Trump urges Tehran evacuation as Iran-Israel conflict enters 5th day, World News
TEL AVIV/DUBAI — Israel and Iran attacked each other for a fifth straight day on Tuesday (June 17), and US President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran, citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.
Trump was due to leave the Group of Seven summit in Canada later on Monday, a day early, due to the Middle East situation, the White House said. Fox News reported he would convene his National Security Council.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump's early departure was positive, given the immediate objective was to get Israel and Iran to agree to a ceasefire.
"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
Iranian media soon reported explosions and heavy air defence fire in Tehran early on Tuesday. Air defences were activated also in Natanz, home to key nuclear installations 320km away, the Asriran news website reported.
In Israel, air raid sirens wailed in Tel Aviv after midnight and an explosion was heard as Iranian missiles targeted the country again.
Iranian officials reported 224 deaths, mostly civilians, in five days, while Israel said 24 civilians had been killed. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said nearly 3,000 Israelis had been evacuated due to damage from Iranian strikes.
Sources told Reuters that Tehran had asked Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to urge Trump to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to an immediate ceasefire. In return, Iran would show flexibility in nuclear negotiations, according to two Iranian and three regional sources.
"If President Trump is genuine about diplomacy and interested in stopping this war, next steps are consequential," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X. "Israel must halt its aggression, and absent a total cessation of military aggression against us, our responses will continue."
Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that Israel was committed to eliminating threats posed by Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, adding, "If this can be achieved in another way-fine. But we gave it a 60-day chance."
Speaking to Reuters on Friday, the first day of Israel's assault, Trump said he had given the Iranians 60 days to come to an agreement to halt uranium enrichment and that the time had expired with no deal.
Oil prices rallied more than two per cent early in Asia on Tuesday after Trump's evacuation warning, reversing losses on Monday amid reports that Iran was seeking an end to hostilities. Chinese urged to leave Israel
With security concerns growing and Israeli airspace closed because of the war, the Chinese embassy in Israel urged Chinese citizens to leave the country via land border crossings as soon as possible.
The Iran-Israel air war — the biggest battle ever between the two longtime enemies — escalated on Monday with Israel targeting Iran's state broadcaster and uranium enrichment facilities.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC that the Natanz plant sustained extensive damage, likely destroying 15,000 centrifuges, while Iran's Fordow plant remained largely intact.
Talks between the United States and Iran, hosted by Oman, had been scheduled for June 15 but were scrapped, with Tehran saying it could not negotiate while under attack.
Israel launched its air war with a surprise attack that has killed nearly the entire top echelon of Iran's military commanders and its leading nuclear scientists. It says it now has control of Iranian airspace and intends to escalate the campaign in coming days.
Trump has consistently said the Israeli assault could end quickly if Iran agreed to US demands that it accept strict curbs to its nuclear programme.
"As I've been saying, I think a deal will be signed, or something will happen, but a deal will be signed, and I think Iran is foolish not to sign," Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday.
A US official said Trump would not sign a draft statement from G7 leaders calling for a de-escalation of the conflict. The draft statement says Iran must never have a nuclear weapon and that Israel has the right to defend itself.
[[nid:719128]]
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
33 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Chinese embassy in Israel urges citizens to leave, China News
BEIJING — The Chinese embassy in Israel has urged Chinese citizens to return home or leave the country via land border crossings as soon as possible, on grounds that the security situation has deteriorated and Israeli airspace remained closed. "At present, the Israeli-Iranian conflict continues to escalate, with civilian facilities damaged and civilian casualties increasing, making the security situation even more severe," the embassy warned in a Tuesday (June 17) notice on WeChat. The notice recommended Chinese citizens to leave via the land crossing towards Jordan. [[nid:719178]]
AsiaOne
33 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Want to file for divorce in China? You might need a booking agent, China News
SINGAPORE — Chinese medical office worker Qin Meng has found a lucrative side-hustle: she wakes up before midnight, fills in her clients' divorce certificate applications on a government website, then hits the confirm button exactly at the top of the hour. Miss it by seconds and the daily slots are "gone in the blink of an eye," says the 30-year-old, who charges 400 yuan (S$71.32) for her service, bringing relief to couples who have sometimes spent six months trying for a slot. Demographers say the emergence of impromptu agents like Qin, who advertise on Chinese social media, is another sign of how the slowing economy is piling financial stress on married couples and contributing to the breakdown of relationships. The 2024 divorce rate has yet to be announced by the National Bureau of Statistics, but Yi Fuxian, a Chinese demographer and senior scientist at University of Wisconsin-Madison, expects it to hit 2.6 per 1,000 people, against a low of 2.0 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This compares with the most recent rates of 1.5 in Japan and 1.8 in South Korea. "Poverty destroys marriage," said Yi, warning divorce numbers were inversely correlated with birth rates and could worsen the country's demographic crisis. "China's economic downturn in recent years and the rising youth unemployment rate have reduced the economic capacity of families, exacerbated family conflicts, and thereby increased the divorce rate." While the economy is expanding at about five per cent a year, Chinese households have been saving more because of concerns about job security and the impact of a prolonged property crisis. Much of the economic growth has relied on export competitiveness, but Chinese firms, hit by US tariffs, have cut jobs or lowered pay to reduce costs, while millions