries. Surveillance cameras in government buildings, including prisons, have also been hacked in the past.The country disconnected much of its government infrastructure from the internet after the Stuxnet computer virus — widely believed to be a joint US-Israeli creation — disrupted thousands of Iranian centrifuges in the country’s nuclear sites in the late 2000s.Iran, long sanctioned by the West over its nuclear program, faces difficulties in getting up-to-date hardware and software, often relying on Chinese-manufactured electronics or older systems no longer being patched by manufacturers, making them easier for a potential hacker to target. Pirated versions of Windows and other software are common across Iran.

Trump to decide ‘within next two weeks’ whether to join Iran strikes — White House-Timeline to allow for diplomacy appears to clash with expectations in Jerusalem that US president will move to enter campaign against nuclear facilities in coming days By Jacob Magid,Lazar Berman,Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 11:54 pm-JUN 19

US President Donald Trump will decide whether or not to join Israel’s air campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities within the next two weeks as he awaits the outcome of diplomatic efforts between Tehran and Washington, the White House said Thursday.The announcement, read aloud by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, appeared to signal the administration’s latest U-turn over the question of whether to commit American forces believed vital to destroying Iran’s most hardened nuclear sites, after a week that saw him vacillate sharply between support for a peaceful solution and a threat to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.On Wednesday, he said nobody knew what he would do.“Based on the fact that there is a chance for substantial negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future — I will make my decision on whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Leavitt said at a White House press briefing.She confirmed that negotiations were continuing to take place between the US and Iran on the nuclear issue despite Israel’s offensive, after a Reuters report revealed that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff had held a number of phone calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.Leavitt said any deal would have to prohibit enrichment of uranium by Tehran and eliminate Iran’s ability to achieve a nuclear weapon.“The president is always interested in a diplomatic solution … if there’s a chance for diplomacy, the president’s always going to grab it,” she said. “But he’s not afraid to use strength as well, I will add.”Hours before she spoke, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Jerusalem believed Trump may decide within the next couple of days to join in strikes against the Islamic Republic.“The expectation is that they join, but no one is pushing them,” said the official. “They have to make their own decision.”The two-week timeline would seem to put the prospect of American involvement beyond Israel’s war plans, with the Israel Defense Forces saying earlier this week it expects to complete its objectives of destroying Iran’s nuclear and ballistic programs within a week or two.Netanyahu told Israel’s Kan broadcaster that the campaign was proceeding “ahead of schedule.”He added that Israel could hit all nuclear facilities in Iran, including Fordo, without saying whether it would require US assistance.“We will achieve all our objectives and hit all of their nuclear facilities. We have the capability to do that,” he said.Whether Trump “wants to join or not — that’s entirely his decision,” Netanyahu added.Critics say that in the five months since returning to office, Trump has issued a range of deadlines – including to warring Russia and Ukraine and to other countries in trade tariff negotiations – only to suspend those deadlines or allow them to slide.“I think going to war with Iran is a terrible idea, but no one believes this ‘two weeks’ bit,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said on the social media platform X. “He’s used it a million times before to pretend he might be doing something he’s not. It just makes America look weak and silly.”According to a CBS report Thursday, the US president was briefed earlier in the day on the pros and cons of bombing Iran’s subterranean Fordo enrichment facility, which is seen as a key target in dismantling Tehran’s nuclear program.Trump has been weighing a strike on Fordo for several days now, according to reports. The site, buried deep underground in central Iran, is believed to be out of reach of Israeli aerial weaponry.An American strike on the facility would presumably require the use of so-called “bunker-buster” bombs, which weigh 30,000 pounds each and are too heavy for Israel’s fleet of fighter jets.Leavitt said Trump had been briefed on the Israeli operation on Thursday and remained in close communication with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She said Iran was in “a deeply vulnerable position” and would face grave consequences if it did not agree to halt its work on a nuclear weapon.Ahead of a scheduled intelligence briefing in the Situation Room around noon Thursday, CNN reported that Trump huddled with his national security team consisting of Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Witkoff.The Situation Room location suggests the subject matter discussed at the briefing was more sensitive than the US president’s daily intelligence update held in the Oval Office, the outlet reported.The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the American president had approved attack plans on Iran the night prior, but held off on striking the country to give diplomacy a chance.Trump denied the report, saying on Truth Social that the outlet has “No Idea what my thoughts are concerning Iran!”Meanwhile, a key Iranian body warned any US intervention in support of its ally Israel would be met with a “harsh response” from the Islamic Republic.“The criminal American government and its stupid president must know for sure that if they make a mistake and take action against Islamic Iran, they will face a harsh response from the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Guardian Council said in a statement carried by state television.The US has appeared to be gearing up in recent days for an Iranian attack on its forces abroad, as it evacuated several planes from its base in Qatar and moved US Navy ships formerly stationed in Bahrain, CNN reported.Later Thursday, US carriers United Airlines and American Airlines announced they were canceling flights to the Middle East.Earlier this week, non-sheltered American aircrafts — planes not housed in hangars — were moved out of al-Udeid air base in Qatar, an official confirmed to CNN. US Navy ships that had been deployed at an American base in Bahrain had also left port in recent days.US Central Command has stocked up on additional supplies of blood in the region, standard procedure ahead when there is a perceived possibility of an attack on US forces overseas.Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program launched on June 13 is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Despite initially distancing itself from Israel’s military operation, the White House has since played up the idea that it has a role in the operation, without detailing what form the support has taken.Arms are likely part of the backing.Israel’s Defense Ministry announced Thursday that several cargo planes carrying armaments and military equipment for the IDF landed in Israel —with the vast majority of planes coming from the US.The ministry said the delivery is “part of efforts to strengthen operational continuity and support all the IDF’s needs, both for achieving the goals of the war and for improving readiness and stockpiles.”Since the start of Israel’s operation against Iran, 14 cargo planes with equipment for the IDF have landed in Israel, the ministry said.

