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The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The truth about Iran's nuclear programme
When the 12-day war against Iran was launched, Israel said it was because the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb. US intelligence reports from earlier in the year told a different story. Now the war is over and confusion remains – has Iran's nuclear programme been destroyed? The Guardian's diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, tells Michael Safi what we know – and why we don't know more – about what the conflict actually achieved. While Rouzbeh Parsi, a historian who studies Iran's nuclear programme explains why the ambiguity around Iran's intentions are partly a deliberate strategy. Yet, he says, it is one that has been a dangerous gamble for the country – and one which seems to have cost them dearly. What will the Iranian regime do next? Could it abandon its programme or will it decide to race towards making a bomb?
The Sun
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
China building giant ‘military city' fortress ten times bigger than the Pentagon with nuclear-proof bunker ready for WW3
CHINA is secretly constructing a massive new military fortress ten times bigger than the Pentagon. The "Beijing Military City" is kitted with a doomsday bunker ready for WW3 and could serve as a wartime command centre, according to US intelligence. 6 6 6 The Pentagon is famously the world's largest office building - but will be dwarfed by the new facility which is more than 4km across. It occupies a sprawling site about 20 miles southwest of the capital Beijing. There is no visible military presence around the complex, but US intelligence officials believe it is designed to play a key role in China's future military endeavours. Xi Jinping is rapidly building up a nuclear arsenal which, in a decade's time, could rival that of the US. With nuclear armament comes the need for more robust protection against nukes from other nations - hence the bunker beneath the fortress. The construction of the complex was first reported by the Financial Times, with satellite pictures showing its development. In February 2022, the site was filled with residential buildings and large areas of open land in an area north of the Chonqing Reservoir. A year later, it could be seen that the site had largely been cleared out in preparation for a massive construction project - which appeared to kick off in mid-2024. By the June of that year, the site had been completely overhauled wit a new system of surrounding tunnels and roads. According to the Chinese government, the new facility does not exist. There is no official mention of the construction project, and the Chinese embassy claims no knowledge of it. But the watertight restrictions around the site suggests otherwise. Access is strictly prohibited, and all drones and cameras are banned. Hiking trails near to the site have also been erased to avoid any prying eyes. A former senior US intelligence official told the FT that the new command centre could replace China's existing military headquarters dating from the Cold War. The source said: "The size, scale, and partially buried characteristics of the new facility suggest it will replace the Western Hills complex as the primary wartime command facility." 6 6 Renny Babiarz, a former imagery analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, told the paper that satellite images appeared to show about 100 cranes working away at the site. With deep underground tunnels and spaces reinforced in concrete, a China researcher told the FT that the complex had "all the hallmarks of a sensitive military facility". They said: "Nearly 10 times bigger than the Pentagon, it's fitting for Xi Jinping's ambitions to surpass the US. "This fortress only serves one purpose, which is to act as a doomsday bunker for China's increasingly sophisticated and capable military." The new base suggests that China has growing military ambitions, and aligns with the Chinese People's Liberation Army's goal to reform the military by 2027. 6
BBC News
30-06-2025
- BBC News
'It is the role of justice to deal with this man': How the trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie shook the world
In July 1987, 38 years ago this week, a Nazi war criminal, the "Butcher of Lyon", was sentenced to life in prison by a French court for crimes against humanity. Four years earlier, in 1983, the BBC reported on how France felt about this reckoning with its dark past. Klaus Barbie was known as the "Butcher of Lyon". As the Gestapo chief in Lyon, France, during World War Two, he had been tasked with shattering the French Resistance and ridding the German-occupied city of its Jewish population. He became notorious for his cruelty and sadism, often taking a personal role in torturing and killing prisoners. He sent some 7,500 French Jews and Resistance fighters to concentration camps and executed 4,000 more. Warning: This article contains details of torture that some may find upsetting. When the war ended, despite being wanted by French authorities for his horrific war crimes, he was hired by US intelligence as an informant on communist networks. They shielded him, allowing him to live in the US zone of occupied Germany under a false identity. In 1951, Barbie managed