‘Be careful': DHS warns governors in urgent calls over possible Iran sleeper cell attack on US soil
In the aftermath of US-led airstrikes on Iran's key nuclear facilities, the Department of Homeland Security is stepping up its coordination efforts across the country. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has held high-level calls with governors and law enforcement leaders, urging heightened vigilance amid fears of potential retaliation on American soil.
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Indian Express
39 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Why Iran gave ‘early notice' of its attack on US base in Qatar
A day after the United States struck Iranian nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, Iran on Monday (June 23) retaliated with missile attacks against the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the forward headquarters of the US Central Command. The Iranian attack was telegraphed, calibrated, and evidently symbolic in nature. After promising retaliation following the American strikes, Iran gave 'advance notice' to their Qatari and American counterparts to minimise casualties. Almost all Iranian missiles were intercepted, with no American or Qatari casualties reported. This was confirmed by US President Donald Trump himself, who posted on Truth Social that Iran's response was 'weak and expected,' and 'there will, hopefully, be no further HATE.' 'I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured. Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same,' he wrote. Monday was the 11th straight day in which Iran and Israel exchanged missile strikes. According to reports, the latest Israeli strikes were the largest in scale, including an attack on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC') headquarters. Iran's Qatar gamble The American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites have neither eliminated Iran's enrichment capabilities, nor destroyed its existing stock of enriched uranium. Iranian officials claimed that stockpiles of 60%, 20%, and 3.67% enriched uranium had already been withdrawn from Fordow, partially or fully, ahead of the strikes. (This stockpile will remain central to Iran-US negotiations, if they ever resume). Arab media reports suggest that Washington supplied advance notice to Tehran of its June 22 strikes, and communicated privately that the attacks were a 'one-off' and that it was willing to resume negotiations. Across the 10 days of Israeli attacks, the Iranians consistently maintained two positions – that it was willing to resume nuclear negotiations if Israel ceased its attacks, and that Iran would certainly attack US bases (including those in Arab states) if the US joined Israel's attack. After the American attacks, Tehran had to find the optimal point between acting to preserve the credibility of its threats, and restraining itself enough to retain space for negotiations and recuperate. This is more so given Iran's abject economic condition, which has increasingly worsened over the last five years. Among all Arab states, Qatar was arguably among the few where the Iranians could risk targeting US assets, and attempt to contain diplomatic fallout. Qatar, which has positioned itself as a neutral mediator for the region's many conflicts (including between Israel and Hamas), has long maintained strong ties with Iran. This relationship was among the crucial reasons for Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain imposing an unprecedented blockade on Qatar between 2017 and 2021. This blockade ended in 2021, two years before the Arab rapprochement with Iran. Iran's 'advance notice' allowed Qatar to shut its airspace an hour before the attacks. Moreover, the US has spent the last week removing its aircraft from the base. By June 19, there were reportedly less than five American aircraft left at Al-Udeid. Iran's Israel challenge While the US strikes were the first American military attacks on Iranian soil in history, it is Israel's sustained attacks which have imposed the most substantial costs. Iran now faces an active threat to the Supreme Leader, attacks on its military, energy, and nuclear sites, and the elimination of key IRGC senior leaders. Its homeland defences have all but been decimated. However, while Ali Khamenei has reportedly named his successors in the event of his own demise, the IRGC has reorganised itself enough to sustain its missile salvos against Israel. For Iran, this is both symbolically and substantially important. Its threshold of success is lower, defined simply by its ability to hit Israel, beating both American air defence units in the region, and Israel's multi-layered AD systems. Following the US strikes, the IRGC for the first time employed its homegrown Kheybar Shekan solid-fuel missiles against Israel. This is what triggered a larger-than-before Israeli salvo on Monday. Unlike the US, which declared its one-time operation complete and successful, Israel's campaign continues to be fought with the maximal objectives of both Iranian nuclear dismantlement and regime change. Despite contradictory statements coming from the White House, Washington evidently remains unwilling to support the latter objective. Moreover, any bombing campaign, let alone a one-off strike, is likely to only delay, not end, Iran's road to a nuclear weapon. It is this clear inference that has always pushed both the US and Europe to seek negotiations with Tehran, despite the severe imbalance in conventional military power. What did not happen Despite issuing threats to this end, Tehran in the end did not close — or even try to close — the Strait of Hormuz, as has always been the case. The Strait is vital for both global and Iranian energy needs, and even now, the Iranian position is not dire enough to warrant a blockade. What is more interesting is the complete absence of its proxies in the Iranian retaliation. While the Yemeni Houthis declared an end to their April ceasefire with the US, the group has not yet