Iran may shut down vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, lawmakers say-Ali Yazdikhah says Iran has refrained from move because many countries benefit from key oil route, but could change mind if US enters war By Reuters and ToI Staff 19 June 2025, 6:37 pm

Iran could shut the Strait of Hormuz as a way of hitting back against its enemies, a senior Iranian lawmaker said on Thursday, with a second member of parliament indicating Tehran would seal off the vital waterway if the US joined Israel’s military strikes against the Islamic Republic.Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to traffic in retaliation for Western pressure, and shipping sources said on Wednesday that commercial ships were avoiding Iran’s waters around the strait.“Iran has numerous options to respond to its enemies and uses such options based on what the situation is,” said Behnam Saeedi, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee presidium, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.“Closing the Strait of Hormuz is one of the potential options for Iran,” he added.The Strait of Hormuz lies between Oman and Iran and is the primary export route for Gulf producers such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait.About 20 percent of the world’s daily oil consumption — around 18 million barrels — passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point.Iranian lawmaker Ali Yazdikhah said Tehran would continue to allow free shipping in the Strait and in the Gulf, so long as Iran’s vital national interests were not at risk, according to the Mehr news agency.“If the United States officially and operationally enters the war in support of the Zionists [Israel], it is the legitimate right of Iran in view of pressuring the US and Western countries to disrupt their oil trade’s ease of transit,” Yazdikhah said.Tehran has so far refrained from closing the Strait because all regional states and many other countries benefit from it, Yazdikhah added.“It is better than no country supports Israel to confront Iran. Iran’s enemies know well that we have tens of ways to make the Strait of Hormuz unsafe and this option is feasible for us,” the parliamentarian said.US President Donald Trump is keeping the world guessing about whether the United States will join Israel’s strikes on Iran, which began last week.Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has retaliated by launching over 450 missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded.

Iranian missile with cluster warhead scattered bombs in central Israel, IDF says-Home Front Command says warhead dropped around 20 munitions randomly over 8-kilometer radius, with one hitting home and others unexploded but still posing threat By Emanuel Fabian-19 June 2025, 6:26 pm

At least one ballistic missile launched by Iran at Israel in a barrage on Thursday morning was carrying a cluster bomb warhead, the Israel Defense Forces said, marking a dangerous new development after nearly a week of attacks.The IDF Home Front Command said the missile’s warhead split while descending, at an altitude of around 7 kilometers (4.3 miles), spreading around 20 smaller munitions at a radius of around 8 kilometers (5 miles).The munitions do not have their own propulsion or guidance and simply fall to the ground, where they are designed to explode on impact.An Israeli military official said such a missile poses a threat to a much wider area than Iran’s other ballistic missile warheads, but the explosion from each of the cluster bombs is far smaller.One of the small munitions, with an explosive warhead of around 2.5 kilograms, struck a home in the central town of Azor, causing damage equivalent to that of a small rocket.Many of the other munitions did not explode, according to the military official. The unexploded ordnance still poses a danger to anyone who happens upon them.Home Front Command said sappers had found and disposed of 20 bombs, but warned that it could not be sure that others were still out there.It warned the public not to approach any missile remains they may find on the ground, which effectively act as landmines, and to alert authorities immediately if one is spotted.There were no changes to the Home Front Command’s guidelines for civilians when it comes to cluster bomb attacks.Human rights groups have long campaigned for cluster bombs to be banned due to the random, indiscriminate nature of the threat they pose, unlike other types of munitions that can be used to precisely target combatants or military assets while minimizing harm to civilians.In total, 112 countries have signed a 2008 convention banning the production, storage, sale, and use of cluster munitions. Iran and Israel are not among them.The text of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions says cluster bombs “kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development… impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction (and) delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons… for many years after use.”Three other missiles that directly impacted sites in Israel during the Thursday morning attack were carrying conventional warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives.The volley of some 20 ballistic missiles was the latest in a series of daily attacks Iran has carried out since Israel launched an offensive against the Islamic Republic last week.Missiles carrying large warheads hit Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and residential buildings in Ramat Gan and Holon, causing extensive damage and wounding dozens, including six seriously.It was unclear how many other missiles were carrying cluster bomb warheads, as the rest were intercepted by air defenses.Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program, which began last Friday, is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has retaliated by launching over 450 missiles and around 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and hundreds have been wounded. Some of the ballistic missiles have hit apartment buildings in Israel, causing heavy damage.Agencies contributed to this report.

In Holon, Iranian missile strike reduces residential block to rubble-A direct impact destroys buildings and injures dozens, but officials hail residents’ discipline during the attack, saying adhering to Home Front Command guidelines saves lives By Stav Levaton and ToI Staff 19 June 2025, 5:14 pm

An Iranian ballistic missile carrying a powerful warhead slammed into a residential area in the central city of Holon on Thursday morning, destroying several apartment buildings, injuring dozens, and forcing people to flee with little more than the clothes on their backs as emergency crews scrambled to pull survivors from the wreckage.The strike was part of a broader Iranian missile barrage targeting central and southern Israel, sending hundreds to hospitals. At least six people suffered serious injuries nationwide, four of them in Holon.Holon fire chief Shaul Rachamim confirmed that all those trapped beneath the rubble had been rescued and taken to nearby hospitals within two hours of the impact.The missile struck a dense five-building complex in the working-class city south of Tel Aviv, hurling debris across the area and shattering windows blocks away. At the impact site, buildings were partially reduced to rubble, with whole sections collapsing from the strike.“It is reasonable to assume, with the destruction that we’re seeing here, that these buildings will have to be demolished,” Rachamim said.Eyewitnesses described scenes of confusion and disbelief following the impact. A man named Eli, who had been working nearby, said he had run to a public bomb shelter when the sirens sounded.“The blast was incredibly strong — it even blew the shelter door open,” he said. His car, parked outside, was severely damaged, its windshield shattered by the shockwave.Residents evacuated the area carrying bags and suitcases, uncertain when they would be able to return home.Police quickly erected barricades to secure the impact zone and restrict access. Inside the cordoned-off area, a woman called to her adult son from a shattered apartment window as he tried to find a way in, eventually reaching her through a side entrance.Paramedic Ori Lazarovich of Magen David Adom, among the first to arrive, described the scene as one of “mass chaos.”“We had one building still on fire, cars completely wrecked,” he said, noting that the destruction made it difficult to access and treat patients.The widespread damage was testament to the massive warheads Iran is putting on its missiles, often carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives, several times the magnitude of missiles fired by terror groups in Gaza or Lebanon that Israelis have become accustomed to dealing with.“We’re used to having patients with minor injuries,” Lazarovich said. “Now we’re seeing crush injuries, severe burns, smoke inhalation, and everything in between.”“These missiles carry hundreds of pounds of explosives,” he added. “We have to adapt.”He emphasized the complexity of dealing with impact zones that spread over several city blocks. The shockwaves from blasts have broken windows and injured people hundreds of meters away.“You can’t just hyperfocus on the [initial impact zone],” he noted. “We have yards and yards of buildings that were affected.”Lazarovich urged the public to follow safety guidance.“If you happen to be in [an impact] site… listen to the Home Front Command and the additional first responders on the scene. Do what they say. It can be a matter of life or death,” he said.Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, who heads Israel’s Home Front Command, commended Holon residents for seeking shelter, as warned, ahead of the strike, likely saving lives and minimizing the extent of injuries.“The civilians who were in the building heard the warning, the advance directive, went down to a shared private shelter located at the bottom of the building, and this saved their lives,” he said, calling it “an extraordinary example of civilian behavior.”Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy also visited the site, receiving briefings and surveying the damage. He reiterated key safety instructions: avoid impact zones, report any unexploded ordnance to the police emergency line, follow officer directions at the scene, and adhere to HFC guidance to ensure rescue operations can proceed without interference.In the aftermath of the attack, a local school announced that several of its students’ families had lost their homes. The school’s parent committee launched a PayBox fundraiser to help provide essentials like food, clothing, and hygiene supplies.The Holon strike was one of several caused by a barrage of roughly 30 Iranian ballistic missiles launched Thursday morning. Other direct hits were reported at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba and in Ramat Gan.“We’re in difficult times,” Lazarovich said. “A strike can happen anywhere. Always be aware and cautious.”

