Netanyahu declares 'there will be no Hamas, no 'Hamastan'. It's over' as Israel awaits a response from the terror group over proposed 60-day ceasefire
'There will not be a Hamas. There will not be a Hamastan. We're not going back to that. It's over,' Netanyahu told a meeting hosted by the Trans-Israel pipeline today.
It comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Israel had agreed to what he called a 'final proposal' for ceasefire conditions.
Hamas and Israel both staked out their positions ahead of expected talks on the Washington-backed ceasefire proposal due to to take place on Wednesday.
The militant group has suggested it was open to an agreement while the Israeli prime minister vowed 'there will be no Hamas' in postwar Gaza.
Both stopped short of accepting the proposal announced by Trump on Tuesday.
Hamas insisted on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Trump said that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen.
The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire, hostage agreement, and bring about an end to the war.
Trump said the 60-day period would be used to work toward ending the war - something Israel says it won't accept until Hamas is defeated.
He said that a deal might come together as soon as next week.
But Hamas' response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.
Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said that the militant group was 'ready and serious regarding reaching an agreement.'
He said Hamas was 'ready to accept any initiative that clearly leads to the complete end to the war.'
A Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, according to an Egyptian official.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity, because he wasn't authorized to discuss the talks with the media.
Throughout the nearly 21-month-long war, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over whether the war should end as part of any deal.
Hamas said in a brief statement Wednesday that it had received a proposal from the mediators and is holding talks with them to 'bridge gaps' to return to the negotiating table to try to reach a ceasefire agreement.
Hamas has said that it's willing to free the remaining 50 hostages, less than half of whom are said to be alive, in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war.
On Tuesday, Trump wrote on social media that Israel had 'agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.' 'I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better - IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,' he said
Israel says it will only agree to end the war if Hamas surrenders, disarms and exiles itself, something the group refuses to do.
'I am announcing to you - there will be no Hamas,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a speech Wednesday.
An Israeli official said that the latest proposal calls for a 60-day deal that would include a partial Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a surge in humanitarian aid to the territory.
The mediators and the U.S. would provide assurances about talks to end the war, but Israel isn't committing to that as part of the latest proposal, the official said.
The official wasn't authorized to discuss the details of the proposed deal with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
It wasn't clear how many hostages would be freed as part of the agreement, but previous proposals have called for the release of about 10.
Some 50 hostages remain, many of them thought to be dead.
'I'm holding my hands and praying that this will come about,' said Idit Ohel, mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel.
'I hope the world will help this happen, will put pressure on whoever they need to, so the war will stop and the hostages will return.'
On Monday, Trump is set to host Netanyahu at the White House, days after Ron Dermer, a senior Netanyahu adviser, held discussions with top U.S. officials about Gaza, Iran and other matters.
On Tuesday, Trump wrote on social media that Israel had 'agreed to the necessary conditions to finalize the 60 Day CEASEFIRE, during which time we will work with all parties to end the War.'
'I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better - IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,' he said.
Trump's warning may find a skeptical audience with Hamas. Even before the expiration of the war's longest ceasefire in March, Trump has repeatedly issued dramatic ultimatums to pressure Hamas to agree to longer pauses in the fighting that would see the release of more hostages and a return of more aid for Gaza's civilians.
Still, Trump views the current moment as a potential turning point in the brutal conflict that has left more than 57,000 dead in the Palestinian territory.
Gaza's Health Ministry said the death toll passed the 57,000 mark Tuesday into Wednesday, after hospitals received 142 bodies overnight.
The ministry doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count, but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Since dawn Wednesday, Israeli strikes killed a total of 40 people across the Gaza Strip, the ministry said. Hospital officials said four children and seven women were among the dead.
The Israeli military, which blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas, was looking into the reports.
The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times.
And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, pushing hundreds of thousands of people toward hunger.
The director of the Indonesian Hospital, Dr. Marwan Sultan, was killed in an apartment in an Israeli strike west of Gaza City, a hospital statement said.
