Latest news with #MiddleEast
Asharq Al-Awsat
43 minutes ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Killed 30 Iranian Security Chiefs and 11 Nuclear Scientists, Israeli Official Says
Israel killed more than 30 senior security officials and 11 senior nuclear scientists to deliver a major blow to Iran's nuclear ambitions, a senior Israeli military official said on Friday in summarizing Israel's 12-day air war with Iran. In the United States, an independent expert said a review of commercial satellite imagery showed only a small number of the approximately 30 Iranian missiles that penetrated Israel's air defenses managed to hit any militarily significant targets. "Iran has yet to produce missiles that demonstrate great accuracy," Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the CNA Corporation specializing in satellite imagery, told Reuters. In Israel, the senior military official said Israel's June 13 opening strike on Iran severely damaged its aerial defenses and destabilized its ability to respond in the critical early hours of the conflict. Israel's air force struck over 900 targets and the military deeply damaged Iran's missile production during the war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, the official said. "The Iranian nuclear project suffered a major blow: The regime's ability to enrich uranium to 90% was neutralized for a prolonged period. Its current ability to produce a nuclear weapon core has been neutralized," the official said. Iran, which denies trying to build nuclear weapons, retaliated against the strikes with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites and cities. Iran said it forced the end of the war by penetrating Israeli defenses. Iranian authorities said 627 people were killed in Iran, where the extent of the damage could not be independently confirmed because of tight restrictions on the media. Israeli authorities said 28 people were killed in Israel. Eveleth, the independent US expert, said Iran's missile forces were not accurate enough to destroy small military targets like US-made F-35 jet fighters in their shelters. "Because of this the only targets they can hit with regularity are large cities or industrial targets like the refinery at Haifa," he told Reuters. Iranian missile salvos, which were limited by Israeli airstrikes in Iran, did not have the density to achieve high rates of destruction, he wrote on X. "At the current level of performance, there is effectively nothing stopping Israel from conducting the same operation in the future with similar results," he wrote. In a statement on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had directed the military to draft plans to safeguard air superiority over Iran, prevent nuclear development and missile production, and address Iran's support for militant operations against Israel. Israel's military Chief of Staff Lieutenant General, Eyal Zamir, said on Friday the outcome in Iran could help advance Israeli objectives against the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza Strip. Zamir told troops in Gaza an Israeli ground operation, known as "Gideon's Chariots," would in the near future achieve its goal of greater control of the Palestinian enclave and present options to Israel's government for further action.
CNN
an hour ago
- Politics
- CNN
Could The Iran Nuclear Attacks Backfire? - Amanpour - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Could The Iran Nuclear Attacks Backfire? Amanpour 58 mins The primary goal of Israeli and American attacks on Iran was to remove the country's "existential" nuclear threat. But what if the attacks have the opposite effect, motivating the Iran to pull of the non-proliferation treaty and resume their nuclear program covertly? In parliament, Iranian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to suspend cooperation with the IAEA. This means that Iran would halt inspections, reporting and oversight activities. Iran always insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. For some perspective, we bring you Christiane's 1995 report on her visit to Iran's earliest nuclear power plant in Bushehr. Also on today's show: Gary Samore, former White House Coordinator for Arms Control; Elaine Sciolino, author of "Adventures in the Louvre"; Mark Henson, Dir. of Federal Advocacy and Government Affairs, The Trevor Project
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Boom goes the deal? As war threatens China's Iran investments, Middle East still beckons
Watching as missile bombardments threaten key shipping routes and blow up some of their trade deals in the Middle East, with Iran at the centre of the firestorm, Chinese exporters are feeling the heat. After finalising a deal with an Iranian buyer she met at China's Canton Fair in April, Miya Yu, a trader of light industrial goods – valves, toys, aluminium containers, etc – collected the necessary materials to begin production and fill the order. Production never began. The contracted client vanished without a word as his country engaged in battle with the United States and Israel, putting Yu's business plans at risk of becoming an economic casualty of the latest violent crisis in a region that is among the world's most volatile. 'We simply can't tell whether delivery will still be possible,' she said on Monday. Meanwhile, Cai Zhan, a foreign trade entrepreneur from Wenzhou and a social media influencer with more than 1.2 million followers on Douyin – China's version of TikTok – said in a recent video that she had cancelled August plans to attend an auto-parts expo in Iran, after clients warned her not to come, citing the 'serious' security situation. 'The ongoing conflict has severely disrupted business,' she said. And with clients cutting orders, shipping costs rising, and the outlook shrouded in uncertainty, she said many exporters in her network are tightening their belts. In terms of tremors of instability in the pulse of global shifts, few are more attuned than Chinese exporters navigating its shock waves in real time.