of fresh university graduates are struggling to find work. The rising financial pressure was thrust into the spotlight last year after a driver rammed his car into a crowd killing 35 people in what was the country's deadliest attack in recent history. The court found that at the time of his offence, the driver was angry with his divorce settlement. He was sentenced to death. Soon after, the bi-monthly Communist Party magazine Qiushi re-published a 2016 speech by President Xi Jinping that argued "harmonious families lead to a stable society." Financial strain In a further sign that the rebound in divorces is driven by financial strain, demographers point at data showing lower divorce rates in affluent coastal areas and higher ones in poorer inner and northern regions. Zhou Minghui booked her divorce appointment herself on the fifth attempt, after weeks of worry that her ex-husband might change his mind about their separation. Zhou said her motivation for divorce was what she described as her ex's "reckless financial investments". He had lost nearly 4 million yuan in the stock market in the space of three years, forcing the couple to sell their home, she said. Even then they were only able to repay just over half of the debt he had taken to buy the shares. "When the economy is in a downturn, people shouldn't be so eager to invest or consume," said 38-year-old Zhou, who works in the education industry in the southern city of Shenzhen. The Covid-era drop in divorce appears increasingly like an anomaly. Demographers say it was the result not only of the shutdown of non-essential public services, but also by the 2021 introduction of a 30-day mandatory cool-off period for couples seeking amicable divorce outside the courts. Couples need to get on the Civil Affairs Department's website twice — before and after that month-long breather — to book appointments to register their divorce. But the demand now far exceeds the available daily slots. The agents, people like Qin, have figured this out and advertise their services for anything from 50 yuan to 999 yuan. Qin has earned 5,000 yuan, nearly half her monthly salary from her day job, since she started the side gig "for fun" in March. She receives multiple daily enquiries and expects to earn much more. "The economy is not great, so there's more pressure at work and more conflicts in marriage," Qin said. "Divorce rates will keep rising." [[nid:711885]]
Straits Times
36 minutes ago
- Straits Times
China's civil servants banned from dining out in Xi's austerity drive
The measures come after three widely publicised cases of cadre deaths since April linked to excessive drinking at banquets. PHOTO: REUTERS BEIJING - Some Chinese civil servants have been ordered not to dine out in groups of more than three after deaths linked to excessive alcohol consumption at banquets, according to interviews and social media posts, as Beijing's austerity push ramps up. Revised austerity regulations released in May targeting Communist Party members and public sector workers now bans lavish banquets, 'white elephant' infrastructure projects, luxurious car fittings and ornamental plants in work meetings. Analysts say the renewed push is a sign of President Xi Jinping's longstanding preoccupation with anti-corruption and Party discipline, suggesting previous controls were not effective. 'The drinking culture among civil servants is indeed quite serious but they haven't found a good solution yet so can only implement a 'one size fits all' policy,' said Mr Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore. 'While Beijing wants to boost consumption, clean government - which is Xi's fundamental priority - has a price.' The measures come after three widely publicised cases of cadre deaths since April linked to excessive drinking at banquets. Dozens of officials have been punished in connection to the deaths in Hunan, Anhui and Henan provinces, where they attempted to conceal details of the banquets and privately compensate the families of the deceased. Government overreach But new dining guidelines promoted by some localities this week go even further, asking cadres to be wary of social gatherings, not treat bosses or underlings to meals, and avoid 'forming small cliques', according to a social media post by a Communist Party body in Anhui province. 'When dining with ordinary colleagues, groups of under three are usually fine,' read the post, titled 'Does it violate regulations to dine with colleagues after work?'. 'Avoid dining in high-end places, do not constantly meet the same people, do not take the opportunity to form 'small cliques''. The guidance triggered a rare outpouring of complaints on social media from one of the most tightly-controlled groups in China, who increasingly feel that their personal lives are subject to excessive and arbitrary restrictions. 'Eating alone is hedonism, eating in a pair is engaging in improper male-female relations, eating in a trio is forming small cliques,' read a comment from a user in Hunan province with over 3,500 likes. 'Three of us colleagues went out for hotpot at lunch and each of us were punished with a warning,' wrote a civil servant in Shandong province. 'This is overcorrection, the essence of the guidelines is not wasting public money on lavish banquets but at each level of bureaucracy it gets enforced more harshly,' wrote a user in Guangxi region. A civil servant in Sichuan province said her colleagues were ordered to always go straight home after work. Another cadre in Anhui province said her office recently started implementing daily breathalyser tests, while one in Shaanxi province said she was told to get rid of her office plants. Another civil servant in Gansu province was asked to study a list of 20 types of dinner gatherings to avoid, while a state-owned enterprise worker in Wuhan was ordered not to eat lunch with colleagues from other departments or bosses. 'Our leader stressed that even if I invite someone in our canteen, spend little and pay the bill, that's not allowed', citing Party discipline, she said. Some cadres in Anhui even reported cold calls from local discipline inspectors asking them to recall the rules from memory or be reported to their supervisors. However, three civil servants in Beijing, rural Guangdong province and Chongqing told Reuters their workplaces did not have excessive implementation. Others told Reuters they welcomed the regulations, as they hated being peer-pressured into drinking with their bosses. The rules supplement the 'eight-point regulations', a code of conduct intended to curb rampant corruption in China's vast bureaucracy, which Mr Xi launched soon after taking power in 2012. The number of cadres nationwide punished for violating the 2012 thrift regulations ballooned from 9,292 in February to over 16,500 in April, the latest month for which figures are available. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