The hospital is the Palestinian enclave's largest medical facility north of Gaza City and has been a critical lifeline since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The hospital was surrounded by Israeli troops last month, and evacuated alongside the other two primary hospitals in northern Gaza.
The bodies of Sultan, his wife, daughter and son-in-law, arrived at Shifa Hospital torn into pieces, according to Issam Nabhan, head of the nursing department at the Indonesian Hospital.
'Gaza lost a great man and doctor,' Nabhan said.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Inside the ugly relationship between Islamism and the Left
Barely an hour after Zarah Sultana announced that she was leaving Labour to lead a new Left-wing party with Jeremy Corbyn, the Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) campaign group posted a statement on X wishing the pair 'every success in this bold new chapter'. Labour refused to engage with Mend after Sir Keir Starmer took over as leader, and cut the party's ties with groups accused of links to Islamism. In his official review of the Prevent anti-extremism programme in 2023, Sir William Shawcross described Mend as an 'Islamist organisation' and, before becoming Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley highlighted the group's alarmist opposition to British counter-extremism measures. Wishing @zarahsultana and @jeremycorbyn every success in this bold new chapter. At a time when so many feel politically voiceless, your continued commitment to justice, equality, and grassroots representation is inspiring. We look forward to seeing positive change flourish. — MEND Community (@mendcommunity) July 3, 2025 Sultana, however, might take a different view. Although there is no suggestion that she holds Islamist views, before becoming an MP she worked as Mend's parliamentary officer. She has also claimed that the phrase 'Islamist' is used to smear pro-Palestine activists as 'violent and extreme'. Like Mend, she has been deeply critical of Prevent, describing it as 'racist'. Like Sultana, Mend insists that Israel is carrying out a 'genocide' in Gaza – an issue that Sultana's statement says will be a focus of her new party. Sultana and Corbyn's venture (although Corbyn has yet to publicly confirm his ally's statement) appears to herald a new dawn in the decades-long relationship between the far-Left and Islamism, which has been flourishing amid the war in Gaza like never before. It is perhaps fitting that the announcement should come in the week after tens of thousands of festival-goers at Glastonbury joined in with a chant of 'death to the IDF' that would not have sounded out of place at a parade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, or a Hamas rally. Many may also have been among the crowd at Glastonbury eight years earlier, when Corbyn was welcomed on stage to a chant of 'Oh, Jeremy Corbyn'. The political alliance highlighted by Mend's support for Sultana and Corbyn's new party, and the seeping of Islamist narratives and slogans into progressive protest, are the culmination of a long marriage of convenience between Islamism and the hard-Left, based on a shared sense of grievance and cynical opportunism. The Left hopes to harness the fervour of anti-Western sentiment among radicalised Muslims, while Islamism benefits from the warm glow of the more acceptable face of progressives who exert influence over culture and politics. Rakib Ehsan, the British Muslim academic and author, says: 'The hard-Left and Islamism are tied by grievance politics and, in the darker circles of their intersection, anti-Semitism is rife – especially the classic tropes about global power, influence and control. That is shared by both sides, along with sympathies with foreign regimes which are hostile to so-called Western interests.' Broadly speaking, Islamism relates to groups espousing 'political Islam', by stressing that religion should determine how society is governed. These groups tend to have close links to, or show support for, far-Left organisations such as Palestine Action and Stop The War. 'Islamist organisations are gradualists,' says Lord Walney, the former Labour MP and adviser to the Government on political violence and disruption. 'They believe that, ultimately, we should live under Islamic rule, but they realise that that's not going to happen soon, so they will pick out building blocks – such as blasphemy laws – to keep moving the dial.' The effort to shape Britain's approach to the Gaza conflict appears to have become one of those building blocks. Now, the alliance is stronger than ever, with Islamists and the far-Left joining forces to influence government policy, with demands to end arms sales to Israel, and opposition to the Government's plans to ban the radical protest group, Palestine Action. If you wanted a family portrait of this idiosyncratic partnership, it would be hard to beat the sight of pink-haired protestors in the capital effectively cheering for the mullahs of the Iranian regime, claiming to be on the 'right side of history' – with clerics who execute homosexuals, torture opponents and systematically oppress women. Soviet