In Holon, Iranian missile strike reduces residential block to rubble-A direct impact destroys buildings and injures dozens, but officials hail residents’ discipline during the attack, saying adhering to Home Front Command guidelines saves lives By Stav Levaton and ToI Staff 19 June 2025, 5:14 pm

An Iranian ballistic missile carrying a powerful warhead slammed into a residential area in the central city of Holon on Thursday morning, destroying several apartment buildings, injuring dozens, and forcing people to flee with little more than the clothes on their backs as emergency crews scrambled to pull survivors from the wreckage.The strike was part of a broader Iranian missile barrage targeting central and southern Israel, sending hundreds to hospitals. At least six people suffered serious injuries nationwide, four of them in Holon.Holon fire chief Shaul Rachamim confirmed that all those trapped beneath the rubble had been rescued and taken to nearby hospitals within two hours of the impact.The missile struck a dense five-building complex in the working-class city south of Tel Aviv, hurling debris across the area and shattering windows blocks away. At the impact site, buildings were partially reduced to rubble, with whole sections collapsing from the strike.“It is reasonable to assume, with the destruction that we’re seeing here, that these buildings will have to be demolished,” Rachamim said.Eyewitnesses described scenes of confusion and disbelief following the impact. A man named Eli, who had been working nearby, said he had run to a public bomb shelter when the sirens sounded.“The blast was incredibly strong — it even blew the shelter door open,” he said. His car, parked outside, was severely damaged, its windshield shattered by the shockwave.Residents evacuated the area carrying bags and suitcases, uncertain when they would be able to return home.Police quickly erected barricades to secure the impact zone and restrict access. Inside the cordoned-off area, a woman called to her adult son from a shattered apartment window as he tried to find a way in, eventually reaching her through a side entrance.Paramedic Ori Lazarovich of Magen David Adom, among the first to arrive, described the scene as one of “mass chaos.”“We had one building still on fire, cars completely wrecked,” he said, noting that the destruction made it difficult to access and treat patients.The widespread damage was testament to the massive warheads Iran is putting on its missiles, often carrying hundreds of kilograms of explosives, several times the magnitude of missiles fired by terror groups in Gaza or Lebanon that Israelis have become accustomed to dealing with.“We’re used to having patients with minor injuries,” Lazarovich said. “Now we’re seeing crush injuries, severe burns, smoke inhalation, and everything in between.”“These missiles carry hundreds of pounds of explosives,” he added. “We have to adapt.”He emphasized the complexity of dealing with impact zones that spread over several city blocks. The shockwaves from blasts have broken windows and injured people hundreds of meters away.“You can’t just hyperfocus on the [initial impact zone],” he noted. “We have yards and yards of buildings that were affected.”Lazarovich urged the public to follow safety guidance.“If you happen to be in [an impact] site… listen to the Home Front Command and the additional first responders on the scene. Do what they say. It can be a matter of life or death,” he said.Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, who heads Israel’s Home Front Command, commended Holon residents for seeking shelter, as warned, ahead of the strike, likely saving lives and minimizing the extent of injuries.“The civilians who were in the building heard the warning, the advance directive, went down to a shared private shelter located at the bottom of the building, and this saved their lives,” he said, calling it “an extraordinary example of civilian behavior.”Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levy also visited the site, receiving briefings and surveying the damage. He reiterated key safety instructions: avoid impact zones, report any unexploded ordnance to the police emergency line, follow officer directions at the scene, and adhere to HFC guidance to ensure rescue operations can proceed without interference.In the aftermath of the attack, a local school announced that several of its students’ families had lost their homes. The school’s parent committee launched a PayBox fundraiser to help provide essentials like food, clothing, and hygiene supplies.The Holon strike was one of several caused by a barrage of roughly 30 Iranian ballistic missiles launched Thursday morning. Other direct hits were reported at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba and in Ramat Gan.“We’re in difficult times,” Lazarovich said. “A strike can happen anywhere. Always be aware and cautious.”