CBS News
an hour ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Trump says ceasefire in Gaza possible "within the next week"
President Trump said Friday he believes a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is possible "within the next week." "I think it's close," Mr. Trump told reporters when asked about the prospect of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. "We think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire." The Trump administration has pushed for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas for weeks, but a deal has proven elusive so far. Israel and Hamas have not publicly commented on whether a deal is possible soon. Late last month, Mr. Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a 60-day ceasefire. Under that proposal, Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 dead hostages who were taken to Gaza during Hamas' 2023 attack on Israel, according to a copy obtained by CBS News. Israel would release 125 "life sentence" prisoners, 1,111 Palestinian detainees and 180 deceased Palestinians as part of the deal. Israel supported that proposal, but Hamas said it responded with "some notes and amendments." Witkoff called Hamas' response "totally unacceptable" in a May 31 post on X. The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, many of whom have since been released. Israel responded with an invasion and intense aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, killing over 56,000 people, according to figures from the territory's Hamas-run Health Ministry. Residents gather after the Israeli army targets a house belonging to the al-Sus family in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 27, 2025. Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images Israel and Hamas have struck two ceasefire and hostage release deals since October 2023, the most recent of which — a 60-day pause in hostilities — ended in mid-March. Since then, the fighting has resumed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced pressure from the families of some hostages to cut a deal to secure their release, but the Israeli leader said last month there is "no way" the war will end until Hamas is defeated, though he left open the possibility of a temporary truce to secure the release of more hostages. Separately, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israel-backed private aid group, began distributing food in the Gaza Strip earlier this month. But the group has been mired in controversy, with frequent reports of people shot by Israeli troops near distribution sites, leading the head of the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency to call it a "death trap." The group has defended its efforts. Mr. Trump promoted the aid efforts Friday, saying, "we have a pretty good system now." Meanwhile, an unrelated ceasefire between Israel and Iran that began Tuesday appears to be holding, ending more than a week of fighting between the two archrivals.
Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
UN Chief Slams US-Backed Gaza Aid Operation: ‘It Is Killing People'
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that a US-backed aid operation in Gaza is "inherently unsafe," giving a blunt assessment: "It is killing people." Israel and the United States want the UN to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement. "Any operation that channels desperate civilians into militarized zones is inherently unsafe. It is killing people," Guterres told reporters. Guterres said UN-led humanitarian efforts are being "strangled," aid workers themselves are starving and Israel as the occupying power is required to agree to and facilitate aid deliveries into and throughout the Palestinian enclave. "People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence," Guterres told reporters. "It is time to find the political courage for a ceasefire in Gaza." Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations. A senior UN official said on Sunday that the majority of those people were trying to reach GHF sites. Responding to Guterres on Friday, Israel's Foreign Ministry said Israel's military never targets civilians and accused the UN of "doing everything it can" to oppose the GHF aid operation. "In doing so, the UN is aligning itself with Hamas, which is also trying to sabotage the GHF's humanitarian operations," it posted on X. A GHF spokesperson said there have been no deaths at or near any of the GHF aid distribution sites. "It is unfortunate the UN continue to push false information regarding our operations," the GHF spokesperson said. "Bottom line, our aid is getting securely delivered. Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome the UN and other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza." GHF uses private US security and logistics firms to operate. It began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Friday so far it has given out more than 48 million meals. The US State Department said on Thursday it had approved $30 million in funding for the GHF and called on other countries to also support the group. Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the group denies.
