Iran has been hurt but is still a 'considerable' threat to US forces in the Middle East, says US admiral
Iran still poses a "considerable" tactical threat to US forces in the Middle East despite strikes on its nuclear and military sites by Israel and the US, a top admiral told Congress on Tuesday.
"At the tactical level, I think they've been degraded," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
"I think the degree to which that degradation has taken place, particularly in the last 12 days, is best discussed in a classified forum," he added.
But he said that Iran possesses "considerable tactical capability," one element of which was visible in the missile attack on the US military base of Al Udeid on Monday.
Iran attacked the base, located in Qatar and the US's largest in the region, with missiles that were foiled by Qatari air defenses and caused no deaths or injuries.
The attack came a day after the US launched a major strike on Iranian facilities linked to its nuclear program, using GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs for the first time in combat.
In a press briefing Sunday, Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said US forces fired around 75 precision-guided weapons in total during the operation, which targeted facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
President Donald Trump said the strikes had destroyed the nuclear facilities. The White House pushed back on reports on Tuesday that the sites were only damaged.
A tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran is currently in place, but there are concerns that it may not last, and that Iran could resort to other tactics to fight back.
Iran retains a large ballistic missile stockpile, and Cooper said that while its proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza have been reduced in strength, its network of regional militias remains a threat.
"The thing I think we need to do right now and that we are doing, with clarity, is making sure our men and women are safe in the Middle East," he said.
The US has around 40,000 military and civilian personnel in the region, and bolstered its military presence there with the deployment of the USS Nimitz.
Cooper added that: "We've got to be in a three-point stance, ready to go every single day."
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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Thousands Gather in Tehran to Mourn Dead from Israel Strikes
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Iran's capital on Saturday for a state funeral honoring about 60 Iranians killed in Israeli strikes over the past few weeks, including top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Why It Matters In what President Donald Trump has called the "12 Day War," in mid-June Israel initially struck Tehran and several other cities in "Operation Rising Lion," a campaign it said was meant to preempt a planned Iranian attack and disrupt Iran's nuclear capabilities. Iran, which has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, retaliated, though Israeli defense systems—bolstered by U.S. military technology—intercepted nearly all incoming missile fire, according to Israeli officials, although Iran did strike a hospital southern Israel last week. More than 600 Iranians were reported killed by Israeli strikes, and 28 Israelis killed by Iranian strikes, with thousands wounded it both countries. Last weekend, the U.S. joined Israel in its war against Iran by bombing three nuclear sites, Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, in the largest B-2 operation in U.S. history. There were no reported casualties. Israeli strikes killed civilians, nuclear scientists, and high-level military officials, such as Hossein Salami who served as the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC's Air Force. Thousands of Iranians attend the funeral ceremony for approximately 60 people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran, including high-ranking military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians, during a state funeral service in Enqelab Square on June... Thousands of Iranians attend the funeral ceremony for approximately 60 people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran, including high-ranking military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians, during a state funeral service in Enqelab Square on June 28, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. MoreWhat To Know On Saturday, thousands of mourners dressed in black flooded the streets of Tehran in a state funeral procession for about 60 of those killed in the strikes, with IRGC-affiliated outlet Tasnim News Agency describing them as "martyred." Caskets of the dead were covered in Iranian flags. The outlet reported the procession, in which participants were seen carrying flags and banners, commenced near the University of Tehran in Enghelab (Revolution) Square and ended at the Azadi (Freedom) Square. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian marched in the procession and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was seen giving his prayers, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not spotted. Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of the Iranian armed forces generals, nuclear scientists and their family members who were killed in Israeli strikes, at Islamic Revolution Square (Enghelab Square) square, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June... Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of the Iranian armed forces generals, nuclear scientists and their family members who were killed in Israeli strikes, at Islamic Revolution Square (Enghelab Square) square, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 28, 2025. More AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency shared photos of various models of Iran's ballistic missiles showcased during the funeral procession. Pictures also showed Israeli and American flags being walked over and some burned, while the Associated Press reported that some people chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Salami, who was honored on Saturday, had leveled a threat to the United States in May, saying Iran would "open the gates of hell" if attacked by Israel or America. He was a defiant voice against Israel and had praised Hezbollah's operations in its war against the country in 2024. Bagheri had warned for years that his forces were ready for military action against the country. Others commemorated included women, children and nuclear physicists involved in Iran's nuclear energy and enrichment activities. The state funeral comes days after a fragile ceasefire was agreed upon between Israel and Iran. People hold flags near posters displaying assassinated military leaders, including Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC Hossein Salami (C), as thousands of Iranians attend the funeral ceremony for approximately 60 people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran,... People hold flags near posters displaying assassinated military leaders, including Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC Hossein Salami (C), as thousands of Iranians attend the funeral ceremony for approximately 60 people killed in Israeli strikes on Iran, including high-ranking military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians, during a state funeral service in Enqelab Square on June 28, 2025 in Tehran, Iran. MoreWhat People Are Saying Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote in a Persian in an X, formerly Twitter, post on Saturday: "From the bottom of my heart, I thank you dear people; With love, you bid farewell to the martyrs of our homeland, and our voice of unity reached the ears of the world. We have learned from Husayn ibn Ali (peace be upon him) not to submit to humiliation and not to bow our heads before oppression. Serving such a noble nation is the honor of my life. Forever Iran " Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote in Persian on X on Saturday: "The Iranian nation should know that the reason for the opposition to America is that they want Iran to surrender, and this is a great insult to the Iranian nation by the Americans, and such a thing will never happen." President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that the U.S. would "absolutely" consider bombing Iran against if it is found enriching uranium to "concerning" levels. What Happens Next The ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which went into effect on June 24, remains fragile. Trump said the U.S. and Iran are due to hold new talks about the country's nuclear capabilities. "We're going to talk to them next week, with Iran," Trump said at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday. "We may sign an agreement. I don't know." On Saturday, Araghchi posted on X, "If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt followers."
2 hours ago
What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill now before the Senate
WASHINGTON -- At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it's up to Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump's signature's domestic policy package will become law. Trump told Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset reduced Medicaid dollars. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate the various production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. The bill would deter states from regulating artificial intelligence by linking certain federal AI infrastructure money to maintaining a freeze. Seventeen Republican governors asked GOP leaders to drop the provision. Also, the interior secretary would be directed to sell certain Bureau of Land Management acreage to provide for housing. The sale of public lands would cover at least 600,000 acres and up to 1.2 million acres, according to a projection from the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group. Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the tax provisions cost $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
Chicago Tribune
3 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
What's in the latest version of President Donald Trump's big bill now before the Senate
WASHINGTON — At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it's up to Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump's signature's domestic policy package will become law. Trump told Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset reduced Medicaid dollars. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate the various production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. The bill would deter states from regulating artificial intelligence by linking certain federal AI infrastructure money to maintaining a freeze. Seventeen Republican governors asked GOP leaders to drop the provision. Also, the interior secretary would be directed to sell certain Bureau of Land Management acreage to provide for housing. The sale of public lands would cover at least 600,000 acres and up to 1.2 million acres, according to a projection from the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group. Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the tax provisions cost $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
