CNN reports from the huge crowds attending state funerals in Tehran
CNN's Frederik Pleitgen describes the scene as thousands of Iranians gathered to mourn military leaders, nuclear scientists and civilians during the country's 12-day conflict with Israel.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
US did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's nuclear sites, top general tells lawmakers, citing depth of the target
The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US' top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. The comment by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, which was described by three people who heard his remarks and a fourth who was briefed on them, is the first known explanation given for why the US military did not use the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb against the Isfahan site in central Iran. US officials believe Isfahan's underground structures house nearly 60% of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which Iran would need in order to ever produce a nuclear weapon. US B2 bombers dropped over a dozen bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites. But Isfahan was only struck by Tomahawk missiles launched from a US submarine. The classified briefing to lawmakers was conducted by Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. A spokesperson for Caine declined to comment, noting that he cannot comment on the chairman's classified briefing to Congress. During the briefing, Ratcliffe told lawmakers that the US intelligence community assesses that the majority of Iran's enriched nuclear material is buried at Isfahan and Fordow, according to a US official. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN on Thursday night after receiving the briefing that some of Iran's capabilities 'are so far underground that we can never reach them. So they have the ability to move a lot of what has been saved into areas where there's no American bombing capacity that can reach it.' An early assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency in the day after the US strikes said the attack did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program, including its enriched uranium, and likely only set the program back by months, CNN has reported. It also said Iran may have moved some of the enriched uranium out of the sites before they were attacked. The Trump officials who briefed lawmakers this week sidestepped questions about the whereabouts of Iran's stockpile of already-enriched uranium. President Donald Trump again claimed Friday that nothing was moved from the three Iranian sites before the US military operation. But Republican lawmakers emerged from the classified briefings on Thursday acknowledging that the US military strikes may not have eliminated all of Iran's nuclear materials. But they argued that doing so was not part of the military's mission. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas told CNN. 'My understanding is most of it's still there. So we need a full accounting. That's why Iran has to come to the table directly with us, so the (International Atomic Energy Agency) can account for every ounce of enriched uranium that's there. I don't think it's going out of the country, I think it's at the facilities.' 'The purpose of the mission was to eliminate certain particular aspects of their nuclear program. Those were eliminated. To get rid of the nuclear material was not part of the mission,' GOP Rep. Greg Murphy told CNN. 'Here's where we're at: the program was obliterated at those three sites. But they still have ambitions,' said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I don't know where the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium exists. But it wasn't part of the targets there.' '(The sites) were obliterated. Nobody can use them anytime soon,' Graham also said. Weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Jeffrey Lewis told CNN that commercial satellite images show that Iran has accessed the tunnels at Isfahan. 'There were a moderate number of vehicles present at Isfahan on June 26 and at least one of the tunnel entrances was cleared of obstructions by mid-morning June 27,' Lewis said. 'If Iran's stockpile of (highly enriched uranium) was still in the tunnel when Iran sealed the entrances, it may be elsewhere now.' Additional satellite imagery captured on June 27 by Planet Labs show the entrance to the tunnels were open at the time, according to Lewis. The preliminary DIA assessment noted that the nuclear sites' above ground structures were moderately to severely damaged, CNN has reported. That damage could make it a lot harder for Iran to access any enriched uranium that does remain underground, sources said, something that Graham alluded to on Thursday. 'These strikes did a lot of damage to those three facilities,' Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, told CNN on Thursday night. 'But Iran still has the know-how to put back together a nuclear program. And if they still have that enriched material, and if they still have centrifuges, and if they still have the capability to very quickly move those centrifuges into what we call a cascade, we have not set back that program by years. We have set it back by months.' Caine and Hegseth on Thursday said the military operation against Fordow went exactly as planned but did not mention the impacts to Isfahan and Natanz. CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Terror in Gaza: Hamas offers bounties to kill US and local aid workers, group says
EXCLUSIVE — The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is facing a new threat as Hamas terrorists place bounties on the heads of its workers, including U.S. security personnel and local aid staff. According to GHF, Hamas is offering monetary rewards to anyone who kills or injures the organization's workers. "We are aware of credible reports that Hamas is openly targeting the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and those who work with us. According to these reports, Hamas has placed bounties on both our American security personnel and Palestinian aid workers—offering cash rewards to anyone who injures or kills them," GHF said in a statement provided exclusively to Fox News Digital. "The targets of Hamas's brutality are heroes who are simply trying to feed the people of Gaza in the middle of a war." GHF also said that Hamas has positioned "armed operatives" near humanitarian zones in an apparent attempt to "disrupt the only functioning aid delivery system in Gaza." Earlier this month, Hamas launched a deadly attack on GHF workers, leaving 12 dead. The organization said Hamas also tortured others. The victims were local workers, according to GHF. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee issued a statement on the bounties and criticized the United Nations' silence on Hamas brutality. "Last month [President Trump] told us to get food to civilians in Gaza, but DON'T let Hamas steal it," Huckabee wrote on X. "NOT always pretty, but 800k+ unique recipients of food & 1ST TIME they [have] received food FREE since start of war. Hamas has stolen or taxed it & now w/ GHF they CAN'T! Hamas' main tool to control Gaza is GONE. Hamas has put a bounty on the heads of everyone at GHF — Gazans [and] Americans. The UN remains SILENT." In response to Huckabee's statement, GHF Executive Chairman Rev. Johnnie Moore wrote in his own post on X that reports of the Hamas bounties are based on "new and credible information received today." "Hamas would be very unwise to test the resolve of [President Donald Trump]," Moore wrote. GHF is demanding the international community break its silence on Hamas' treatment of the organization's local workers and the American security personnel, many of whom are U.S. veterans. "Hamas, through these violent and escalating threats, is showing the world it prefers chaos and starvation to peace and aid," GHF wrote. "We call on international leaders and aid groups to stand with us and with the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza, who show up to our sites every day in defiance of Hamas's threats and brutality, deserve it." GHF said it has been able to distribute approximately 49,915,822 meals so far. The organization recently received a funding boost after the U.S. State Department announced it had approved $30 million in funding for the group. "We call on other countries to also support the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and its critical work," State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Piggot said in a briefing on June 26. "From day one, we said we are open to creative solutions that securely provide aid to those in Gaza and protects Israel. The support is simply the latest iteration of President Trump's and Secretary Rubio's pursuit of peace in the region."
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
Tens of thousands of protesters at Hostages Square call for an end to the Gaza war
CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Tel Aviv where tens of thousands of anti-war protesters packed Hostages Square to call for an end to the Gaza war and the return of the remaining hostages.