resumed attacks against US shipping. The Houthis have thus far shown a marked ability to start/halt attacks on their own terms. On the other hand, Iran's Lebanon-based proxy, Hezbollah, has consistently maintained ambiguity, especially in the light of its significant internal challenges. Even after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, Hezbollah engaged only in calibrated rocket and drone attacks, drawing Israeli retaliation at a level it could absorb. Hassan Nasrallah did not commit to a full-scale war — until Israel initiated it in the second half of 2024, and killed Nasrallah himself. On June 20, Hezbollah's current chief, Naim Qassem, expressed strong solidarity with Iran amid Israel's attacks, but committed only to 'act as we see fit' — retaining the ambiguity that the group has now preferred for the past 20 months. In Iraq, Iran has cultivated the Hashd-al-Shaabi as an umbrella proxy group since 2019, after their successful campaign against ISIS in Iraq. The government in Baghdad, though firmly opposed to the Israeli and American aggression against Tehran, has long worked to remove Iraq as a proxy battleground, and to potentially integrate the Hashd, which has a strength of about 50,000 fighters collectively, into Iraq's armed forces. While US bases in Iraq were most expected to bear the brunt of any Iranian retaliation, Iran evidently did not press this militia into action, much like in January 2020. That month, after the US assassinated Iran's Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC launched missiles directly at US bases at Ain-al-Assad and Erbil in Iraq but excluded Hashd from an operational role. The Americans did not suffer any casualties, and chose not to escalate — then too Iran had telegraphed its impending attack. Not using its proxies, arguably allows Iran a greater ability to calibrate its actions, with relatively lesser risk of inadvertent escalation. But the attack on Al-Udeid is markedly different from the Iranian 2020 action in Iraq. The Al-Udeid base is the US military's crown jewel in the Middle East. The 29 year old self-sufficient base houses 10,000 troops from multiple countries and is the nerve-centre for US operations in the region. However, like in 2020, the US has recognised Iran's need to save face, and has refrained from escalating in response — as Trump's message makes amply evident. What now? With Israel keeping up its attacks, it is uncertain whether Iran will remain committed to its offer — which stood between June 13 and June 22 — to negotiate if the Israelis stop their assaults. Iran is close to withdrawing from the NPT and suspending cooperation with the IAEA, which indicates that the US attacks may have made it even more determined to pursue a nuclear weapon. However, Iran's economic imperatives for negotiations remain. In the larger scheme of things, the developments of the past few days might have convinced the Arab states in the Middle East of the value of nuclear deterrence. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long worried about an Iranian nuclear weapon and Iranian or Houthi-led attacks against their energy sites, the Israeli actions have potentially created a new threat-in-being. The UAE completed the first nuclear power plant of the Arab world last year, and Saudi is on the road to its own. One downstream impact of the Israeli aggression against Iran may be an increase in the collective Arab anxiety, regardless of their recent rapprochement with Israel.
India Gazette
40 minutes ago
- India Gazette
By-election results: BJP, TMC, AAP retain seats, anti-incumbency sentiment in Kerala with UDF win in Nilambur
New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the results for the by-elections conducted on five seats of four states - Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal. While most of the parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) retained their seats in this by-elections, but the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala faced a major blow, as the alliance failed to retain its Nilambur assembly seat. The bypolls were conducted on Kaliganj assembly constituency of West Bengal, Kadi and Visavadar seats of Gujarat, Nilambur of Kerala and Ludhiana West of Punjab. In a significant blow to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in Kerala, UDF candidate Aryadan Shoukath of Congress defeated LDF's M Swaraj of CPI(M) by a large margin of 11,077 votes in the Nilambur assembly by-election. Shoukath had secured 77737 votes, a lead of 11077 votes from M Swaraj of the CPM after 19 rounds of counting. The bypoll for the Nilambur seat was necessitated after the resignation of Left Democratic Front independent legislator PV Anvar, who later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) after his acrimonious break-up with the ruling alliance. In its official statement, Congress in Kerala said, 'Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has won the Nilambur assembly constituency, a sitting seat of the ruling CPM combine, by a huge margin of over 11,000 votes. Big congrats to Aryadan Shoukath and the entire Congress-UDF team that worked relentlessly for this shining victory.' 'Successive bypoll wins and a clean sweep in the parliament elections by the Congress and UDF have proved beyond doubt that the anti-incumbency sentiment against the Pinarayi Vijayan government is gaining momentum by the day. Now the anger of the people has reached its peak. The government cannot escape the heat or continue to live in denial, hiding behind the multi-crore PR machinery,' it added. In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Alifa Ahmed secured victory in the Kaliganj assembly by-election by a margin of 50,049 votes. Alifa defeated Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Ashish Ghosh and Congress' Kabil Uddin Shaikh and emerged victorious on the seat. According to the Election Commission of India, Alifa received 1,02,759 votes while BJP's Ghosh received 52,710 votes. Congress' Shaikh managed to get 28,348 votes while 2,502 votes went to NOTA (None of the above). The by-poll in the constituency was necessitated after the death of TMC leader Nasiruddin Ahmed. