U.S. strike on Iran now seen as 62% likely
U.S. strike on Iran now seen as 62% likely originally appeared on TheStreet.
With missiles flying between Israel and Iran, markets crashing, and everyone refreshing X every 10 seconds, Polymarket, a crypto prediction platform, might be one of the only places offering some clarity.
One of the most-watched markets on Polymarket right now is centered on a sobering question: Will the US launch military action against Iran before June 30, 2025? With tensions soaring in the Middle East, this market has attracted over $6 million in trading volume, making it one of the largest geopolitical prediction markets of the year.
Polymarket, which launched in 2020, didn't rise overnight. Its traction skyrocketed in the past year, especially around major political events. In 2024 alone, users wagered over $8 billion on predictions related to elections.
As of now, the odds are sitting around 62% for "Yes", indicating traders increasingly believe that U.S. intervention is imminent.
According to Polymarket's official rules, the market will resolve to "Yes" if there is a confirmed US military action on Iranian soil, airspace, or maritime territory, or against any Iranian embassies or consulates — between March 31 and June 30, 2025. This must be officially acknowledged by the U.S. government or widely confirmed through credible reporting. Examples include airstrikes, naval actions, or any form of kinetic military engagement. Cyberattacks, economic sanctions, or covert diplomacy won't count.
If a qualifying military strike is confirmed before June 30, the market will resolve early, locking in profits for 'Yes' holders and losses for 'No' holders.
Missiles are flying, cities are on edge, and the world is holding its breath. Over the past few days, Israel and Iran have been locked in a dangerous tit-for-tat that's escalated fast. It began with Israel launching a pre-emptive airstrike on Iran. In response, Iran vowed the 'largest and most intense missile attack in history' on Israeli soil. Since then, Iran has launched multiple volleys of missiles targeting central and northern Israel, while Israeli air defenses and drones have intercepted several of them. Tel Aviv, Haifa, and even areas near the Natanz nuclear site in Iran have sounded air raid sirens as explosions rocked the region.
As tensions spiral, Trump, who left the G7 summit early, is back in Washington, issuing ominous warnings. On Truth Social, he told residents of Tehran to evacuate the city immediately.
The New York Times reported that he's considering using the U.S.'s most powerful 'bunker buster' bomb to target Iran's Fordo nuclear facility.
Markets are already feeling the heat. Oil prices have spiked, Bitcoin dipped sharply, and investors are rattled.
U.S. strike on Iran now seen as 62% likely first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 17, 2025
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CBS News
13 minutes ago
- CBS News
Petition calls for California to end policy allowing transgender students to compete in girls' sports
Some female high school athletes want an end to a policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports, claiming it has created unfair competition. "Right here, right now, we are hand-delivering a petition signed by 20,074 people," California Family Council outreach director Sophia Lorey said. Female high school athletes, their families and supporters brought a petition to a California Interscholastic Federation meeting in Costa Mesa on Friday. The California Family Council organized the petition and a rally outside the meeting. On its website, the council wrote that its mission is "advancing God's design for life, family and liberty through California's church, capitol and culture." Among the athletes was Taylor Starling, who sued the Riverside Unified School District, claiming she was demoted from the varsity cross country team when a transgender student took her spot. "Girls like me are being told to smile, sit down and be quiet and give up what we've worked so hard for," Starling said. "And now, we're the ones being excluded from our own teams. Girls' sports were made to give us a level playing field. Right now, that's not happening in the state of California." Last month, CIF rules were changed at the state track and field championships, where Jurupa Valley High School transgender athlete AB Hernandez competed. Prior to the meet, a new policy was put in place allowing an additional female student to compete and medal in events where Hernandez had qualified. In a news release, a state spokesperson said CIF made the decision to pilot an entry process. "When girls are forced to share the starting line, the locker room or the podium with males, that's not inclusion," Lorey said. "It's injustice and California girls are paying the price." CIF said its mission is to provide students with the opportunity to belong and compete in compliance with the law, irrespective of the gender listed on the student's records.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold of Corpus Christi dies at 63
Former U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, a four-term Republican congressman from Corpus Christi and local radio host, died this week from a heart attack after struggling with chronic liver disease, according to a close friend who worked on his radio show. He was 63. 'Blake was a good family friend,' state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, said in a text message, adding that he had texted prayers to Farenthold's family. Farenthold, a local radio personality and stepson of former state legislator Sissy Farenthold, began his congressional tenure in 2011 after he unseated the long-serving Democratic Rep. Solomon Ortiz as part of a nationwide red wave two years into President Barack Obama's first term. A software policy expert, lawyer and quieter member of the Texas delegation, Farenthold coasted to reelection every two years. He served on the Oversight, Judiciary and Transportation committees. Former Corpus Christi City Council Member Greg Smith, a longtime family friend who regularly appeared on Farenthold's radio show, credited him with working 'tirelessly to secure federal funding' on 'game-changing' local infrastructure projects. His efforts included a $625 million channel deepening project for the Port of Corpus Christi. 'He was an effective congressman,' Smith said in an interview Friday. 'He wasn't party first — he was community first.' Smith added that he texted Farenthold two weeks ago to thank him for his work on the channel deepening project. 'I was just doing my job,' Farenthold replied. Dale Rankin, the editor of the Island Moon newspaper who worked with Farenthold on his show, also emphasized Farenthold's local impact. 'He was a guy who came along at the right time when there was demand for growth at the port,' Rankin said. 