Netanyahu: US involvement 'up to Trump... he knows the game'Ratcheting up threats, defense minister says Iran’s Khamenei ‘cannot continue to exist’After Iran strikes hospital, Katz compares its leader to Hitler; Netanyahu says nobody is immune but words need to be ‘chosen carefully,’ apparently chiding defense chief for speaking out By ToI Staff, AP and Reuters 19 June 2025, 5:07 pm

Defense Minister Israel Katz issued his strongest threat yet to assassinate Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Thursday, saying Tehran’s supreme leader “cannot continue to exist,” as Israeli leaders fumed following a missile barrage that hit a Beersheba hospital and residential buildings near Tel Aviv.Visiting a missile impact site that reduced a cluster of residential buildings in the central city of Holon to rubble, Katz did not say whether Israel would pursue regime change as part of its military offensive in Tehran, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to match his tough talk, saying only that Khamenei’s elimination remained on the table and nobody was “immune.”Katz told the media that the Iranian leader was “personally giving the order to fire on hospitals and residential buildings,” charging that Tehran saw strikes on civilian targets as part of its mission of destroying Israel.Under the IDF’s war goals, “without question this man should not continue to exist,” Katz said.“A dictator like Khamenei, who heads a country like Iran and has made the destruction of the State of Israel his declared goal, this horrific goal of destroying Israel, cannot be allowed to continue or materialize,” he said.The defense minister likened Khamenei to Adolf Hitler, asserting that if Israel had existed during the Holocaust, and its leaders knew the IDF could capture and kill the Nazi leader to stop the Holocaust, it would have done so.“We would have sent the IDF, extracted him and eliminated him. And just like that, correspondingly, I see the current situation — Khamenei is the modern Hitler,” Katz said.His threats followed reports that Israel had wanted to assassinate the Iranian autocrat as it launched its offensive last week, but that US President Donald Trump vetoed the move. Israeli officials have denied the reports.Netanyahu has left the question of Khamenei’s assassination an open one, telling reporters Thursday that he had given instructions that “no one is immune.”“I prefer not to deal with [making] headlines and to let actions speak for themselves,” he said while touring Beersheba’s Soroka hospital after it was hit by an Iranian missile.“During a war… words have to be chosen with care, and actions with precision,” he said, adding that “all options are open.”In an apparent dig at Katz and his blatant calls to assassinate Khamenei, Netanyahu advised that “it’s best not to speak about this in the press,” adding that he expects this “from my ministers as well.”He called potential US involvement in the war “a decision for President Trump.”“He will do what is good for America, and I will do what’s good for Israel,” said the premier, adding that the US president “knows the game.”He claimed that Israel has the ability to carry out the entire mission by itself if needed, despite indications that heavy American bombs may be needed to eliminate parts of Iran’s nuclear program buried deep underground.“At the end of this operation, there will be no nuclear threat on Israel, and there won’t be a ballistic threat,” he vowed.Several major news outlets reported Sunday that Israel had a window of opportunity during the opening strikes on Iran early Friday morning to assassinate Khamenei, but that Trump had vetoed the move.Trump later threatened Khamenei himself, but said there were no plans to kill him, “at least not for now.”Netanyahu has remained coy about whether Israel’s goals could extend beyond the elimination of Iran’s nuclear program, telling Fox News on Sunday that regime change in Iran “could certainly be the result” of Israel’s ongoing military campaign, though he did not say it was the goal.Israeli officials have said repeatedly since launching intensive waves of airstrikes on Iran early Friday that the campaign is preemptive and was initiated to stave off the imminent, existential threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon and growing its ballistic missile arsenal.Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Thursday that “regime change” in Tehran was not a goal the security cabinet had set “for the time being.”He told reporters outside the site of the missile strike in Beersheba that Israel’s operation against the Islamic Republic will continue “until the mission is complete.”Pointing to the site of the missile impact behind him, Sa’ar said the attack is “clearly a war crime” that reflects the overarching strategy of the Iranian regime.“They are deliberately targeting the civilian population, civilian targets, civilians, children, elderly people. It is unacceptable,” he continued.Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he had warned against eliminating Khamenei, saying that he “doesn’t even want to discuss” the Iranian leader’s potential assassination.Putin was answering a question at a meeting of senior editors from various media organizations on the sidelines of an economic forum.Asked if Russia was ready to provide Iran with modern weapons to defend itself against Israeli strikes, Putin said a strategic partnership treaty signed with Tehran in January did not envisage military cooperation.

Reporter's notebook'People are sheltering in hallways because that's all they have'With few shelters but plenty of roadblocks, East Jerusalem Arabs squeezed by war-As heavy police deployments and concrete barriers raise tensions, residents with nowhere to go during missile attacks worry what will happen if disaster strikes their underserved neighborhoods By Nurit Yohanan-and Charlie Summers-19 June 2025, 4:24 pm

