Freed Mahmoud Khalil vows to keep speaking up for Palestine after release
Freed Mahmoud Khalil vows to keep speaking up for Palestine after release NewsFeed
See the moment former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was held for 100 days in a US detention centre, was greeted by supporters after his release from custody. Khalil vowed to continue protesting US complicity in Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
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Al Jazeera
39 minutes ago
- Al Jazeera
Satellite images show damage from US strikes on Iran's Fordow nuclear site
US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States has 'totally obliterated' three Iranian nuclear sites in what he called 'spectacularly successful' strikes. The military used so-called 'bunker buster' bombs and missiles to target the heavily fortified Fordow facility as well as Natanz and Isfahan sites. Trump's decision to join Israel's military campaign marks a sharp escalation in the region, which has seen more than 21 months of Israeli genocide in Gaza. The US intervention comes more than a week after Israel launched an unprovoked strike on Iranian nuclear and military sites after accusing Tehran of making an atomic bomb. Iran, as well as the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has rejected the claims that Tehran was on the cusp of developing nuclear weapons. How did the attack happen, and which sites were targeted? Trump announced the bombing of three of Iran's main nuclear sites: Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant – A heavily fortified, deeply buried uranium enrichment site near the northern city of Qom. Natanz Nuclear Facility – Iran's main uranium-enrichment complex, located near Isfahan in central Iran. Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center – A key conversion and research facility south of Isfahan city. According to US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a large formation of seven B-2 stealth bombers, each with two crew members, was launched from the US on Friday at midnight as part of Operation Midnight Hammer. To maintain tactical surprise, a decoy group flew west over the Pacific, while the main strike group headed east with minimal communications during an 18-hour flight. At 5pm EST (1:30am local time and 21:00 GMT), a US submarine in the region launched more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles, striking surface infrastructure targets in Isfahan. At 6:40pm EST (2:10am Iran time and 22:40 GMT), the lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) on Fordow, followed by a total of 14 MOPs dropped across Fordow and Natanz. All three nuclear sites—Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan—were hit between 6:40pm and 7:05pm EST (1:30am-2:10am local time; 22:40-23:10 GMT). The final wave of Tomahawk missiles struck Isfahan last to preserve surprise. In total, more than 125 US aircraft participated, including stealth bombers, fighter jets, dozens of tankers, surveillance aircraft, and support crews. The Pentagon described it as the largest B-2 combat operation in US history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown. Force protection across the region was elevated in anticipation of potential retaliation. Where are Iran's nuclear sites? Iran's nuclear programme is spread across several key sites. While Iran insists its programme is peaceful and aimed at energy and medical research, the US and Israel remain deeply suspicious. Iran's resumption of uranium enrichment after the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 has only deepened tensions. Israel, which had vehemently opposed the nuclear deal under US President Barack Obama, has vowed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons by any means necessary. On June 13, it launched strikes on Iran a day ahead of a sixth round of US-Iran nuclear talks. Attack on Fordow Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, located about 95km (60 miles) southwest of Tehran, is built deep inside a mountain, reportedly up to 80-90 metres (260-300 feet) underground, to survive air strikes and bunker buster attacks. Mehdi Mohammadi, an adviser to the chairman of the Iranian parliament, claimed that the US attack was not surprising and that no irreversible damage was sustained during the strikes. He added that authorities had evacuated all three sites in advance. Attack on Natanz Natanz nuclear facility, the largest uranium enrichment site in Iran, is located in Isfahan province. In a previous attack on June 15, the above-ground section of a pilot fuel enrichment plant, where uranium was enriched up to 60 percent, was destroyed by an Israeli strike, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Natanz's key electricity infrastructure, such as the substation, main power building, emergency supply, and backup generators, was also destroyed. There was no direct hit on the underground cascade hall, but the power loss may have damaged centrifuges used for uranium enrichment. Attack on Isfahan Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center is a key conversion and research facility south of Isfahan city. It plays a critical role in preparing raw materials for enrichment and reactor use. This is the third time Isfahan has been struck since Israel launched attacks across Iran on June 13, prompting fears of a regional escalation. Bunker buster bombs The strikes on Iran's nuclear sites were conducted using B-2 stealth bombers armed with so-called 'bunker buster' bombs, alongside submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. Experts have long noted that the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant—buried deep within a mountain—could only be destroyed by the US's 30,000-pound (13,600kg) Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the world's most powerful bunker-busting bomb. The US remains the only country known to possess this weapon. No signs of contamination Iran's nuclear agency said on Sunday that radiation monitoring and field assessments show no signs of contamination or risk to residents near the targeted sites. 'Following the illegal US attack on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, no contamination has been recorded,' the agency posted on social media. 'There is no danger to residents around these sites. Safety remains stable.' In a separate statement, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran vowed that its nuclear activities would continue despite the strikes, saying it 'assures the great Iranian nation that, despite the hostile conspiracies of its enemies, the efforts of thousands of committed and revolutionary scientists will ensure that this national industry—built on the blood of nuclear martyrs—will not be stopped'. The IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, also did not notice an increase in radiation levels near the targeted sites. The attacks came as Israel and Iran have been engaged in more than a week of aerial combat, with more than 400 killed in Iran and 24 casualties reported in Israel. Six Iranian scientists, two of whom were prominent nuclear scientists, were also killed in Israeli strikes.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
