Iran claims victory over Israel, downplays US strikes

SBS Australia

13 hours ago

Iran claims it has "won" over Israel, criticised United States
China accuses NATO of smearing its reputation in "reckless" expansion
Holly McNamara helps Matildas secure win over Lithuania Iran's Supreme leader is claiming his country won its war with Israel. In his first public comment since the ceasefire was announced earlier this week, Ali Khamenei has posted a message of congratulations to his countrymen, saying Iran has slapped the United States in the face. He's also warning Iran would attack the United States again if provoked. He says US President Donald Trump is exaggerating the damage done by U-S attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. "The President of the United States made an unusual exaggeration in describing what had happened; it became clear that he needed this exaggeration. If aggression occurs, the cost for both the enemy and the protester will certainly be high.'
Khamenei hasn't been seen in public since going underground when Israeli bombing started on the 13th of June.
The White House is reporting US President Donald Trump has ended "the immediate threat" of Iranian nuclear program. The White House and Pentagon are still trying to discredit a leaked intelligence report that said the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities had been mostly superficial. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a press briefing that the U-S mission to bomb Iran's nuclear infrastructure would "go down in the history books" as an "overwhelming success." 'President Trump finally ended the immediate threat of a nuclear Iranian regime. Following President Trump's command, the most powerful military in the history of the world executed massive precision strikes on three of the Iranian regime's key nuclear facilities.'
She also said Trump "wants peace" and US officials are in communication with Iranian leaders.
China's Foreign Minister has accused NATO Secretary Generalof hyping up regional tensions to justify a sharp increase in the alliance's military spending. The pledge by all but one of the NATO member states to raise defence spending by 5 per cent of GDP by 2035 was reached at the NATO summit in The Hague, alongside a renewed commitment to defend one another from attacks. Guo Jiakun described the move as recklessly expanding NATO's powers and strategically pushing into the Asia Pacific.
'China urges NATO to deeply reflect on itself, heed the just calls of the international community, abandon outdated Cold War thinking, bloc confrontation, and zero-sum games, correct its wrongful perceptions about China, and stop manipulating China-related issues. China will firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security, and development interests and will continue to contribute to global peace and stability through concrete actions.'
The Opposition continues to push for Australia's defence spending to be lifted, claiming current spending is not adequate to meet the threats of a volatile global environment. On the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Defence Minister Richard Marles resisted pressure from President Donald Trump to lift military spending, saying Australia would decide its own spending levels to meet its own military needs. His comments were made after NATO member countries - Australia is not a member - agreed to increase defence spending targets to 5 per cent of G-D-P. Opposition Defence Minister Angus Taylor says the government must follow suit and increase defence spending to at least 3 per cent of G-D-P to ensure its military is prepared for an increasingly unstable global security environment.
"We need to have the serious capability on the ground to be able to play our role in this more uncertain world. That means getting spending to 3% of GDP, and that was a position we took to the last election, and it's a position we maintain, and we will continue to hold the government to account on its failure to fund its own plan."
Traditional custodians will travel to Paris next week to raise concerns with the United Nations, about a draft decision to deny a World Heritage listing for WA's ancient Murujuga rock art collection. There are more than 1 million petroglyphs at the Pilbara site, which is adjacent to a Woodside gas plant. Last month, UNESCO indicated it would not be approving a World Heritage listing for the petroglyphs, because of damage from nearby industry.
UNESCO's decision came as the state and federal government's gave Woodside permission to extend its Northwest Shelf gas plant for another 40 years.
In football, Holly McNamara has scored her first international goal, but new Matildas coach Joe Montemurro was left with plenty to ponder, after his side scratched out an unconvincing 3-0 win over Slovenia in Perth. Emily Gielnik's third-minute strike in Thursday night's match at H-B-F Park got the 15th-ranked Matildas off to a flyer, but it wasn't until McNamara scored in the 86th minute that the win was safe. Although the 3-0 scoreline looked good on paper, the performance was far from slick in front of a crowd of just over 8 and a half thousand people.
The under-strength Matildas were error-prone throughout the night, especially in defence where they attempted to play their way out of trouble at every chance.