Like his neighbors in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of a-Tur, Hussein does not have a bomb shelter in his apartment, and there isn’t one in his building either. When sirens warn of an Iranian missile attack, he takes cover in the stairwell of his apartment building, where he is often the only one doing so.“I don’t take things like this lightly — it’s missiles. There are people who say I’m foolish, ask why I do this, but it’s not a game,” Hussein told The Times of Israel Monday while driving through a-Tur’s rolling hills.Iranian missile barrages targeting Israel on a nightly basis since Friday have also put some 400,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem under threat, with the vast majority lacking any form of shelter to protect them.Most homes in Arab neighborhoods do not have reinforced safe rooms, and public shelters, largely located in recently built municipal schools, are few and far between.On top of a glaring lack of shelters, East Jerusalemites face growing restrictions on their movement since the war’s start as security forces close Arab neighborhoods to traffic. The move is seemingly due to concerns of unrest, though police have declined to comment.Driving toward a-Tur’s main commercial drag, Hussein was forced to take a detour around the neighborhood’s main road, which police had blocked off with concrete blocks. The detour took him past a makeshift checkpoint manned by two Border Police officers.Hussein said that the two officers, who were stopping drivers headed in the opposite direction, had begun operating the checkpoint earlier that morning.Gimme shelter-For many in Jerusalem, finding a safe space in case of a missile attack is no more complicated than entering a reinforced room built into most new apartments, or entering a shared underground shelter in the basement of apartment buildings.While such spaces are common throughout Jewish parts of Jerusalem, they are much rarer in Arab parts of East Jerusalem, as are public shelters.Israeli law requires new apartments to be built with protected rooms, but homes built without permits are unlikely to follow the guidelines, leaving most without safe spaces.About half of the 280,000 East Jerusalem Palestinians who reside on the Israeli side of the West Bank security barrier, which bisects Arab parts of the city, live in unauthorized homes, according to the urban planning organization Bimkom.Illegal building is rampant in Arab East Jerusalem, experts say, due to Israeli policies limiting permits and high demand among Palestinians seeking to retain residency in the city, which confers them with more Israeli rights than West Bank Palestinians.“For years, Israeli policy aimed to limit housing units, which meant limiting the number of Palestinians living in the city,” said Michal Braier, an urban planner with Bimkom. “That didn’t work, because East Jerusalemites need to reside in the city to maintain their residency status. Illegal construction is a result of the impossibility of building legally.”In addition, many East Jerusalemites live in older homes, which are also not outfitted with safe rooms.The situation in neighborhoods located beyond the wall — but still within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries — is even more dire.“Beyond the separation barrier, all the new and high-rise buildings were constructed without oversight or permits. They have no reinforced rooms. A friend of mine who lives in Kafr Aqab says that during a siren, they run to the hallway because that’s all they have,” Braier said.A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality said the city has 452 shelters in schools, and another 190 public shelters scattered throughout the city, as well as 57 protected underground parking lots, and 18 accessible above-ground shelters for people with mobility disabilities.Of those, only 60 are in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, all of them in schools.Tamer, a resident of Kafr Aqab, a sprawling Palestinian neighborhood in the city’s far north, called the municipality’s instructions telling residents to shelter in schools “nonsense.” When a siren sounds, those living in the center of Kafr Aqab have less than two minutes to make the 20-minute drive to the nearest shelter, some six kilometers (3.7 miles) away.“How do you expect thousands of people to get to the schools? You’re not talking about a handful of residents; this is a town with around 120,000 people,” he said.According to Braier, the schools containing shelters listed on the municipality’s website aren’t spread out evenly across East Jerusalem.“They’re clustered — in Beit Hanina, there’s an area, and in Issawiy, there’s a concentration of schools. So if you live nearby, great. If not, you’re out of luck,” she said.Isshaq, a resident of Beit Hanina, said that people without a protected room, feeling helpless, walk around the house or go outside to the street. He estimated that around 90% of the neighborhood doesn’t have any form of shelter.“There are old houses, and there are new houses built without permits. People are scared — you know what kind of explosions we’re hearing? We’re not used to this,” he said. “My wife turns off the TV at home so the kids won’t see the images of destruction [from strikes elsewhere].”According to Braier, before the rocket threat to Jerusalem became a daily reality on October 7, 2023, Arab East Jerusalemites were not even informed of where school shelters were.“The list of schools on the municipality’s website, the ones East Jerusalem residents can supposedly go to, didn’t exist before October 7. After that, they suddenly realized no one had a clue where the shelters were, so they put a list together,” she said.Though providing the information and translating it into Arabic marked “a step forward,” Braier stressed that the municipality frequently slipped up in translation and often used street names unfamiliar to locals, leading to confusion.“It’s the same list of problems we always see in East Jerusalem. Only here, we’re talking about people’s lives,” she said.Neighborhood roadblocks, heavy traffic-The disparities between Arab and Jewish areas of Jerusalem have been made even starker by recent moves made by police to obstruct entry and exit points to some Palestinian neighborhoods with concrete blocks, which they have done on a routine basis since fighting began Friday.In a-Tur, residents and activists said police blocked off a road on Saturday after a few locals falsely reported missile damage in the neighborhood, then proceeded to throw stones at officers when they came to the scene.Jehad Abusneineh, an a-Tur resident, decried the blockages as a form of collective punishment.“This situation is bad already,” he said. “We already have narrow streets, and not so many exits and entrances,” leading to heavy traffic in the neighborhood.The move has prompted residents to fear that emergency services will have difficulty reaching affected neighborhoods — among them a-Tur and Shuafat — in the event of an actual missile impact.“They’re not thinking about the risks. If a missile hits, Magen David Adom and other life-saving services won’t be able to enter, and people won’t be able to evacuate the wounded,” said one resident of Sheikh Jarrah.Since being placed on Saturday, the roadblocks in a-Tur “cut off the major entrances to the neighborhood, so that thousands of people need to do a very large detour to enter and exit in a car,” said Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher at the Israeli civil rights group Ir Amim. “Of course, if someone needs an ambulance, this becomes a very big problem.”In response to an inquiry from Ir Amim on the matter, the police stated that the move was aimed at “protecting public safety and security.”Law enforcement said that “situational assessments conducted by relevant professional bodies” determined “that the security situation necessitates the placement of roadblocks in order to deal with incidents of violence and public disturbances.”Police did not respond to requests for comment by The Times of Israel.Recent days have also seen an increased police presence in Palestinian neighborhoods. Clashes between residents and security forces have broken out in several neighborhoods, including Shuafat, Issawiya and Wadi al-Joz.Tatarsky contended that the roadblocks and increased patrols stemmed from the authorities’ tendency to “see [East Jerusalem] residents as a threat.”On Monday night, 13-year-old Iyas Abu Mufreh and 22-year-old Uday Abu Jum’a sustained serious injuries after being shot with expanding bullets by an Israeli police sniper, according to local Palestinian media.A Border Police statement confirmed that officers were posted in the area at the time and that residents lit fireworks and threw a Molotov cocktail at authorities.“Feeling that their lives were in danger, the police forces opened fire at the assailants in order to neutralize them,” said a police spokesman regarding the incident.Palestinian witnesses and activists with Ir Amim said, however, that police shot at the two unprovoked.Footage from that night shows the sniper positioned on the roof of a building as a group of people further down the street gather in the middle of the road, presumably after the shooting took place.According to Palestinian accounts, Abu Mufreh sustained serious nerve damage and a complete bone fracture in his arm, requiring a four-hour surgery. Abu Jum’a suffered a serious wound to his back.