US attacks Iran: How Trump rejoined ‘team' Netanyahu
As United States President Donald Trump addressed the world on the strikes launched by his country's military against three key Iranian nuclear sites in the early hours on Sunday, he thanked several people and institutions. The US military, fighter pilots who dropped the bombs, and a general were among those on his list. So was one individual who is not American, and with whom Trump has had a topsy-turvy relationship: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump also said Netanyahu and he had worked like 'perhaps no team has ever worked before'. Those laudatory comments represent a stark contrast from the far more crude language that Trump used for the Israeli leader just four years ago, and their public tension over Iran less than a month ago. We track Trump's often-love and sometimes-hate relationship with Netanyahu: What did Trump say about Netanyahu? In his televised address on Sunday, during the early morning hours in the Middle East, Trump thanked and congratulated Netanyahu. 'I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu,' he said, referring to a name the Israeli PM is widely known by. 'We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel,' Trump said, referring to Iran's nuclear facilities. 'I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done,' Trump said, adding praise for the US forces. Trump warned Iran to accept what he described as 'peace' but what effectively amounts to the surrender of its nuclear programme, on US terms. 'If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier,' he said. Meanwhile, Israel remains the only country in the Middle East with a nuclear arsenal, though it has never officially acknowledged it. The US strikes follow nine days of Israeli missile attacks against Iran, including on its nuclear facilities. Israel did not have the bombs needed to damage or destroy Iran's most secretive nuclear site in Fordow, buried deep inside a mountain. The US, using its bunker-buster bombs, hit Fordow as well as the facilities in Natanz and Isfahan on Sunday. Trump's decision to align himself with Netanyahu in bringing the US into the war with Iran has split his 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) support base. What did Netanyahu say about Trump? After Trump announced the strikes and appreciated the Israeli leader, Netanyahu responded with warmer words than the ones the US president had used for him. 'President Trump, your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities with the awesome and righteous might of the United States will change history,' Netanyahu said in a recorded video statement. He further said, 'In tonight's action against Iran's nuclear facilities, America has been truly unsurpassed. It has done what no other country on Earth could do.' 'History will record that President Trump acted to deny the world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons,' said Netanyahu. The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has publicly said it does not believe that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, an assessment shared by US intelligence agencies, which also drew the same conclusion earlier this year. However, Trump has in recent days said his hand-picked spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, and the intelligence community's assessment were 'wrong'. Trump's 'leadership today has created a pivot of history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace', Netanyahu said in this statement. 'President Trump and I often say: 'Peace through strength'. First comes strength, then comes peace. And tonight, Donald Trump and the United States acted with a lot of strength,' concluded Netanyahu. How were their ties during Trump's first term? Netanyahu enjoyed a close relationship with Trump during his first term in office from 2017 to 2021. Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moved the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, a long-sought symbolic victory for Netanyahu that strengthened his image domestically. Trump appointed an ambassador who was ideologically aligned with Israel's settler movement, David Friedman, in May 2017. In March 2019, the US president also recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, becoming the only world leader to back Israel's annexation of the region that is recognised internationally as a part of Syria. In September 2020, Trump hosted the signing of the Abraham Accords, which led to normalisation of relations between Israel and four Arab states – Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Sudan. Trump formally withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal — in May 2018, through a presidential proclamation that reinstated US sanctions against Iran. This marked a major shift from the previous US policy of implementing the JCPOA in January 2016 to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump declared the deal 'defective at its core', claiming it offered insufficient assurances and failed to address Iran's missile programme and regional activities. Why did Trump sour on Netanyahu? In a December 2021 Axios interview with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, Trump revealed that his relationship with Netanyahu deteriorated after the Israeli PM publicly congratulated incoming President Joe Biden on his 2020 election victory — a loss that Trump has refused to accept. 'The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake,' Trump said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. 'And not only did he congratulate him, he did it on tape.' 