Iran's Revolutionary Guards deny reports of drone attack in Tabriz
June 24 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards denied earlier reports on Tuesday that there was a drone attack in the northwestern city of Tabriz, three Iranian news sites reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian media said air defences were activated in the area amid a shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israel-Iran live news: Iranian nuclear program could restart in months, Pentagon finds, as fragile ceasefire holds
Update: Date: 2025-06-25T01:21:36.000Z Title: Opening summary Content: Welcome to our rolling coverage of the Israel-Iran war. The shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding after Donald Trump expressed deep frustration with both sides for violating the agreement he brokered. Israel earlier accused Iran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect. The Iranian military denied firing on Israel. But while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Israel had brought Iran's nuclear program 'to ruin', an initial classified US assessment of Trump's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities over the weekend says they did not destroy two of the sites and likely only set back the nuclear program by a few months, according to two people familiar with the report. The report produced by the Defence Intelligence Agency – the Pentagon's intelligence arm – concluded key components of the nuclear program, including centrifuges, were capable of being restarted within months. The report also found that much of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium was moved before the strikes. The report also contradicts statements from Trump, who has said the Iranian nuclear program was 'completely and fully obliterated'. The White House called the assessment 'flat-out wrong'. In other key developments: Iran and Israel both said they would honour the ceasefire if the other side did the same. Earlier on Tuesday Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would respect the ceasefire announced by Trump, provided that Israel also upholds its terms. 'If the Zionist regime does not violate the ceasefire, Iran will not violate it either,' he said. Hours later, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said he told his US counterpart Pete Hegseth that 'Israel will respect the ceasefire – as long as the other side does'. Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would strike again if Iran rebuilt its nuclear project. Describing his war on Iran as a 'historic victory' that 'will stand for generations', the Israeli prime minister claimed that Israel, in its 12 days of war with Iran, had removed 'the threat of nuclear annihilation'. He also said he had 'no intention of easing off the gas pedal' and Israel 'must complete' its campaign against the Iranian axis, to defeat Hamas and to bring about the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza. Netanyahu also declared that Israel 'never had a better friend that President Trump in the White House'. His comments came only hours after Trump directed stinging criticism at Israel over the scale of strikes Trump said violated the truce with Iran negotiated by Washington, with the US president saying: 'Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before, the biggest load that we've seen. We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing.' Israel's leadership was reportedly 'stunned' and 'embarrassed' by Trump's rebuke. Iran's air space would reopen on Tuesday night, Iranian state news reported, while Israel Home Front Command said Israeli citizens could resume full activity without restriction for most of the country and that Ben-Gurion and Haifa airports would return to full operations. Donald Trump said China can continue to purchase Iranian oil, a move the White House clarified did not indicate a relaxation of US sanctions. At the United Nations, France and its European partners are still prepared to reactivate sanctions on Iran if an agreement is not reached soon on its nuclear program, the French ambassador to the UN has warned.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
White House official and self-described 'misogynist' says Iran nuclear strikes were 'pointless'
A White House official who once described himself as a 'raging misogynist' slammed Donald Trump 's strikes on Iran as 'pointless' and only serving the 'deep state.' Andrew Kloster is a general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management which manages the civil service for the administration. Kloster - who worked for Trump during his first term and most recently served in the same role for Matt Gaetz - posted a string of criticisms of the U.S. giving 'handouts' to Israel and suggesting fears of Iran getting a nuclear weapon were far-fetched. An X user posted that 'Iran's nuclear sites being crushed seems a long-term benefit for the US.' He responded from his now locked account: 'I just think it was kind of pointless.' The lawyer also retweeted Vish Burra, the former spokesperson for George Santos, who wrote: 'Can we please ignore this god-forsaken region of Earth and their tribal squabbles?' Kloster - who's social media bio once included 'Suicide bomber in the Butlerian jihad' in a reference to the 'Dune' novels - eventually deleted the posts, including one writing: 'I apologize and will never again doubt the power of the deep state.' It's not the first time Kloster has set off controversy, as the liberal Project on Government Oversight claimed he called himself 'a raging misogynist.' He did tweet in 2023: 'I'm 100% women respecter precisely because I'm a raging misogynist. I'm so kind you'll want to kill yourself and die, which is the goal.' Kloster has almost made comments regarding consent - calling it 'probably modern society's most pernicious fetish' - and race - joking that 'Slaves owe us reparations.' The New York Post reported that Kloster is believed to be an ally of Sergio Gor, the head of the Presidential Personnel Office who was said to be against Elon Musk. reached out to the Office of Personnel and Management for comment. A White House spokesperson declined comment. Trump himself appeared to be showing frustration with both Israel and Iran on Monday. The president went on a foul-mouthed tirade saying that both Israel and Iran violated the ceasefire deal that he announced Monday evening. 