Explainer-A look at US military bases in the Middle East as Iran threatens strikes-From Syria on the Mediterranean coast through Iraq, and on to Gulf States of Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, some 40,000 troops are stationed in the region By Agencies and ToI Staff 19 June 2025, 4:24 pm

WASHINGTON, United States — The United States has thousands of troops deployed on bases across the Middle East, a region in which Washington’s forces have carried out repeated military operations in recent decades.Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign against Iran last week, and US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing whether to join Israel in the fight.US involvement in the conflict would likely result in attacks by Tehran on American troops in the region, who have already been targeted by Iran-aligned forces in the course of the Israel-Hamas war.The United States has a sizable force in the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops in the region, including air defense systems, fighter aircraft, and warships that can detect and shoot down enemy missiles.Below, AFP examines countries with major concentrations of US forces in the Middle East, which falls under the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM).Bahrain-US Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons fly in sync after an aerial refueling over an undisclosed location within the US Central Command area of responsibility during Ballast Cannon-The tiny Gulf kingdom hosts an installation known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and US Naval Forces Central Command headquarters are based.Bahrain’s deep-water port can accommodate the largest US military vessels, such as aircraft carriers, and the US Navy has used the base in the country since 1948, when the facility was operated by Britain’s Royal Navy.Several US ships have their home port in Bahrain, including four anti-mine vessels and two logistical support ships. The US Coast Guard also has vessels in the country, including six fast response cutters.Iraq-The United States has troops at various installations in Iraq, including Al-Asad and Arbil air bases. The Iraqi government is a close ally of Iran, but also a strategic partner of Tehran’s arch-foe, the United States.There are some 2,500 US troops in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group. Baghdad and Washington have agreed on a timetable for the gradual withdrawal of the coalition’s forces from the country.US forces in Iraq and Syria were repeatedly targeted by pro-Iran militants following the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, when the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people,  mostly civilians. The US responded with heavy strikes on Tehran-linked targets, and the attacks largely subsided.Kuwait-Kuwait has several US bases, including Camp Arifjan, the location of the forward headquarters for the US Army component of CENTCOM. The US Army also has stocks of prepositioned materiel in the country.Ali al-Salem Air Base hosts the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, the “primary airlift hub and gateway for delivering combat power to joint and coalition forces” in the region. Additionally, the United States has drones, including MQ-9 Reapers in Kuwait.Qatar-Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar includes the forward components of CENTCOM, as well as of its air forces and special operation forces in the region.It also hosts rotating combat aircraft, as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which includes “airlift, aerial refueling intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and aeromedical evacuation assets.”Syria-The United States has for years maintained troop presences at a series of installations in Syria as part of international efforts against the Islamic State group, which rose out of the country’s civil war to overrun large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.The Pentagon announced in April that it would roughly halve the number of its forces in the country to less than 1,000 in the coming months as part of a “consolidation” of US troops in the country.United Arab Emirates-Al Dahfra Air Base in the UAE hosts the US 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, a force that is composed of 10 squadrons of aircraft and also includes drones such as MQ-9 Reapers.Combat aircraft have rotated through Al Dhafra, which also hosts the Gulf Air Warfare Center for air and missile defense training.Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program launched early Friday morning is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has retaliated by launching over 400 missiles and some 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded by the missiles.Iran has long insisted its nuclear program was peaceful, though it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Reporter's notebook'We sit in fear and wait to find out who's hurt this time'‘Like an earthquake:’ Ramat Gan reels after missile slams into financial hub-One of Israel’s busiest neighborhoods turns into a disaster zone after early-morning strike Thursday; residents say they’ve lived through seven nights of terror with no end in sight By Ariela Karmel-19 June 2025, 3:47 pm

The street outside the Bursa — the Diamond Exchange District in Ramat Gan just bordering Tel Aviv — was cloaked in gray dust and the acrid smell of smoke on Thursday morning.Emergency crews picked their way through broken glass, charred debris and the hollowed-out shell of a residential building that hours earlier had taken a direct missile hit.The entire front of the structure had been torn open, exposing what remained of the lobby and lower-floor apartments.In the surrounding area, windows in neighboring buildings had shattered inward.First responders in orange and green vests moved from door to door, checking for anyone who might still be trapped inside.“We heard a loud boom. The building was moving as if there had been an earthquake,” said Hanni Adiv, 66, who lives nearby. “All the glass from the windows was blown out. There’s huge damage in our building and all of the surrounding buildings.”A barrage of some 30 ballistic missiles fired by Iran at Israel on Thursday morning caused extensive damage in the center and south of the country, including a direct hit on Israel’s main southern hospital, Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Dozens of people have been reported wounded, with six in serious condition.The missile impact in the heart of Ramat Gan at 7 a.m. was neither the first nor the most destructive to hit the beleaguered city since Iran began a campaign of indiscriminate ballistic missile fire at Israeli population centers last week after Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear and military sites.The city, densely populated and packed with residential towers, small businesses and tech offices, has taken several direct hits since the missile fire began last Friday.An employee with the Ramat Gan municipality said five or six buildings were damaged in Thursday’s strike alone, including the one that absorbed the missile blast head-on.Yechiel Vaknin, 41, a lawyer by day and a first responder with United Hatzalah, a volunteer emergency medical service that dispatches trained responders to scenes of trauma, injury and disaster, arrived at the scene from nearby Bnei Brak.He said the building was largely evacuated, but crews were still checking each apartment and scanning the rubble for victims.“Luckily there are only 37 wounded mildly and two in moderate condition, mostly anxiety, shock and trauma,” Vaknin said. “Every apartment has a reinforced safe room and that’s what saved them. Everything else could be destroyed, but the safe room remains.”“There are families, children, elderly, and pets here. It was very hard for them to leave their homes,” Vaknin said.Iran launched an unprecedented missile attack on Israeli soil in April 2024, and followed with another in October. The latest assault, though, is much longer and more destructive.While most of the hundreds of missiles have been intercepted by Israeli and allied air defenses, dozens have broken through, striking cities across central and southern Israel. Ramat Gan, adjacent to Tel Aviv, has emerged as one of the most heavily affected.Etti Cohen Engel was one of three people killed in massive barrages of Iranian ballistic missiles fired on the city on Sunday.Thursday’s impact occurred in the city’s iconic commercial district, lined with office towers and cafes, and one of the most trafficked areas in the country during rush hour.Sapir, who works in the area, was arriving by train at Tel Aviv’s Hashalom station when the missile struck. “We actually got a message at the station that there was an earthquake,” she said. “It was insanely loud.”Adiv said she and her neighbors have been living in fear for over a week. “We’ve experienced seven horrible nights here. We can’t sleep, we can’t function during the day,” she said. “We sit in fear and wait to find out who has been hurt this time.”Her building’s shelter, like many in the city, is overcrowded and poorly ventilated. “Some people bring mattresses to the shelter, but you can’t really sleep there,” she said. “We don’t know what to do or where to go. We can’t live like this. It’s not normal.”Adiv and her husband, who run a clothing shop in Tel Aviv, have not opened it since the war began.“Nobody is coming, so there’s no point in opening,” she said. “It’s like time has stopped since the first attack.”Still, even as emotions run high, Adiv said, “We have nothing against the Iranian people — just like we want to live in peace, they want to live in peace. And I wish them only good.”“But we need to finish the Iranian government’s nuclear project so that we can live. All they want to do is destroy us,” she said.