'F*** him,' Trump said, expressing his anger. How have their ties been since? While the incoming Trump administration initially claimed to broker a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, with some observers noting that he may rein in the Israeli military campaign, it soon rallied behind Netanyahu's continuing genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. In a joint news conference in February this year, Trump wildly proposed that the US should 'take over' the Gaza Strip, redevelop it, and relocate Palestinians — a plan that Netanyahu publicly endorsed as 'nothing wrong'. Netanyahu also said he was 'committed to US President Trump's plan for the creation of a different Gaza'. Later that month, the US approved $2.5bn worth of arms sales to Israel, including bombs and drones. In March, Israel resumed major air attacks in Gaza after negotiations over the release of captives collapsed. The White House confirmed that Israel had consulted Trump before the attacks. On Iran, meanwhile, Trump's position has seesawed from alignment with Netanyahu to his own distinct positions. April 12-June 13, 2025: The US led back-channel nuclear negotiations with Iran, mediated by Oman. May: Trump stated during his Gulf tour that the US was in 'very serious negotiations' with Iran and 'getting very close' to a nuclear deal, signalling openness to diplomacy. On May 28, Trump said he told Netanyahu to hold off on any strike against Iran to give his administration more time to push for a new nuclear deal. He told reporters at the White House that he relayed to Netanyahu a strike 'would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution'. June 11-12: The IAEA said Iran had not been transparent enough in its nuclear programme, and that elements of its approach were in violation of the country's safeguards agreement with the United Nations nuclear watchdog. The US began evacuating its regional embassies. Tensions surged as Trump stated that diplomacy was stalling and hinted at serious consequences if no deal was reached. June 13: Israel launched massive air strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, killing key nuclear scientists, scholars, and top military commanders. In the initial US reaction to Israeli attacks on Iran, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, called the strikes 'unilateral' and said Washington was 'not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region'. The US-Iran talks over a nuclear deal were suspended. Trump admitted that he was aware of Israel's plans to attack Iran. June 19: Trump, after nearly a week of stalled talks and Israeli attacks, signalled support for Israel's military campaign, though keeping a diplomatic track open for talks with Tehran. June 20: The US president set a two-week ultimatum for Iran to negotiate the nuclear deal. June 21: Trump ordered US air strikes on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities, coordinating with Israel. He declared them 'completely obliterated'.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
How far will US strikes set back Iran's nuclear programme?
The United States struck three key nuclear sites in Iran early on Sunday, injecting itself into Israel's war with Iran in a sophisticated mission and prompting fears of military escalation in the Middle East amid Israel's brutal onslaught of Gaza. In a televised address early on Sunday, US President Donald Trump justified the strikes, saying they were aimed at stopping 'the nuclear threat' posed by Iran. Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow sites, which are involved in the production or storage of enriched uranium, were targeted. 'Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,' he said, warning Tehran against retaliation. Israel and Trump claim that Iran can use the enriched uranium to make atomic warheads. But Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also rejected Israeli claims that Iran was on the verge of making nuclear weapons. Condemning the strikes, which US officials said were highly coordinated, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the time for diplomacy had passed and that his country had the right to defend itself. 'The warmongering, a lawless administration in Washington, is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression,' he said at a news conference in Istanbul, Turkiye. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have not detailed the extent of the damage and have attempted to downplay the significance of the hits. Speaking on state TV, Hassan Abedini, the deputy political director of Iran's state broadcaster, said the three nuclear sites had been evacuated 'a while ago' and that they 'didn't suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out'. Here's what to know about the nuclear plants hit and what the attacks mean for Iran: Which facilities were hit? Trump on Sunday said a full payload of bombs 'obliterated' Iran's Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites. Iranian officials, according to the Reuters news agency, also confirmed that the three facilities were hit. Fordow is an underground enrichment facility in operation since 2006. Built deep inside the mountains some 48km (30 miles) from the Iranian city of Qom, north of Tehran, the site enjoys natural cover. The primary focus of Sunday's strikes, Fordow was hit with 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOPs) or 'bunker-buster' bombs delivered from B-2 stealth bomber planes, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a briefing on Sunday. The 13,000kg (28,700lb) GBU-57 MOP is the most powerful bunker-buster bomb, able to penetrate 60m (200 feet) below ground and delivering up to 2,400kg (5,300lb) of explosives, while the bombers are hard to detect. Israel had earlier attacked Fordow on June 13, causing surface damage, but security analysts believe only US bunker busters can penetrate the facility. An independent assessment of the scale of the damage is not yet available. Natanz is considered the largest nuclear enrichment facility in Iran, located about 300km (186 miles) south of Tehran. It is believed to consist of two facilities. One is the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP), which is a test and research facility located above ground and used to assemble centrifuges, rapidly rotating machines used for uranium enrichment. According to the non-profit Nuclear Threat Initiative, the facility had close to a thousand centrifuges. The other facility, located deep beneath the ground, is the Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP). US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine said on Sunday that 'more than two dozen' Tomahawk missiles were fired at Natanz and Isfahan. US media earlier reported the missiles were launched by submarines. Isfahan is an atomic research facility located in the