origins Fifty years ago, much of the far-Left was inspired by the Soviet Union's Middle East propaganda, a pro-Islamist stance in response to US and European support for Israel. That influenced Left-wing groups in the UK – such as the Communist Party of Great Britain and the Revolutionary Communist Group – who identified Arabs as oppressed, while Israel, then as now, was seen as an illegitimate 'white' state. But the far-Left remains a politically insignificant force on its own. Part of the motivation for an alliance with Islamism is to harness the power of others for their own ends – which, of course, works both ways. This is neatly illustrated in a 1994 article by Chris Harman of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) for International Socialism, ' The Prophet and the Proletariat ', which advocated for a pragmatic working relationship between Islamists and revolutionary socialists. Harman is open about the areas of opposition between the two groups – over the role of women, for example – but concludes: 'On some issues we will find ourselves on the same side as the Islamists against imperialism and the state… It should be true in countries like France or Britain... Where the Islamists are in opposition, our rule should be, 'with the Islamists sometimes, with the state never'.' In Britain, where Islamism only speaks for a fraction of the country's Muslims, the Labour party remained a natural home for many Muslim voters up to Tony Blair's premiership. 'To put it crudely, community leaders were able to 'deliver' votes for Labour from within those communities in certain areas such as Birmingham or Bradford,' says Timothy Peace, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Glasgow. 'From the 1980s, Muslims themselves began to enter local councils, but the closeness with Labour continued up to the late 1990s.' This began to break down thanks to the wars in Iraq (2003-2011) and Afghanistan (2001-2021). The establishment of the Stop The War Coalition (STWC) in 2001 was a milestone which provided Corbyn and other prominent Leftists with a forum to connect with groups such as the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). Last year, the then Communities Secretary, Michael Gove, alleged in Parliament that the MAB, together with Mend and Cage, which campaigns against counter-terror measures, 'give rise to concern for their Islamist orientation and views'. All three groups rejected the label, with Mend's chief executive Azhar Qayum saying his organisation was 'not at all' extremist, Cage pledging to 'explore all avenues, including legal' to challenge the 'government's deep dive into authoritarianism', and the MAB accusing Gove of a 'blatant effort to stifle dissenting voices'. Britain's action in Iraq and elsewhere gave overtly Islamist groups an opportunity to tap into the concept of the 'Ummah' – the worldwide Islamic community. Shawcross's review warned that key Islamist narratives included, 'commanding that [their interpretation of] the Islamic faith is placed at the centre of an individual's identity, and must govern all social and political decision-making'. At the same time, a definition of Islamophobia proposed by some MPs and backed by bodies such as Mend and the MAB would prohibit anyone from 'accusing Muslim citizens of being more loyal to the 'Ummah'… than to the interests of their own nations', raising concerns about potential limits on freedom of speech. 'The MAB were tied to political Islam and found inspiration from the Muslim Brotherhood, a powerful organisation in Arab countries,' says Peace. 'The MAB were one of the key organisations in Stop the War, even though they were not very big at the time it began. The driving force were the Socialist Workers Party, and they managed to mobilise large numbers of Muslim protesters, and that overruled any ideological divisions between the two groups.' The MAB has said it is 'a British organisation operating entirely within the British Isles, with no presence elsewhere. It is not an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood nor a member'. Respect Party A 2004 poll revealed Labour's support among Muslim voters had halved from its high watermark of around 80 per cent. The Lib Dems specifically targeted Muslim voters with an anti-war agenda at the general election a year later, which paid off most notably in Rochdale. Labour's Lorna Fitzsimons was unseated amid claims of anti-Semitism in campaign leaflets produced by a group called the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK, which advocated for the Lib Dems, and later apologised for the pamphlets. More significant was George Galloway's victory in Bethnal Green and Bow in east London over Labour's Oona King in 2005. Galloway, expelled from Labour in 2003 and a long-standing anti-Zionist, assumed a leadership role in the nascent Respect Party, described in The Observer as an, 'alliance... between the Trotskyist far-Left and the Islamic far-Right'. In 2010, the Channel 4 series Dispatches alleged that the Islamic Forum of Europe, which sought to change 'the very infrastructure of society... from ignorance to Islam', had been campaigning for Respect. Galloway described the documentary as 'a dirty little programme'. 