Analysis-Do Tehran’s nuclear program and terror proxies legally justify Israel’s attack? Despite years of Iranian aggression, questions have been posed by international scholars about whether Israel had legal justification to launch Operation Rising Lion-By Jeremy Sharon-19 June 2025, 3:08 pm

Israel’s attack on Iran in the early hours of June 13 saw over 200 Israeli Air Force fighter jets attack some 100 Iranian targets, including Tehran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile targets, key members of Iran’s military forces, and nuclear scientists.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the surprise attack on the basis of Iran’s extensive nuclear program, alleging that Iran was approaching a weaponization threshold and was an imminent existential threat to the Jewish state. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar further pointed to Tehran’s decades-long policy of funding and arming terror proxies and directing them to attack Israel, and other hostile Iranian acts.Yet despite this reality, several scholars of international law have challenged the imminence of Iran’s threat to Israel, a key condition for a preemptive strike, and argued that Tehran had neither the capability of firing a nuclear weapon at Israel at the time of the attack or the proven intent to do so, two other crucial requirements for anticipatory military action.Critics have also challenged whether the launch of Israel’s attack was the last opportunity to prevent a feared Iranian strike, arguing that non-military alternatives, such as diplomacy, had not been exhausted.So does Israel’s campaign of airstrikes, dubbed Operation Rising Lion, really fail these key tests of international law for justifying a resort to military attack? Or are there broader interpretations of the legal requirements, or even a different framework entirely, that gave Israel grounds for its unprecedented war against Tehran? On the morning of June 13, Netanyahu outlined the reasons for embarking on the attack on Iran, asserting that Iran had enough enriched uranium to produce nine nuclear bombs, and that it had taken steps to weaponize this nuclear material in recent months that it had never done before. Netanyahu described this as a “clear and present danger to Israel’s very survival.”Iran has for decades persistently developed its nuclear program, enriching uranium to ever higher degrees, far beyond what it needs for civilian purposes, while allegedly developing the means to weaponize it, according to Israeli intelligence.As a result of this, Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and assassinated scientists working on its nuclear program, the prime minister said.Netanyahu also detailed what he alleged was Iran’s plan to build 10,000 ballistic missiles, which he said was an intolerable threat that must also be stopped.In a letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also pointed to Tehran’s use of proxies to attack Israel and to its previous missile barrages against Israel, saying that Jerusalem was in an ongoing war against Iran and implying that there was therefore no requirement to meet the standards of a preemptive strike.Sa’ar also referred to Iran’s genocidal rhetoric, including that of its Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who just last month described Israel as a “cancerous tumor” which he threatened would be “eradicated.”Writing for the blog of the European Journal of International Law, Prof. Marko Milanovic of Reading University argued that Israel’s attack was explicitly a preemptive strike to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon that could be used against Israel.But he argued that Israel’s preemptive strike failed to meet three key conditions, namely that the country subject to the preemptive strike have the capability to attack, and have the intent to attack, and that the moment of the preemptive strike be “the last window opportunity” to prevent the enemy country’s attack.Milanovic insisted that Operation Rising Lion could not meet the standard of preventing an imminent nuclear attack, since Iran has yet to develop a nuclear weapon, in reference to the capability condition.And Milanovic said Israel’s air campaign would not even meet a less stringent view of “imminence,” since, he argued, there is insufficient evidence that Iran intended to attack Israel with a nuclear bomb, or that June 13 was the last opportunity to stop it from doing so.“There is little evidence that Iran has irrevocably committed itself to attacking Israel with a nuclear weapon, once it develops this capability,” contended Milanovic.Noting that even Netanyahu said in his video message the morning of June 13 that Iran was still months away from building a bomb, and that negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program were underway, he said he did not see “how it could plausibly be argued that using force today was the only option available.”Prof. Ben Saul of the University of Sydney made similar arguments in an article for The Guardian, arguing, “Inflammatory and even genocidal rhetoric by Iranian officials” did not equate to a concrete plan to launch an imminent nuclear attack.Since, Saul argued, there was no imminent attack, there was still time “to pursue non-violent means to address the threat,” including action by the UN Security Council, sanctions, and diplomacy, noting that the US and Iran were in the midst negotiations over its nuclear program when Israel launched its attack.Speaking to The Times of Israel, Prof. Robbie Sabel of Hebrew University agreed that it was impossible for Israel to prove there was an imminent Iranian nuclear attack against Israel, since Tehran has yet to build such a weapon, and said it would still take Iran a significant period of time to complete the weaponization process for a nuclear bomb.He did posit that when trying to prevent an attack by weapons of mass destruction the requirement of imminency may be less stringent, since waiting until a country has developed that capacity could make it too late to strike.And Sabel dismissed the idea that the negotiations between the US and Iran could have effectively curbed its nuclear program, pointing out that such negotiations have been conducted off and on for decades, with Tehran never having given up its enrichment facilities.“They always insisted on their right to enrich uranium even in the current negotiations, and there is no great difficulty in reaching 90 percent enrichment from the 60 percent they already do,” said Sabel, in reference to the necessary level of enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.Addressing the issue of intent, Prof. Michael Schmitt of the United States Military Academy at West Point argued in an article on the Articles of War blog that given the repeated rhetoric of annihilation against Israel coming from numerous Iranian leaders over many years, it was “not unreasonable” to conclude that Tehran would carry out its threat if it obtained the capability to do so.“If there is a degree of uncertainty as to whether Iranian leaders mean what they say, the risk of being wrong should be shouldered by the side making the threatening statement,” asserted Schmitt.He added, like Sabel, that given the existential threat to the Jewish state, Israel should have more leeway in conducting its attack against Iran since “the threat of being wrong is undeniably existential.”And he argued that due to the risk posed by nuclear weapons, the condition that Iran have the capability to attack could be fulfilled by the likelihood it would acquire that means of attack in the near future.Although Schmitt concluded that Operation Rising Lion “did not fulfill the preconditions for anticipatory self-defense” under the “traditional” definition, he argued that a “liberal interpretation” of each of the requirements of capability and last window of opportunity might comply with a less rigid standard for a preemptive strike that has supplanted the old understanding in recent years.But Sabel argued that arguments over whether Israel had a legal right to resort to force on June 13 are superseded by the fact that Israel and Iran were already at war, meaning that the launching of Operation Rising Lion was merely part of that war and therefore did not require any particular legal justification.“Iran armed its proxies, encouraged them to attack Israel, and those proxies acted under guidance from Iran when they attacked us,” he said, noting as well the April and October 2024 Iranian missile barrages against Israel.Iran attacked Israel with massive barrages of ballistic missiles twice in 2024 — after Israel targeted a key Iranian general in Damascus in April that year, and then assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September.“This constitutes an armed attack by Iran,” he continued, and said that within this armed conflict it was “perfectly legitimate” to hit Tehran’s nuclear program, albeit in a fresh campaign.Milanovic argued against this rationale, contending that even if there were an ongoing armed conflict between Israel and Iran, “most” of the Iranian attacks against Israel were over, and even if they continued were of “minimal intensity” and “could not justify an all out assault on Iran’s nuclear program.”But in his letter to the UN Security Council, Sa’ar used the argument that Israel and Iran were already engaged in an ongoing conflict in explaining the launch of Operation Rising Lion.Sa’ar insisted that the plethora of Iranian hostile acts against Israel, over many years and especially in recent months, meant there was no doubt Israel was in an ongoing, intense armed conflict with Tehran that justified Israel’s latest campaign.He pointed to what he described as Iran’s “extensive network of terrorist proxies surrounding Israel” and said that Tehran, through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, has been “substantially involved in its proxies’ persistent and unlawful attacks against Israel.”And he pointed to the Iranian barrages in April and October last year as further examples of Iranian attacks on Israel.“Israel, as the Jewish homeland, cannot and will not accept the threat of extermination,” wrote Sa’ar.“Iran’s ongoing aggression poses an existential threat to Israel and a grave threat to international peace and security.”