'We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the f*** they're doing,' Trump said before boarding Marine One en route to the NATO Summit early Tuesday morning. The president said Monday evening that he had brokered a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after ordering his own strike on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. Kloster - who worked for Trump during his first term and most recently served in the same role for Matt Gaetz - posted a string of criticisms of the U.S. giving 'handouts' to Israel and suggesting fears of Iran getting a nuclear weapon were far-fetched Kloster - who's social media bio once included 'Suicide bomber in the Butlerian jihad' in a reference to the 'Dune' novels - eventually deleted the posts, including one writing: 'I apologize and will never again doubt the power of the deep state Earlier Monday, Iran had retaliated by sending missiles toward the U.S.'s largest military base in the Middle East, located just outside of Doha in Qatar, which didn't prompt a response from Trump. Instead he announced the ceasefire. On Tuesday morning Trump was fired up after Israel decided to launch another massive assault on Iran just as the deal was to take hold. 'Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs, the likes of which I've never seen before, the biggest load that we've seen,' an incredulous said. 'I'm not happy with Israel,' he added. 'I'm not happy with Iran either. But I'm really unhappy if Israel's going out this morning because of one rocket that didn't land, that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn't land. I'm not happy about that.' Later Tuesday, a leaked intelligence assessment claiming Donald Trump 's strikes on Iran did not destroy Tehran's nuclear program was deemed 'flat-out wrong' by the White House. The report, conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency and leaked by CNN, claims Saturday's airstrike on three Iranian nuclear sites only set the country's program back by months instead of completely destroying it. Trump claimed the strikes 'completely and totally obliterated', a statement echoed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt who dismissed the assessment as a 'clear attempt to demean President Trump'. 'Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,' Leavitt said. Trump faced calls for his impeachment on a sole charge of abuse of power over his launch of military strikes on Iran without first seeking authorization from Congress - but the House today overwhelmingly voted to block the resolution.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
FBI sharpens focus on counter-terrorism after Iran strikes
Officials across the US are on heightened alert after the US bombing of nuclear facilities in is no specific threat but in recent days, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have spoken with governors and law enforcement agencies across the country about the heightened threat environment. The FBI has also shifted some of its agents, who have been helping on immigration-related cases, back to counter-terrorism efforts, sources told the BBC's US partner CBS. Within two days of the Iranian strikes, US immigration officials arrested 11 Iranian citizens in the US, including men with alleged ties to Iran's military and paramilitary proxy groups. Authorities have not suggested any of those arrested were involved or linked to a specific plot in the US, and the Department of Homeland Security has said there are no credible threats currently to US soil. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told CBS, the BBC's news partner, that the arrests were part of President Donald Trump's efforts to deport immigrants in the US man arrested in Minnesota is an alleged former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard who has "admitted connections to Hezbollah", according to ICE. Another man who was arrested In Mississippi had been living in the US for eight years and had allegedly been designated by the US as a known or suspected terrorist. Another man arrested in Alabama allegedly served for three years as a sniper in Iran's military before moving to the US in 2024. The arrests came after DHS and the FBI hosted calls over the weekend with state leaders and hundreds of law enforcement agencies to inform them of the heightened threat environment and ensure they are being vigilant and reaching out to those who could be at risk, including those in the Jewish community, US media reported. In recent days, Republican lawmakers and Trump administration officials have spoken often about the threat of Iranian "sleeper cells" who infiltrated the US under the Biden no direct or public threat has been made by Iran to attack the US homeland - and there is a current ceasefire in effect in the conflict between Iran and Israel - the country has a long history of sponsoring violent attacks in the US, says Dr Lorenzo Vidino from the George Washington University Program on Extremism. In 1980, shortly after Iran's Islamic Revolution, an Iranian dissident was assassinated in the US state of Maryland. More recently, the US says Iran has planned assassinations of American officials, including Trump and his former National Security Adviser John of people with ties to Iran have been arrested in recent years, according to Dr Vidino, although many of those arrests stem from sanctions violations. He cites a man who sold restricted night-vision goggles to Iran, but adds it's unclear whether the individual had ideological ties to Iran or simply was a businessman seeking to profit. The men most recently arrested, he suspects, had been watched by the US for some time. But agents decided to swoop in to detain them in light of the recent flare-up in violence between the US and Iranians in the US have been arrested in the past while scouting potential targets for a separate bulletin, the National Terrorism Advisory System warned of a "heightened threat environment in the United States". While it did not mention any specific threats, it said it to be especially vigilant against "low-level cyber attacks against US networks".Discussions between federal and local officials regarding national security has been commonplace since the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the US. Terror events, mass shootings or attacks targeting a segment of the population often lead to an increased law enforcement presence and heightened security stance. Since the US involvement in Iran, police patrols have been increased in communities nationwide at certain sensitive sites, including buildings with connections to the US or Israeli governments, or to Judaism. Some FBI personnel, who were focusing on immigration enforcement as part of Trump's deportation goals, have reportedly been brought back to focusing on counter-terrorism, according to CBS News. On Sunday, the bureau distributed a memo to field offices telling them to focus resources on terror FBI has not confirmed any shift in priorities. "The FBI does not comment on specific operational adjustments or personnel decisions," the agency said in a statement. "However, we continuously assess and realign our resources to respond to the most pressing threats to our national security and to ensure the safety of the American people."