to escape prosecution by fleeing to South America via "The Ratline" that the US used to smuggle Nazis out of postwar Europe. He lived openly in Bolivia for decades until he was tracked down by a Nazi-hunting couple, Serge Klarsfeld and his wife Beate. In 1983, France finally managed to extradite him to face justice. And in July 1987, 38 years ago this week, he was finally sentenced to life in prison. But Barbie's prosecution was far from a straightforward matter for France. The Nazi's return raised questions of guilt and complicity, focusing the nation's attention on the choices its citizens had made while living under German occupation. In 1983, four years before Barbie was sentenced, BBC reporter Bernard Falk travelled to Lyon to talk to people "whose lives were touched by the Gestapo commander's savagery" and the complicated and painful issues the forthcoming Barbie trial had resurfaced. "The presence of Klaus Barbie back on French soil has also aroused genuine fear that it may evoke old memories, the ghosts of 40 years ago," said Falk. "A time when Frenchmen betrayed Frenchmen and the country was divided into those who fought the Germans, the Resistance, and those who collaborated with them, and the bulk of the population who passively accepted their presence." Resistance fighter Raymond Basset reflected on this legacy: "At the time of the liberation of Lyon, there were about 6,000 members of the Resistance movement in the area. Three days afterwards, there was 110,000. That probably explains a lot of things about French life today. Why? Because they only became patriots when there is no more risk attached to it. That's all." When France surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the city of Lyon became a centre for the underground Resistance movement. Basset and radio operator Marcel Bidault were two of the young men who joined early to fight the Nazi occupation. "Basset ran a Resistance group responsible for smuggling shot-down Allied airmen across the Pyrenees to Spain," said Falk. "Four thousand British, American and Commonwealth servicemen owe their lives to Basset's unit." But for every person who actively resisted the Nazis, many more tried to keep their heads down, hoping they would survive. Meanwhile, others welcomed the Nazis, even forming militia to participate as they terrorised the city's residents. Basset discovered this firsthand when he was arrested and then brutally interrogated while having his teeth pulled out. "Captured by the Gestapo, he was tortured to reveal the names of his couriers," said Falk. "The two men who mutilated him were both Frenchmen working for the Germans." Basset's co-conspirator, Bidault, "was captured by the French militia collaborating with the Nazis. He escaped before his own countrymen could hand him over to the Gestapo." Following France's liberation in 1944, people thought to be French collaborators were rounded up. Many were publicly humiliated. Women who had consorted with German soldiers had their heads shaved or were stripped and daubed with tar. People who had cooperated with the Gestapo were beaten in the streets, and some were tried and shot, including the men who had brutalised Basset. "I killed them, of course, we killed them at the liberation, there is no point in giving you their names," the 75-year-old Basset told the BBC in 1983. "They had retired with vast quantities of money, stolen from the Jews." Naming the collaborators But in the decades since the war, the German occupation and the scars it had created within French society had not been forgotten. Many of Lyon's residents were still haunted by what had happened during that time. "For the old, for those who suffered, Barbie never really went away. It's all still here. The battleground where the Resistance fought the occupying German army through the alleyways of the old city. The same streets, the same buildings," said Falk. With the "Butcher of Lyon" back in the country for trial, Basset was keen that France should acknowledge and reckon with its past. He told the BBC that the Gestapo chief should be made to name the French people who collaborated with the Nazis and escaped judgement. "I think the interrogation of Barbie will create many problems because there are most certainly men who were implicated with him," said Basset. He also told Falk of his desire for revenge. He wished that he had a chance to interrogate Barbie, and to mete out the punishment that he had suffered. In particular, the survivors wanted to know "the name of the person who betrayed Jean Moulin, the greatest of all the French Resistance leaders, who was arrested in Lyon after a tip-off", said Falk. Moulin was a crucial figure during the war who united the scattered elements of resistance into a co-ordinated force against their Nazi occupiers. He was viciously tortured by Barbie and died as a result of his injuries on 8 July 1943 on a train taking him to Germany. "During the occupation, there were lots of French who actually fought, but most of them spent their time looking for food. Now that Barbie is here, people will try to get him for all sorts of reasons," Basset told Falk, "but what should be done is simply to find out the name of who betrayed Jean Moulin. Once that has been done, he should be trodden on like a bedbug. He's a filthy animal who shouldn't be allowed to live. If