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her deep gratitude to the voters, thanking them for their overwhelming support after party took lead on the Kaliganj seat. In a social media post on X, Chief Minister Banerjee wrote, 'In the by-election of the Kaliganj Assembly constituency, people from all religions, castes, communities, and all walks of life have overwhelmingly blessed us by exercising their voting rights. I humbly express my gratitude to them.' She credited the victory to the guiding values of Maa-Mati-Manush (Mother, Soil, People), emphasizing, 'The main architect of this victory is Maa-Mati-Manush. My colleagues in Kaliganj have worked tirelessly for this, and I extend my sincere congratulations to them as well.' In Punjab, AAP's Sanjeev Arora won the by-elections by with a margin of 10,637 votes, retaining the party's seat. In Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar seat while BJP's Rajendrakumar (Rajubhai) Daneshwar Chavda won the Kadi seat. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Gopal Italia won the Visavadar (Gujarat) Assembly by-election by a margin of 17,554 votes. The Visavadar seat fell vacant after Bhayani Bhupendrabhai Gandubhai resigned. After party's victory, former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the people of Gujarat and Punjab after the party's spectacular performance in the bypolls in Visavadar and Ludhiana West and said that people rejected Congress and BJP in both the constituencies. Speaking on his victory, Gopal Italia said, 'These elections were contested by the public... I was only a medium. When the people contest the elections themselves, it is confirmed that the results would be historic... The BJP did everything to win these elections... This is people's win. The people want change in Gujarat... The people have faith in the AAP and its leadership... I thank everyone who was involved in these elections...' Gujarat AAP leader Anup Sharma said, 'The people of Visavadar saw the false promises made by the BJP. All their fake promises have been revealed, and Gopal Italia did not win alone. Today, every member of the Aam Aadmi Party is feeling this victory, and this lead will increase. This is a 'khasa tamasha' to the BJP by the people of Gujarat.' Following Gopal Italia's victory in the Visavadar by-election, Gujarat AAP president Isudan Gadhvi said that AAP will form the government in said this is a victory for the people of Visavadar, including farmers, labourers, and unemployed youth. He claimed it marks the beginning of AAP's rise in Gujarat and further emphasised that AAP, not Congress, can challenge the BJP's dominance in the state. In a post on X, AAP Gujarat expressed its gratitude, stating, 'Many thanks to the people of Visavadar, Bhensan, and Junagadh villages for choosing the politics of work of the Aam Aadmi Party.' Meanwhile, BJP's Rajendrakumar (Rajubhai) Daneshwar Chavda won the Kadi seat with a margin of 39,452 votes. He managed to gain 99,742 votes. In a social media post on X, the Gujarat BJP expressed gratitude to the public after party candidate Chavda secured victory from Kadi. 'Many thanks to Janata Janardhan and hearty congratulations to the workers for giving a grand victory to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Shri Rajendrabhai Chavda in the Kadi Assembly by-election,' the Gujarat BJP posted. (ANI)
India Gazette
40 minutes ago
- India Gazette
Any decision to close Strait of Hormuz will impact global oil supply, say experts
New Delhi [India], June 24 (ANI): Amid rising tensions in the Middle East due to continued military action by Israel and Iran, experts have said that any closure of the Strait of Hormuz will hit global oil trade. Former diplomat KP Fabian said India has expressed concern at the recent escalations and that conveyed that it is on side of peace and humanity. The United States entered the war on Sunday and bombed Iran nuclear sites. Fabian referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi receiving a telephone call from Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday. President Pezeshkian briefed PM in detail and shared his perspective on the current situation in the region, especially the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. PM Modi expressed India's deep concern at the recent escalations. 'PM Modi has very diplomatically said that India is upset with the escalation, meaning American attack on Iran's nuclear sites. For good diplomatic reasons, the PM didn't want to name America, nor did he want to name Israel for constantly bombing. But it is clear that India is very much concerned, and India has good reasons to be concerned about,' Fabian said. Answering a query, Fabian said that any closure of Strait of Hormuz will affect crude oil trade and will have negative impact on global economy. Former Ambassador Anil Trigunayat said the situation in the Middle East is becoming dangerous and referred to the United States entering the war and bombing Iran's nuclear sites. He said PM Modi, in his conversation with Iran President, thanked him for the continued support being extended for safe return and repatriation of the Indian community. He said any move by Iran to block the Strait of Hormuz will have an adverse impact on global trade. 'This will affect the supply of oil and other goods traded from the Middle East to the other parts of the world,' he said. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's important shipping chokepoints connecting the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. Around 20 per cent of global production flows through the waterway. Iran controls its northern side, according to CNN. It said that Iran's Parliament has approved a motion to close the Strait of Hormuz, though the final decision lies with the country's Supreme National Security Council. (ANI)