'Even though far-Left figures were involved, Muslim voters were driving Respect because the Left have never been able to mobilise large numbers of voters alone,' says Peace. In the years between 2005 and 2023, the links between the Left and Islamism were largely built on an antipathy for counter-terrorism measures such as Prevent, which it was claimed put unfair emphasis on the role of Muslims in extremism, thus contributing to Islamophobia. In his 2021 report for the Policy Exchange think tank, Islamism And The Left, Britain's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir John Jenkins, wrote: 'Following the introduction of legislation by David Cameron's Government that put Prevent on a statutory footing, the Islamist-aligned campaign groups Cage and Mend, and the Stand Up To Racism network, allegedly linked to the Socialist Workers Party, formed a particularly close alliance. 'Throughout 2016 and 2017, individuals representing Mend spoke at Stand Up To Racism events across the country. Some of these events were attended by prominent Labour figures such as... Jeremy Corbyn.' Corbyn, now 76, is in many ways, along with Galloway, the great continuity figure in the relationship between the Left and Muslim political activism, stretching back through his campaigning over 50 years. Gaza war Within eight hours of the attack by Hamas on Oct 7 2023, the Met Police received its first request for a national demonstration against Israel. That first march took place on Oct 14, and carried an 'end apartheid' message, supported by the SWP, the Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) and the MAB. Corbyn addressed the rally, saying, 'You must condemn what is happening now in Gaza by the Israeli army.' Although Islamism only speaks for a minority of Muslims, the Gaza war has confirmed that support for Palestine (and animosity to Israel) is widespread within Britain's Muslim communities. Central to the pro-Palestinian protests ever since October 2023 have been the SWP working alongside, among others, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), the Left-wing group run by Ben Jamal, the son of a Palestinian Anglican vicar, and the MAB. The latest Stop The War posters display the SWP logo alongside those of the PSC, MAB, Mend and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, among others. 'Palestine does rank differently in terms of its importance to Muslims,' says Ehsan. 'Some might think, 'Why is this MP talking about Gaza so much?', but you'll find that they are representing the views of their Muslim constituents.' Galloway was re-elected to Parliament in the Rochdale by-election of 2024, having stood for the Workers Party of Britain in opposition to Israel. Labour withdrew support for its own candidate Azhar Ali, who apologised following reports that he claimed Israel had 'allowed' the Hamas attack, leaving Galloway to secure 40 per cent of the vote and proclaim: 'Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza.' Ehsan says that 'when it comes to Israel and Palestine, many British Muslims are emotionally invested. In their eyes, this is their brothers and sisters suffering at the hands of a Jewish-supremacist regime. They also feel they live in a country that doesn't recognise Palestine – there is a sense of betrayal.' 2024 elections The moment the Green councillor Mothin Ali chanted 'Allahu Akbar!' in his victory rally in Leeds last May signalled something had changed in British politics. Ali later apologised for past comments on Israel, which included posting on Oct 7 that 'White supremacist European settler colonialism must end.' But the preponderance of Gaza as a central issue in areas with large numbers of Muslim voters was evident in both the general and local elections. Leane Mohamad almost unseated Wes Streeting by campaigning on Gaza in the Health Secretary's Ilford North constituency in 2024, losing by only 528 votes, and claiming more than 32 per cent of the vote from a standing start. This pattern was replicated across the country at the general election, and though Mohamad fell just short, four other independent candidates were able to defeat Labour opponents in areas with significant Muslim populations. Several more pushed prominent Labour figures – including Jess Phillips in Birmingham Yardley – to within an inch of defeat. Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed and Ayoub Khan then joined Corbyn (who else?) to form a new 'Independent Alliance' of MPs. The logo of this faction features green, white and black arrows on a red base, conveying the colours of the Palestinian flag. There is no suggestion that any of these MPs are Islamists. What their election does show is that many Muslims are prepared to vote en masse for candidates on the single issue of Gaza. That in itself is a noteworthy, novel development in British politics. 'Pro-Palestine candidates now know they can win without a mainstream party,' says Ehsan. 