Trump says 'we' have control of Iran's skies
17 June 2025 20:53
WASHINGTON (AFP)US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that "we" have control of the skies over Iran as questions grew over whether the United States will join Israel's strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
"We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran," Trump said on Truth Social, hailing the use of US-made weaponry although without explicitly mentioning Israel.
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The National
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Russia warns of 'unpredictable consequences' if Iran-Israel conflict escalates
Russia 's ambassador to the UN said on Tuesday he sees no willingness from Israel to engage in mediation efforts to end its conflict with Iran, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' as hostilities intensify. 'This thing should be stopped, because it has absolutely unpredictable consequences, given that we're talking about nuclear sites that are under threat and given that the ballistic exchange continues with heavy casualties on both sides,' Vasily Nebenzya told reporters in New York. The remarks come as retaliatory attacks between Israel and Iran continue, and as international calls grow for de-escalation. It also comes as President Donald Trump has indicated the US could enter the conflict. Moscow is seeking to be a mediator, but its overtures have yet to translate into concrete talks. 'There was a conversation between President [Vladimir] Putin and President Trump the other day, and President Putin said that we are ready to do what we can to facilitate … so in that sense, yes, we are co-ordinating, but we don't have any mediation efforts on the ground,' he said. Iran provided critical drone support to Russia during the first year of Moscow's war in Ukraine, helped it establish a domestic drone factory, and signed a 20-year strategic partnership in January, deepening defence and political ties between the two allies. Yet months after that agreement, as Iran faces unprecedented Israeli strikes threatening its stability, Russia has offered little beyond diplomatic statements and phone calls, leaving Tehran increasingly isolated. Moscow is walking a tightrope, Iulia-Sabina Joja, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told The National, as it weighs support for Tehran against protecting its broader regional interests amid Iran's declining influence. Any prolonged instability in the Middle East, especially involving Iran, could undermine Russia's delicate balancing act in the region, Ms Joja said. 'Russia has to play now a very difficult balancing game,' she said. 'On the one hand, they want to support Iran but have to be on the winning side in the Middle East to pursue their interests, and Iran is looking weak, with its interests on the losing side across the region, particularly in Syria with the Assad regime and other elements.' At the same time, Moscow's immediate priority remains its war in Ukraine, where it aims to prolong the conflict while stringing along the US with illusory negotiations. 'For them to be able to do that for as long as possible, which is their aim, they have to play nice, or at least pretend to play nice, with the United States,' Ms Joja said. 'That's why we're seeing them take a step back or adopt a more reluctant position than some expected in their partnership with Iran.' If the US joins Israel in striking Iran, Ms Joja said direct Russian intervention is unlikely. 'The US and Israel have the upper hand,' she said of their air superiority. Still, any escalation of the conflict would necessarily make Moscow uncomfortable, as it would jeopardise Russia's goals in Ukraine and its broader Middle East ambitions, including access to warm-water trade routes, she added.
The National
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How Donald Trump's stance on Iran conflict is dividing his Maga base
US President Donald Trump 's support for Israel as it attacks Iran has divided his base, with many supporters angered over what they see as a betrayal of his 'America First' pledge. The Trump administration initially distanced itself from Friday's opening strikes conducted by Israel against Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressing that the US was not involved. But within hours, Mr Trump praised Israel's 'excellent' military strikes and told Iran it must make a deal 'before there is nothing left' of the country. The US is also moving assets in the Middle East region to help Israel as it defends against Iranian missile strikes, and Mr Trump has said 'it's possible' the US could get involved. Prominent members of the often-hawkish Republican Party have long advocated for war with Iran, with either US or Israeli strikes, but Mr Trump has cast himself as a ' peacemaker and unifier ' and promised to keep the US out of new wars. Since taking office in January, he has pushed for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a Russia-Ukraine peace deal and a nuclear agreement with Tehran. None of these efforts have yielded concrete results. Now, the Make America Great Again movement that propelled Mr Trump to the White House is taking note of his support for Israel. For one of the first times since he took office in January, the isolationist coalition that wants to end all US military action overseas is showing signs of upset. Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a passionate Trump supporter and a prominent member of the Maga movement, said anyone wishing for war with Iran was 'disgusting' and lamented America's previous military engagements in the Middle East. 'Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/Maga,' she wrote on X. 'Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them.' Mr Trump told The Atlantic on Saturday that he gets to determine what 'America First' means. 'For those people who say they want peace – you can't have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don't want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon – that's not peace,' he said. Representative Thomas Massie, a prominent Maga Republican who has voted against sending military aid to Israel, posted a poll he ran that showed most respondents agreed with his stance. As Israel began attacking Iran last week, Charlie Kirk, a pro-Israel Maga loyalist, held a live podcast to ask his pro-Trump audience what they thought of events. 'The emails are so largely overwhelmingly against Israel doing this, I'd say it's probably a 99 to one,' Mr Kirk said. 'No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy,' he later posted on X. 'I'm very concerned based on (everything) I've seen in the grassroots the last few months that this will cause a massive schism in Maga and potentially disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful presidency.' Further complicating matters for Mr Trump is his past handling of the conflict. In 2018 he unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it the 'worst deal ever". But since returning to the White House, he has now spent nearly six months trying to get Iran to agree to a similar deal to constrain its nuclear programme. He had criticised former president Joe Biden last year for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, only to find himself advocating for diplomacy. Saagar Enjeti, a presenter on the right-wing Breaking Points YouTube show, has said Mr Trump is letting down his isolationist supporters. 'Trump has now praised Israel's strike, affirmed US material support, and Israeli media is reporting his public opposition was a disinformation campaign to mislead Iran,' he said. 'So in other words Trump, not Israel, has made a mockery of all of us who wanted to avoid this war.'