central city of Isfahan. It was built in the 1970s and was used for uranium conversion. It was the last location hit before the US bombing mission, which involved about 125 aircraft, withdrew from the Iranian airspace, according to officials. Hegseth said the Iranians did not detect the mission and were notified afterwards. Are the sites destroyed? Independent impact assessment of the US strikes at Fordow remains unclear. Hegseth on Sunday said the US's 'initial assessment is that all our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and achieved the desired effect', citing particular damage at Fordow. An Iranian lawmaker told Al Jazeera that the site suffered superficial damage. Israeli strikes on the plant last week only caused 'limited, if any, damage' at the underground plant, according to IAEA boss Rafael Grossi. The extent of damage at Natanz is also unclear following Sunday's strike. Earlier Israeli attacks 'completely destroyed' the above-ground plant, and caused centrifuges in the underground parts of the uranium plant to be 'severely damaged if not destroyed altogether', even though it was not directly hit, Grossi told reporters last week. Meanwhile, the IAEA said on Sunday that six buildings at Isfahan suffered damage following the US attacks, including a workshop handling contaminated equipment. Earlier Israeli strikes had damaged four buildings on the site, the agency had reported, including the plant's central chemical laboratory. Initial reports from Iran and neighbouring Gulf countries such as Kuwait further indicate that there is no significant leakage of radioactive material from any of the plants. That could suggest that Iranian officials might have moved the stockpiles of enriched uranium out of the facilities targeted by the US, analysts say. According to the IRNA news agency, Reza Kardan, the deputy director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the head of the National Nuclear Safety System Center in the country, confirmed on Sunday that 'no radiation contamination or nuclear radiation has been observed outside' the sites. 'Preliminary plans had been made and measures had been taken to protect the safety and health of the dear people of the country, and despite the criminal actions this morning in attacking nuclear facilities, due to the previously planned measures and the measures taken, no radiation contamination or nuclear radiation has been observed outside these sites and facilities,' Kardan said. The IAEA also said the radiation levels near targeted sites had not increased. 'Following attacks on three nuclear sites in Iran – including Fordow – the IAEA can confirm that no increase in off-site radiation levels has been reported as of this time,' the agency said in a social media post on Sunday. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says it is likely Iran had taken precautionary actions ahead of the US attacks. 'It appears that they already had gotten an advanced warning,' he told Al Jazeera. 'They understood that he [Trump] was buying time while moving military assets in order to actually strike. So, I think for some time they have moved those assets – where they are is unclear at this point.' Will this derail Iran's nuclear efforts? The impact of the strikes on Iran's overall nuclear programme is yet unknown. However, analysts say there was no clear evidence that Iran had advanced so far as to be able to reach weaponisation in its nuclear programme in the first place. Parsi said Iran's most valuable nuclear asset is its stockpile of enriched uranium. 'As long as they continue to have that, they still actually have very much a nuclear programme that still could be weaponised,' he added. 'And I think we are going to start to hear from the Israelis in rather short order, that this was not the type of successful strike Trump has claimed, but they are going to start making the case that there needs to be a more ongoing bombing campaign against Iran.' Has Iran's nuclear programme suffered setbacks before? Yes. Iran's nuclear ambitions started back in the 1950s under the leadership of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a close ally of the US and Israel. The shah's original vision was to build Iran's nuclear capacities for both energy generation and, to a lesser extent, weapons manufacturing. The US, Germany, and France all supported the country with aid and technology. However, following the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the new government, under leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, halted or paused parts of the programme, arguing that it was expensive and that it represented Iran's continued reliance on Western technology. Shelved or cancelled programmes further took a hit during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) when the country was forced to divert resources to the war effort after Iraq's invasion. Its Bushehr nuclear reactor site, which was under construction as part of a partnership with the industrial manufacturing giant Siemens, was bombed severely by Iraq and was left in near-total damage. Siemens eventually withdrew from the project. The government would later on reportedly restart the nuclear programme, although Iranian leadership has always insisted it is pursuing nuclear power for civilian use. Stuxnet – a computer virus developed by Israel and the US, likely launched back in 2005 but discovered in 2010 – caused extensive damage to Iran's nuclear capabilities. The programme, nicknamed Operation Olympic Games, compromised the Iranian network and caused centrifuges to tear themselves apart. It reportedly expanded rapidly under former US President Barack Obama, but began during the administration of US President George W Bush. Under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (officially known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA), the country was forced to limit its enrichment capabilities in exchange for sanctions relief. The deal, signed between Iran, China, Russia, the US, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union, capped enrichment at 3.67 percent. Sanctions, some of them in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, were gradually removed. Tehran complied with the terms of the deal, according to the (IAEA). It also agreed to allow the IAEA regular monitoring access. However, Trump pulled out of the agreement during his first term as US president in 2018, and slapped on sanctions as part of a 'maximum pressure' campaign, forcing Tehran to also discard the terms though it continued to cooperate with the IAEA.