Arak site evacuated ahead of strike, no radiation risks-IDF strikes Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Natanz site used for nuclear development-Reports say Trump waiting on Iranians to see if they give up nuclear program, asked advisers if bunker busters can destroy Fordo, though Israel may destroy site ‘with humans’By Emanuel Fabian,Agencies and ToI Staff 19 June 2025, 10:22 am

The Israeli Air Force bombed Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor Thursday morning, along with a second strike on the Natanz enrichment facility and dozens of other military sites overnight, the military announced as an operation aimed at destroying the Iranian nuclear program entered its seventh day.According to the Israel Defense Forces, a wave of overnight strikes involved 40 fighter jets dropping 100 munitions on dozens of Iranian military facilities in Tehran and other areas of Iran.The IDF issued a warning ahead of the strike on the Arak reactor and urged residents in nearby areas to flee.“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said.The research reactor was only partially built, with Tehran informing the UN nuclear watchdog that it planned to begin operating the facility next year.The IDF later released footage showing the strike.Israel separately said it struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program.Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.Heavy-water reactors pose a nuclear proliferation risk because they can easily produce plutonium which, like enriched uranium, can be used to make the core of an atom bomb.Among the targets struck elsewhere in Iran overnight was a facility in Natanz used by Iran to develop nuclear weapons, the IDF said.“The site houses unique components and equipment used for the development of nuclear weapons, and hosts projects that enable the acceleration of the nuclear weapons program,” the military said.Israel has previously  targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, in addition to centrifuge workshops around Tehran and a nuclear site in Isfahan. Its strikes have also killed top generals and nuclear scientists.Fighter jets also bombed “facilities for manufacturing raw materials, components used in assembling ballistic missiles, and sites for producing Iranian air defense systems and missiles,” along with Iranian air defense sites, missile storage sites, and radars, the IDF added.Huge explosions were witnessed in the cities of Isfahan, Shiraz and Kermanshah early in the morning, the Washington-based Iran International news outlet reported.An Israeli military official told Reuters the army estimates it has struck two-thirds of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers.Iran is still believed to have more than 100 missile launchers, the official said.Officials have said the launchers are a prime target, as they are the bottleneck for Tehran’s ability to launch its thousands of missiles at Israel.Iranian news agencies also reported it had arrested 18 “enemy agents” who were building drones for Israeli attacks in the northeastern city of Mashhad.Trump deliberates-Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told staffers that he has approved plans to strike Iran, but is waiting to see if Iran will give up on its nuclear program before issuing any order to attack, The Wall Street Journal reported.Trump informed his senior aides on Wednesday that he had approved the plans, the report said, citing “people familiar with the deliberations.”Trump told reporters Wednesday that he wanted Iran’s “unconditional surrender” — meaning giving up its nuclear program — and that it was too late for a mere ceasefire.Senior officials in the US are getting ready for the possible strike in the coming days, Bloomberg reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.”Some of the sources said that a strike over the weekend is a possibility, but that the situation was in flux and could still change.Meanwhile, Trump has asked his military advisers if 30,000-pound bombs could destroy Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility, Axios reported.The bunker-buster bombs, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrators, are in the US arsenal, but Israel does not have them or the bombers needed to deploy them.Fordo is buried underground at a depth that is believed to be out of reach of Israeli aerial weaponry.Officials from the Pentagon told Trump they believe the bombs could work against Fordo, although it’s not yet clear if Trump is sure, Axios reported.The bombs have never been used in combat, only in tests.The Israelis told the US officials that even though they could not dismantle Fordo with bombs, they may “do it with humans,” the report said, citing a US official.Iranian officials have reported at least 224 deaths in Israeli attacks, claiming those were mostly civilians, though that toll has not been updated since Monday. The Washington-based group Human Rights Activists estimates the death toll to be at least 585, including 239 civilians, and estimates that more than 1,300 have been wounded.Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program launched early Friday morning is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has retaliated by launching over 400 missiles and some 1,000 drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded by the missiles.Iran has long insisted its nuclear program was peaceful, though it is the only non-nuclear-armed state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.