'That is the future. We are now in a totally different political environment.' Anti-Zionist 'takeover' of the Greens Last month, Ali shared a post supporting Palestine Action that altered the words to William Blake's poem, Jerusalem. It ended with the line: 'Till we have built Jerusalem in Palestine's green and pleasant land'. The words, turned into the famous hymn of England, had been rewritten in support of the group alleged to have broken into RAF Brize Norton base and damaged Typhoon fighter jets. Ali rose to further prominence last summer when he was filmed advocating for the protection of Muslims during the riots in the aftermath of the Southport murders. Now he is standing to become the Green Party's deputy leader. His success highlights how the Greens are attracting both far-Left figures and some Muslim politicians who, while not linked to Islamism, have espoused extreme views. It will also become a test case of whether that partnership can last. During the election, the party endorsed half a dozen candidates who allegedly shared 'anti-Semitic' slurs, conspiracy theories or offensive comments online. It went on to enjoy its best-ever general election results, winning nearly two million votes, including four seats in the Commons. Muslim support was crucial to the victory in Bristol Central, where there is a large Somali community. 'The Greens aren't just ripe for takeover – they have been taken over,' says Lord Walney. Corbyn's former advisor Matt Zarb-Cousin has recently joined. 'Some of the ant-Zionist rhetoric in Green activism is absolutely toxic,' adds Lord Walney. 'I don't think they have any interest in tackling that because they want to be an influential voice and capture that alternative Left, and to be in that space you need to be vehemently anti-Israel – that reflects the Islamist point of view as well.' A Green Party spokesperson declined to comment on Ali or the findings of any investigation into his conduct, but told The Telegraph: 'People join because they are passionate about human rights, ending systemic racism, and stopping climate change. In joining, members also agree to abide by our Code of Conduct.' Another test case when it comes to the partnership between some Muslims and the far-Left over Gaza, will be the recent takeover of Tribune, the Left-wing publication for which George Orwell used to be a columnist, by the founder of the Islam Channel, which repeatedly accuses Israel of a genocide in Gaza, and was fined £40,000 by Ofcom over 'serious and repeated breaches' of broadcasting rules which 'amounted to hate speech against Jewish people'. Former Tribune editor Paul Anderson said it was 'one of the weirdest things to have happened in the history of British media. The link probably comes from the Jeremy Corbyn factor, that Islamic hard-Left alliance.' Taking an ugly turn Beyond Gaza, Islamist groups and the far-Left have come together to support a new definition of Islamophobia, which has been rejected by previous governments as being too vulnerable to influence from extremists. Critics believe the proposed definition, which is also supported by many moderate Muslims, is so expansive that it could threaten free speech, act as a de facto blasphemy law, and stifle legitimate criticism of Islam as a religion. To Lord Walney, the convergence over the definition speaks to a recurring theme of the far-Left's alliance with Islamists. The relationship gives figures such as Corbyn cover for some distinctly unprogressive views. 'The hard-Left's strange attraction to Islamism reflects their tolerance for authoritarianism,' says Lord Walney. 'British politics is potentially taking a really ugly turn.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Iran struck five Israeli military bases during 12-day war
Iranian missiles appear to have directly hit five Israeli military facilities during the recent 12-day war, according to radar data seen by The Telegraph. The strikes have not been made public by the Israeli authorities and cannot be reported from within the country because of strict military censorship laws. They will further complicate the battle of words between the enemies, with both sides attempting to claim absolute victory. The new data were shared with The Telegraph by US academics at Oregon State University, who specialise in using satellite radar data to detect bomb damage in war zones. It suggests five previously unreported military facilities were hit by six Iranian missiles in the north, south and centre of Israel, including a major air base, an intelligence gathering centre and a logistics base. Approached by The Telegraph on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it would not comment on missile interception rates or damage to its bases. 