you call that hate, it's hate." After his return, Barbie remained unrepentant for the atrocities he committed. Some felt that the Nazi simply could not be trusted to tell the truth and would use the trial for his own ends. "Opening up this Barbie case is pretty dramatic in the sense that you are going to have names coming up that, if Barbie does decide to talk, he could smear an awful a lot of people," said Jeremy Nicklin, chairman of Lyon's RAF Association, where many of the families of former Resistance fighters would regularly meet. "It doesn't matter what names he uses, if he is rather cunning about it, he can use any name, the mud will stick and what people are slightly frightened about in one sense is that he will sling a lot of mud because he's got nothing left to lose," said Nicklin. Basset's fellow Resistance fighter Bidault agreed that the Nazi's testimony couldn't all be believed, but it was now the job of the court to take over, sift through the evidence and see that justice was done. "I regret that he didn't die before, 40 years is a long time. What is he going to say, who is he going to denounce, if he denounces someone how can you prove that Barbie is right," Bidault asked the BBC in 1983. "I would have personally killed him 35 years ago. Now it is the role of justice to deal with this man. It's not my job." A national reckoning The trial would be a painful process for France; the wounds caused by Barbie and the Nazis were within living memory. Andre Signol had been only seven when his father Michel was arrested for being part of the Resistance. "He was beaten with bullwhips, he was half drowned in tubs of icy water. Barbie pulled out finger and toenails. It went on for four days. Michel wouldn't talk, he wouldn't betray his comrades," said Falk. Signol's father would be posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour. But Signol believed, despite the distress the trial would cause and his own need for vengeance, that having Barbie in court was vital to illustrate to young people what had taken place. "As far as Klaus Barbie goes, I think this man should be dead," said Signol. "He has never expressed any regret at all for his actions, so he goes on enjoying life and he has hope. That is completely abnormal. The trial is absolutely necessary to teach the younger generation about what happened." More like this:• How music saved a cellist's life in Auschwitz• The fake Hitler diaries that fooled the press• How Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jewish people In the 1950s, Barbie had been tried twice for his war crimes by France and sentenced to death "in absentia", but by the time the Nazi returned to the country in 1983, both convictions had lapsed. His new trial began in 1987 and its extensive media coverage gripped the French public. The harrowing testimony from those of Barbie's victims who had survived, and the relatives of those who didn't, laid bare the scale and savagery of the "Butcher of Lyon" atrocities. Although Barbie never revealed who had betrayed Jean Moulin to him, the proceedings did detail the sickening violence he had personally participated in, and the thousands of killings he was responsible for, including one incident in which 44 Jewish children were rounded up from a farmhouse at Izieu in Lyon, and sent to their deaths. Barbie's trial became a focus of national reckoning for the country as it recounted both France's wartime collusion with and resistance to its German occupiers. The proceedings also served to highlight how Western governments' pursuit of their own political goals had enabled Barbie and other Nazis to escape accountability for their crimes for so long. The fact that Barbie had prospered in South America, while working for various intelligence agencies and engaging in political projects, cast a spotlight on Western governments' complicity and their willingness to ignore violence to civilians and human rights violations in the face of geopolitical calculations. The Gestapo leader was found guilty of 341 separate crimes against humanity, reaffirming that, legally, individuals are responsible for their actions, even if they are following orders. He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, where he died in 1991. In 1983, the US formally apologised to France for hiring Barbie and protecting him against prosecutions. In 1995 the French President Jacques Chirac officially recognised the French state's responsibility in the deportation of Jews. "These dark hours forever sully our history and are an insult to our past and our traditions," he said. The "Butcher of Lyon" prosecution proved to be a landmark in the pursuit of crimes regarded as some of the gravest in international law – war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its success would trigger the indictments of such French collaborators as former cabinet minister Maurice Papon and former police chief Rene Bousquet, for acts they had committed during WW2. Barbie's conviction would illustrate to the global community the imperative of recognising the atrocities that take place during war, and, even if it takes decades, holding their perpetrators to account. -- For more stories and never-before-published radio scripts to your inbox, sign up to the In History newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more Culture stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, intel assessment suggests: report
