While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 22, 2025
US President Donald Trump (centre) Vice-President J. D. Vance (left) and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly took part in a tense June 19 call with Israel's leaders over Mr Trump's two-week deadline on whether to strike Iran. PHOTO: REUTERS
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, June 22, 2025
US split as Israel seeks swift action on Iran, sources say
Israeli officials have told the Trump administration they do not want to wait two weeks for Iran to reach a deal to dismantle key parts of its nuclear programme and Israel could act alone before the deadline is up, two sources said, amid a continuing debate on Mr Trump's team about whether the US should get involved.
The two sources familiar with the matter said Israel had communicated their concerns to Trump administration officials on June 19 in what they described as a tense phone call.
The Israeli officials said they do not want to wait the two weeks that US President Donald Trump presented on June 19 as a deadline for deciding whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran war, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli participants on the call included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and military chief Eyal Zamir, according to a security source.
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B-2 bombers moving to Guam amid Middle East tensions
The United States is moving B-2 bombers to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on June 21, as President Donald Trump weighs whether the US should take part in Israel's strikes against Iran.
It was unclear whether the bomber deployment is tied to Middle East tensions.
The B-2 can be equipped to carry America's 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, designed to destroy targets deep underground. That is the weapon that experts say could be used to strike Iran's nuclear programme, including Fordow.
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Mahmoud Khalil vows to resume pro-Palestinian activism
Mahmoud Khalil vowed to resume his pro-Palestinian activism as he returned to New York a day after he was released on bail from a jail for immigrants, even as US President Donald Trump's administration said it will continue its efforts to deport the recent Columbia University graduate.
He arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on the afternoon of June 21 to cheers and ululations from friends and supporters.
Mr Khalil, 30, was reunited with his wife, a US citizen, and greeted at the airport by US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York.
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Eight dead in Brazil hot-air balloon accident
At least eight people were killed on June 21 when a hot-air balloon with 21 passengers caught fire in southern Brazil, a state governor said.
It was the second fatal balloon accident in the vast South American country in less than a week.
Videos taken by bystanders and carried on Brazilian television showed the moment when the balloon erupted in flames above a rural area outside the Atlantic coast town of Praia Grande, a tourist hotspot popular for hot-air ballooning.
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Belarus opposition leader freed after US mediation
Belarus' top jailed opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky was freed alongside over a dozen other political prisoners on June 21 in a surprise release the European Union hailed as a 'symbol of hope'.
His wife, Mrs Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who took the mantle of the opposition after his jailing, said the United States helped broker the deal and thanked US President Donald Trump.
Mr Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for more than five years.
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CNA
16 minutes ago
- CNA
Trump says US bombs nuclear sites in Iran
The United States attacked nuclear sites in Iran, President Donald Trump annnounced on Saturday (Jun 21). This comes more than a week after Israel began strikes on Iran. Follow live updates: Iran Israel
CNA
22 minutes ago
- CNA
US has struck 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air campaign
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Saturday (Jun 21) that the US military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel's effort to decapitate the country's nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. There was no immediate acknowledgement from Iran of any strikes being carried out. The decision to directly involve the US in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country's air defences and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But US and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500kg) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear programme buried deep underground. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on social media. "All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.' Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran. He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks, a timeline that seemed drawn out as the situation was evolving quickly. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the United States that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them'. And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared 'any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region'. Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully. Israel's military said on Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the US attack that American military involvement 'would be very, very dangerous for everyone'. The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on US vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel's military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the US The US ambassador to Israel announced the US had begun 'assisted departure flights', the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza. But Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear programme, perhaps permanently. The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defences, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites. But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel has appealed to Trump for US bunker-busting bombs, the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal. The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61m) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility. Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said. Trump's decision for direct US military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program. For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time. The US in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and US bases from Iranian attacks. All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a 'second chance' for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran's unconditional surrender. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Trump said in a social media posting. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.' The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the US from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever'. The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, US and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran's non-nuclear malign behavior. Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further US involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end US involvement in expensive and endless wars.
AsiaOne
23 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Trump says US forces bombed Iran nuclear sites; says 'Fordow is gone', World News
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Saturday (June 21) said that a "very successful attack" on three nuclear sites in Iran had been successfully carried out, including at Fordow. In a posting on Truth Social, Trump added, "All planes are safely on their way home" and he congratulated "our great American Warriors." Trump ended his posting saying, "Now is the time for peace." The action came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat that has resulted in deaths and injuries in both countries. Israel launched the attacks on Iran saying that it wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons. Iran has argued that its nuclear programme is intended for peaceful purposes. Diplomatic efforts by Western nations to stop the hostilities had so far been unsuccessful. In another social media posting Trump said: "Fordow is gone." Trump appeared to be referring to the underground nuclear storage facility in Natanz. The bombing came after B-2 bombers had been dispatched to Guam earlier on Saturday, according to US sources. A US official told Reuters that B-2 bombers were involved in the strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. It was still unclear whether any Israeli forces were involved in this latest bombing, which significantly expanded the scope of the hostilities.