'What we can say is that all relevant units maintained functional continuity throughout the operation,' said a spokesman. The strikes on the military facilities are in addition to 36 others known to have pierced Israeli air-defence systems, causing significant damage to residential and industrial infrastructure. Despite the considerable damage to residential property across the country, only 28 Israelis died – a testament to the country's sophisticated alert system and the disciplined use of bomb shelters and safe rooms by the population. Analysis by The Telegraph suggests that while the vast majority of Iranian missiles were intercepted, the proportion that got through grew steadily in the first eight days of the 12-day war. The reasons for this, say experts, are not clear but may include the rationing of a limited stock of interceptor missiles on the Israeli side and improved firing tactics and the possible use of more sophisticated missiles by Iran. Although the Iron Dome is Israel's best-known air-defence system, it is actually designed to protect against short-range projectiles such as mortars and is only one part of the 'layered' air-defence system the country uses. In the middle tier stands the David's Sling air-defence system, which is optimised for intercepting drones and missiles with ranges up to 300km. At the top is the Arrow system, which engages long-range ballistic missiles before they re-enter the atmosphere. Importantly, the Israeli systems were backed up throughout the 12-day war by two US ground-based THAAD missile-defence systems and ship-based interceptors launched from US assets in the Red Sea. The US is estimated to have launched at least 36 THAAD interceptors during the war at a cost of some $12 million a time. In Israel, a densely packed small country of just 9.7 million people, the piercing of the country's famed missile-defence systems has come as a shock, with the authorities having to issue notices warning that they were 'not hermetic'. The 15,000 made homeless are especially conspicuous as they have been distributed to hotel accommodation throughout the country and the restriction of residential sites has been reported freely. But there has also been growing suspicion within the country that military targets were hit. Raviv Drucker of Channel 13, one of the country's best-known journalists, said last week: 'There were a lot of [Iranian] missile hits in IDF bases, in strategic sites that we still don't report about to this day... It created a situation where people don't realise how precise the Iranians were and how much damage they caused in many places'. Corey Scher, a researcher at Oregon State University, said his unit was working on a fuller assessment of missile damage in both Israel and Iran, and would publish its findings in around two weeks. He said the radar system data that they used to assess damage measured changes in the built environment to detect blasts and that absolute confirmation of hits would necessitate either on-the-ground reporting at the military sites concerned or satellite pictures. The Telegraph's data analysis shows the combined US and Israeli defence systems performed well overall, but were letting through around 16 per cent of missiles by day seven of the war. This broadly accords with an earlier IDF estimate for the defence system that put the success rate at '87 per cent'. In Iran, Islamic Republic officials and state media are using footage of missiles penetrating Israeli air defences in an attempt to convince domestic audiences they won the war. There are cartoons mocking the Iron Dome in Iranian media with revolutionary songs playing over videos of missiles hitting Israeli cities. Iranian officials say that the main way Israel's air defences were pierced was by using missiles and drones at the same time to confuse defence systems. Fast missiles mixed with slower drones confused the defences and made them split their attention, officials claim. 'The main goal of firing [suicide drones] at Israel is always to keep their systems busy,' one Iranian official told The Telegraph. 'Many don't even get through – they're intercepted – but they still cause confusion.' Maj Gen Ali Fazli, the IRGC's deputy commander-in-chief, appeared on state TV on Thursday night, claiming implausibly that Iran was 'in the best defensive position in the 47-year history of the Islamic Revolution – never before have we been at such a level in terms of military readiness, operational cohesion, and fighter morale'. This despite Israel's proven ability to strike at will over the entire country and the substantial damage caused to the country's military leadership and nuclear programme. Nevertheless, it is likely that a large part of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal remains untouched. Even by Israeli estimates, only half of its launchers were destroyed in the 12-day conflict and substantial stocks of missiles remain. 'Iran had about 400 launchers, and we destroyed more than 200 of them, which caused a bottleneck in their missile operations,' an Israeli military official said on Thursday They added: 'We assessed that Iran had approximately 2,000 to 2,500 ballistic missiles at the beginning of this conflict. However, they were rapidly moving toward a mass-production strategy, which could see their missile stockpile grow to 8,000 or even 20,000 missiles in the next few years.' Maj Gen Fazli claimed that underground 'cities' of missiles remained untouched in Iran. 'We have not yet opened the doors of even one of our missile cities,' he claimed on Thursday. 'We assess that so far only about 25 to 30 per cent of existing missile capability has been used and, at the same time, the production cycle is powerfully supporting this operational capacity.'