US military strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities over the weekend did not destroy the country's nuclear program, early intelligence suggests, contrary to claims by President Donald Trump, a report states. Citing four people briefed on the initial assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, CNN reports that the strikes likely only set Iran's nuclear ambitions back by months. The DIA, the Pentagon's intelligence agency, based its assessment on battle damage analysis carried out by U.S. Central Command after the strikes on Saturday night, according to one source who spoke with CNN. While analysis of the damage to the three sites is still ongoing and may change as more intelligence becomes available, these early findings contradict Trump's repeated claims that the strikes 'completely and totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities. The same claim was made on Sunday by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Two of the people familiar with the assessment cited by CNN said Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed. One said the centrifuges are largely 'intact.' That person added: 'So the assessment is that the U.S. set them back maybe a few months, tops.' Further details of the report, obtained by The New York Times, state that the bombing succeeded in sealing off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse the underground buildings. US intelligence estimated before the attacks that if Iran rushed to try and make a nuclear bomb, it could be done in about three months. The DIA report estimated that the delay was less than six months following the strikes. According to the U.S. military, the operation went as planned and was an 'overwhelming success.' The White House has acknowledged the existence of the assessment to the network but said they did not agree with its conclusions. In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN: 'This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as 'top secret' but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.' She continued: 'The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran's nuclear program. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.' Secretary Hegseth similarly pushed back, telling the network: 'Based on everything we have seen — and I've seen it all — our bombing campaign obliterated Iran's ability to create nuclear weapons.' 'Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly,' he said. 'The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran; so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission.' A comprehensive analysis of the damage to Iran's nuclear program is still underway by the broader U.S. intelligence community, and the DIA assessment is the only one to be spoken of so far. Therefore, comparisons with other agencies are not possible at this time. Congress had been scheduled to be briefed on the strike on Tuesday, and lawmakers were expected to ask about the findings of the assessment; however, the session was postponed with no explanation. Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York wrote on X that the real reason was that while President Trump claimed 'all nuclear facilities and capability' had been destroyed, 'his team knows they can't back up his bluster and BS.' Senators are now supposed to be briefed on Thursday. As the smoke cleared over the three underground facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan hit by stealth bombers and cruise missiles over the weekend, experts who spoke with The Independent say the result may actually bring an Iranian nuclear bomb closer to reality and raise the risk of greater U.S. involvement in the conflict. 'Technically, it's probably slightly further away, but politically it's much more imminent,' said Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute and a former member of the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), which advises the Secretary of State. 'Iran has been a few months away from a nuclear weapon since about 2007. It's clear that the thing that keeps them a few months away is not their technical capacity; it's their political will. And I think whatever loss in technical capacity they have suffered, it is more than compensated for by an increase in political will,' Lewis said. Given the stage at which the U.S. strikes occurred, following days of Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear program, it is possible that there was time to remove and relocate centrifuges. Over the years, Iran has accumulated an estimated 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium — enough to produce about 10 nuclear weapons if it were further enriched from 60 percent to 90 percent, which is needed to build a device. Following the strikes, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Monday that his agency was seeking access to 'account for' Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpiles. Vice President JD Vance conceded on Sunday that the stockpile is still in Iranian hands and its whereabouts are unknown. With additional reporting by Richard Hall
France 24
25-06-2025
- Politics
- France 24
REPLAY: Donald Trump's address at the NATO summit
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