Israeli security source says top military leaders and nuclear scientists were targeted in opening strikes
CNN analyst Barak Ravid weighs in on the reports that an Israeli security source briefed reporters that Iran's top military leaders as well as senior nuclear scientists were targeted in the opening strikes. Iranian state media reports Commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed.
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Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump's Clear Message to Tehran
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33 minutes ago
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Israel strikes may make Iran more determined to pursue nuclear programme
Israel's attacks on Iranian nuclear and military sites mark a significant escalation in regional tensions, and may reshape Tehran's nuclear calculus. The coordinated strikes killed several senior military and security officials, including the head of Iran's military Mohammad Bagheri, and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hossein Salami. 'One of the concerns in attacking the nuclear sites has been that setbacks could lead Iran to reconstitute their operations with a more determined effort to obtain a nuclear deterrent,' said Ali Vaez, an expert on Iran for the International Crisis Group (ICG).Iran has long had an internal debate among reformers and hardliners about whether to reach an agreement with the United States on its nuclear programme. '[The attacks] likely confirmed the position of hardliners and ultra hardliners who said that Iran was wasting its time to try and negotiate with the West … they said Iran can never negotiate from a position of weakness and appeasement,' said Reza H Akbari, an analyst on Iran at the Middle East Institute (MEI). Talks between Iran and the US have suffered from a large trust deficit after President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal between Iran and several Western nations, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), during his first term in 2018. The JCPOA was orchestrated by Trump's predecessor Barack Obama and endorsed by the United Nations Security Council in 2015. It aimed to monitor Iran's nuclear programme to ensure it did not approach weaponisation levels. In exchange, some sanctions were lifted from Iran. While the deal was lauded as an achievement of diplomacy, Israel disapproved of the JCPOA. Ten years later, the US and Iran appeared interested in striking another similar deal. The former ostensibly did not want to get dragged into a regional war as tensions mounted across the Middle East, while the latter was again looking for much-needed sanction relief. But Israel's strikes on Iran, which were reportedly planned months in advance and with US approval, have scuttled any diplomatic solution in the short term, said Akbari. 'It's hard to imagine that someone in the shoes of Iran's supreme leader [Ali Khamenei] is not taking the side of hardliners after this,' he told Al Jazeera. In response to Israel's strikes, Iran has launched drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, with some hitting targets on the ground. In the past, Iran's deterrence against external aggression relied primarily on its self-described 'Axis of Resistance'. The axis consisted of powerful armed groups across the region, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah, as well as Syria under former President Bashar al-Assad. However, Hezbollah's capabilities were degraded significantly during the peak of its recent war with Israel, which lasted from September to late November last year. Al-Assad's fall in December, the culmination of a more than decade-long civil war in Syria, also compromised Iran's ability to resupply Hezbollah through Syria, as it used to do. Trump is now exploiting Iran's weakness by urging it to capitulate to a deal that would see it give up its nuclear programme, said Michael Stephens, an expert on regional response to Iran's nuclear programme with the Royal United Service Institute (RUSI), a defence think Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that Iran must make a deal before there is 'nothing left' of the country and that the next Israeli attacks will be even 'more brutal'. Later that evening, Israel carried out more air strikes on Iran's military sites and nuclear facilities. 'There are no good options for [Iran] really,' said Stephens. 'Either Khamenei … orders his negotiators to compromise on the nuclear file or … he holds firm [and] more sites are hit and further targeted assassinations of high-level officials take place,' he told Al Jazeera. 'Either way, if Iran decides to sprint towards a bomb, it's going to be very, very difficult to do that now,' he added. Despite Iran's military weakness compared with the US and Israel, it is wary of giving up its nuclear programme, analysts told Al Jazeera. Negar Mortazavi, an expert on Iran with the Middle East Policy Institute (MEPI), said Iranian officials have long referred to the fate of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who agreed to give up his nuclear weapons programme in exchange for US sanction relief in 2003. The deal came after the US President George W Bush had launched his so-called 'War on Terror' after the September 11, 2001, attacks, which led to the invasion and prolonged occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, Bush warned his partners and foes in the region that they were either 'with us or against us'. Eight years after Gaddafi gave up his nuclear programme, the US backed a pro-democracy uprising in Libya, which spiralled into an armed rebellion and led to Gaddafi's overthrow and eventual death. 'The [Libya] scenario is something that Iran has taken notice of, and they don't want to go down that path,' Mortazavi explained. She added that Iran may likely pull out from the JCPOA and try to quickly expand its nuclear programme in reaction to Israel's ongoing assault. 'Just how far and how soon Iran will expand its nuclear programme is unclear,' Mortazavi told Al Jazeera.
Fox News
40 minutes ago
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Democratic lawmakers criticize Israel's defensive strikes against Iran's nuclear sites
Democratic lawmakers are sounding off on the Israel-Iran conflict, criticizing Israel's initial airstrikes Thursday night in the capital of Tehran. Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion," targeting Iran's nuclear and missile infrastructure, and Iran responded with strikes in Tel Aviv, injuring at least five people. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a statement Friday calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an "extremist." "The world is more dangerous and unstable as a result of the extremist Netanyahu's government ongoing defiance of international law," Sanders wrote. "First, he uses the starvation of children in Gaza as a tool of war, a barbaric violation of the Geneva Conventions. Now, his illegal unilateral attack on Iran risks a full-blown regional war." Sanders added the strikes "directly contravened" U.S. interests in resolving long-standing tensions over Iran's nuclear program. "Talks were planned for Sunday, but Netanyahu chose instead to launch an attack," Sanders wrote. "The U.S. must make it clear that we will not be dragged into another Netanyahu war. Along with the international community we should do everything possible to prevent an escalation of this conflict and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table." Senate Foreign Relations member Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., chimed in on social media Friday morning. "Netanyahu wasn't trying to help diplomacy; he was trying to destroy diplomacy," Murphy wrote. "How do we know? They reportedly targeted and killed Iran's chief negotiator with Trump." Tim Kaine, D-Va., who also serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, added he could not understand why Israel would launch a preemptive strike when a meeting was scheduled between the U.S. and Iran this weekend. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said military aggression is "never the answer." "Israel's alarming decision to launch airstrikes on Iran is a reckless escalation that risks igniting regional violence," Reed wrote. "These strikes threaten not only the lives of innocent civilians but the stability of the entire Middle East and the safety of American citizens and forces. While tensions between Israel and Iran are real and complex, military aggression of this scale is never the answer." By Friday afternoon, some Democrats seemingly changed their tune in response to the counter-attack. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., slammed Iran's response, calling it "cowardice." "#Israel's strike on #Iran was targeted precisely at senior Iranian military commanders and military sites that posed an existential threat to Israel," Sherman wrote. "The Islamic Republic's response? To target civilian centers in #TelAviv. Unsurprising cowardice from a regime that has spent decades brutalizing its own people." Others evaded the conversation all together. "This is a rapidly evolving situation, and it's critical that the United States works with our allies and avoid steps that will cause further escalation across the region," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., wrote in a statement. "For years, Iran has threatened the safety of Israel and the region, and Israel has an undeniable right to defend itself and its citizens."