'And by getting into [Congress], he was in a position to clear the way for that.' But Farenthold's time in Washington came to a fraught end in April 2018, when he resigned from Congress amid allegations of sexual harassment, an ethics investigation and pressure from the Republican leadership to step down. His seat is now represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud. Politico reported in December 2017 that Farenthold had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a former staffer using $84,000 in taxpayer money that he promised to pay back, but did not ever appear to do so. In announcing his retirement, Farenthold said that his lack of experience in politics paved the way for turmoil in his office. 'I'd never served in public office before," he said in 2017. 'I had no idea how to run a congressional office and, as a result, I allowed a workplace culture to take root in my office that was too permissive and decidedly unprofessional.' 'I allowed the personal stress of the job to manifest itself in angry outbursts and too often a failure to treat people with the respect that they deserved,' he added. 'That was wrong. Clearly, it's not how I was raised, it's not who I am and for that situation, I am profoundly sorry." After resigning, Farenthold took a job as a legislative liaison for The Calhoun Port Authority, spurring proposed federal legislation to block former members of Congress from lobbying their colleagues if they do not repay taxpayer money they used to settle litigation. Farenthold left his lobbying position soon after. He began appearing on local Corpus Christi radio voice Jim Lago's show before taking over after Lago's death in 2023. On his daily show that he self-produced and hosted, Farenthold, a Trump-supporting Republican, discussed politics and local news and denounced big government and elected officials he felt were moving in the wrong direction. 'He was your conservative commentator,' Smith said. 'If he made $2 an hour, I'd be surprised. But he never went out looking for it. He just wanted to bring news and commentary to the community.' Farenthold continued hosting his show, usually from his home, even as he struggled with his liver, Smith added. 'Most people would've just given up where Blake moved ahead,' he said. Farenthold is survived by two daughters and his wife, Debbie. Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tech-fueled misinformation distorts Iran-Israel fighting
AI deepfakes, video game footage passed off as real combat, and chatbot-generated falsehoods -- such tech-enabled misinformation is distorting the Israel-Iran conflict, fueling a war of narratives across social media. The information warfare unfolding alongside ground combat -- sparked by Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and military leadership -- underscores a digital crisis in the age of rapidly advancing AI tools that have blurred the lines between truth and fabrication. The surge in wartime misinformation has exposed an urgent need for stronger detection tools, experts say, as major tech platforms have largely weakened safeguards by scaling back content moderation and reducing reliance on human fact-checkers. After Iran struck Israel with barrages of missiles last week, AI-generated videos falsely claimed to show damage inflicted on Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport. The videos were widely shared across Facebook, Instagram and X. Using a reverse image search, AFP's fact-checkers found that the clips were originally posted by a TikTok account that produces AI-generated content. There has been a "surge in generative AI misinformation, specifically related to the Iran-Israel conflict," Ken Jon Miyachi, founder of the Austin-based firm BitMindAI, told AFP. "These tools are being leveraged to manipulate public perception, often amplifying divisive or misleading narratives with unprecedented scale and sophistication." - 'Photo-realism' - GetReal Security, a US company focused on detecting manipulated media including AI deepfakes, also identified a wave of fabricated videos related to the Israel-Iran conflict. The company linked the visually compelling videos -- depicting apocalyptic scenes of war-damaged Israeli aircraft and buildings as well as Iranian missiles mounted on a trailer -- to Google's Veo 3 AI generator, known for hyper-realistic visuals. The Veo watermark is visible at the bottom of an online video posted by the news outlet Tehran Times, which claims to show "the moment an Iranian missile" struck Tel Aviv. "It is no surprise that as generative-AI tools continue to improve in photo-realism, they are being misused to spread misinformation and sow confusion," said Hany Farid, the co-founder of GetReal Security and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Farid offered one tip to spot such deepfakes: the Veo 3 videos were normally eight seconds in length or a combination of clips of a similar duration. "This eight-second limit obviously doesn't prove a video is fake, but should be a good reason to give you pause and fact-check before you re-share," he said. The falsehoods are not confined to social media. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard has identified 51 websites that have advanced more than a dozen false claims -- ranging from AI-generated photos purporting to show mass destruction in Tel Aviv to fabricated reports of Iran capturing Israeli pilots. Sources spreading these false narratives include Iranian military-linked Telegram channels and state media sources affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, NewsGuard said. - 'Control the narrative' - "We're seeing a flood of false claims and ordinary Iranians appear to be the core targeted audience," McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP. Sadeghi described Iranian citizens as "trapped in a sealed information environment," where state media outlets dominate in a chaotic attempt to "control the narrative." Iran itself claimed to be a victim of tech manipulation, with local media reporting that Israel briefly hacked a state television broadcast, airing footage of women's protests and urging people to take to the streets. Adding to the information chaos were online clips lifted from war-themed video games. AFP's fact-checkers identified one such clip posted on X, which falsely claimed to show an Israeli jet being shot down by Iran. The footage bore striking similarities to the military simulation game Arma 3. Israel's military has rejected Iranian media reports claiming its fighter jets were downed over Iran as "fake news." Chatbots such as xAI's Grok, which online users are increasingly turning to for instant fact-checking, falsely identified some of the manipulated visuals as real, researchers said. "This highlights a broader crisis in today's online information landscape: the erosion of trust in digital content," BitMindAI's Miyachi said. "There is an urgent need for better detection tools, media literacy, and platform accountability to safeguard the integrity of public discourse." burs-ac/jgc