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3 hours ago
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Padilla was right to challenge Noem's right-wing lunacy
George Skelton, Tribune News Service Sen. Alex Padilla had heard all he could stand from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. For good reason. She was sounding like a military dictator and brushing off California voters. So the California senator interrupted her. He tried to ask a question — and wound up being shoved out of the room by federal bodyguards, strong-armed to the floor and handcuffed. This is how the Trump administration intends to 'Make America Great Again'? The unprecedented act of disrespecting and roughing up a US senator occurred at the Westwood federal building during a Noem news conference Thursday. Padilla, a Democrat, was standing behind reporters when the secretary said federal agents would continue to conduct immigration raids in Los Angeles indefinitely. '(We'll) continue to sustain and increase our operations in this city,' Noem said. 'We are not going away,' she emphasized. 'We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country.' Definitely fighting words. 'Liberate' the city? That's the sort of language used by dictators — fascist, Communist or any Third World despot. 'Socialist' leadership? A pejorative straight out of the right-wing playbook of political talking points. Was Noem saying the Trump administration's real goal is to overthrow Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass because of their 'burdensome' regimes? Perhaps the secretary has forgotten what she presumably was taught in civics class. But Noem, 53, was governor of South Dakota. And before that she was a member of the US House of Representatives and a state legislator. So she knows about the election process. And we can only conclude that, at her news conference, she was talking without thinking. Because in America, the 'liberators' are the voters. Not immigration agents, Cabinet secretaries or even the president. California citizens reelected Newsom by a 59% landslide vote in 2022. The Democrat will be termed out of office next year — a policy set by voters, not by some federal administration. Bass also was elected in 2022 by a margin of nearly 10 percentage points. If Angelenos want to liberate themselves from her, they'll have the opportunity when she's up for reelection next year. Socialist is such a tired characterization of practically any policy the political right doesn't like. You could tag lots of government spending with socialism — including Social Security and Medicare. Anyway, Padilla listened to Noem's dumb comments about liberating citizens from the governor and mayor, and, he said later in TV interviews, 'it was just too much.' He broke in with a shouted question. OK, he shouldn't have done that. There's a protocol at formal news conferences. Only reporters ask questions. Certainly not visiting politicians. And questioners really shouldn't interrupt the person at the lectern, although it happens. This wasn't a Senate committee hearing in which Padilla could ask anything he wanted — when it was his turn. He wasn't 'doing his job' at Noem's event, as his Democratic colleagues later asserted. He was there as an observer. If he wanted to ask the secretary a question, this wasn't the time or place. But his emotional reaction to Noem's comments was totally understandable. Padilla ordinarily is a very polite guy, extraordinary civil — calm, soft-spoken, the opposite of an aggressive loudmouth. But he is passionate about the cause of immigrant rights and comprehensive reform that would offer a path to citizenship for undocumented people. It's what inspired him to enter politics. He was motivated by Latino activists' losing fight in 1994 against Proposition 187, which would have denied most public services to immigrants living here illegally if it wasn't tossed out by a judge. Padilla, 52, is a proud L.A. native, the son of Mexican immigrants. His dad was a short-order cook, and his mom cleaned affluent people's houses. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a mechanical engineering degree. But he caught the political bug and was elected to the L.A. City Council at age 26.