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
How a history festival became a forum of fear
'Defence needs to be our number one priority.' This sounds like the sort of thing you'd hear at a Nato summit, or a Chatham House conference, but it was the plea of Colin Bell, a 104-year-old second world war RAF veteran, as he was interviewed at Chalke Valley History Festival last weekend. The Wiltshire festival was the brainchild of historian James Holland (second world war specialist; brother of Tom). Originally designed as a fundraiser for his local cricket club, the weeklong event is now in its tenth year. Speakers at last weekend's event ranged from Max Hastings and Alice Loxton to Al Murray and Peter Frankopan, and were complemented by live re-enactments and activities. I attended the festival on the penultimate day, saw a guillotine and battle tanks and heard about everything from the origins of the name 'Charing Cross' to the five partitions of the British Raj. But despite the fun, I noticed a darker tone running through many of the talks. Discussion of Donald Trump dominated. Talks by the historian Niall Ferguson and the peer and former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption drew the biggest audiences of the day, and both focused on the American president. Sumption focused on the challenges facing American democracy, while Ferguson put the present-day concerns over Taiwan into historical perspective. This was Glastonbury for history nerds. The music festival was taking place only an hour west away the same weekend, but this crowd was more red corduroy and linen suits than vest tops and baggy shorts. Though judging by the queue for Ferguson to sign his books, he was the festival's rockstar. Ferguson's talk was stark. He said he put the chance of a US-China conflict over Taiwan at 50 per cent over the next three years, and that Trump's presidency raises the likelihood of such a conflict happening sooner. President Xi (potentially ill or on his way out), could seek to secure a legacy, Ferguson argued, and exploit a Trump administration that looks increasingly disinterested in Taiwan. Ferguson imagined a scenario where a blockade of Taiwan begins and Trump is presented with two options: attack the Chinese fleet and defend the island, with consequences that could escalate to a third world war, or concede. Which would he pick? We are already living through Cold War Two, Ferguson continued, and it probably started in the early 2010s. The West's dependency on semi-conductors from Taiwan could see a crisis akin to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, he said, except this time the island is off the coast of the other superpower. 'Do we really want Trump in Khrushchev's position?' Ferguson asked. Sumption – promoting his new book The Challenges of Democracy – took an even more pessimistic view of Trump than Ferguson, arguing that the President had all the hallmarks of an authoritarian leader. Democracy is a fragile thing, he told us. Much of Sumption's talk focused on the merits and pitfalls of the American constitution versus its European counterparts. Britain's unwritten constitution somehow survived the tests of the Johnson and Truss premierships, he said. We should consider ourselves lucky: the American system is more easily dismantled. For a day, Chalke was no longer a history festival, but a forum of fear. Leaving Ferguson's talk, I couldn't help but think again of the RAF veteran, Colin Bell. Throughout his talk, the TV screens in the tent displayed the phrase 'We Will Remember', over the backdrop of a poppy. Surrounded by his interviewers, young historians and broadcasters in their twenties and thirties, he declared that 'to avoid a third world war, we must focus on defence'. War, warned Ferguson and Sumption and Bell, is not just a thing from history.
