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Extra.ie
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Track Of The Day: Throwing Snow, 'Pedalling' feat. Daragh Fleming
UK producer Throwing Snow, also known as Ross Tones, has teamed up with Cork writer and poet Daragh Fleming for their nostalgic summer dance anthem, 'Pedalling'. Throwing Snow has previously played with well-known electronic musicians like Jon Hopkins, Bonobo, and Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace. He has also performed at Sonar, Berghain, Roskilde, and other venues and was crowned Music Radar's Best Underground Producer in 2019. Fleming, who is renowned for his poetic sensitivity and stirring writing, was shortlisted for the Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize in 2024. In addition to writing, he is an active supporter of mental health, as well as a public speaker, having given talks at TEDx and other events. Blending spoken word, shimmering synths, and a driving bass with intricate lyricism, their new single is rooted in a sense of motion and memory. A dreamlike soundscape and slight reverb create a fantastical atmosphere that somehow feels strangely familiar. 'Cycling'the track's initial titlewas composed for extreme cyclist Philippa Battye, with the constant rhythm intended to serve as a 'sonic companion' on her challenging ascents. But when Throwing Snow discovered Fleming's work, the project took a new turn: 'When I first came across Daraghs work, I was bowled over by his lyricism, storytelling, and message,' the producer remembers. Originally a poem, the lyrics for 'Pedalling' were inspired by Fleming's own childhood, cycling down beaches in Waterford. His rich vocals float over a steady beat, taking you along on the journey to distant memories of simpler days. 'This is obviously my first step into music, which is very exciting,' Fleming explained. 'When Ross reached out to me, it felt like perfect serendipity because putting words to music has always been an aspiration of mine,' he added. Despite being a stand-alone release, 'Pedalling' displays the creative connection between Fleming and Throwing Snow that could lead to future collaborations. You can check out 'Pedalling' below:
Indian Express
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
It makes the world more dangerous
In the mid-1950s, Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, initiated the country's nuclear journey. Amidst stiff opposition from its principal supporter, the United States, and with discreet help from France, Tel Aviv built its nuclear programme by the end of the 1960s. Today, Israel is widely known as a non-declared nuclear weapons state. This exclusive status is often compared to Iran's nuclear programme of today, which was targeted by US President Donald Trump on June 22 as B-2 stealth bombers of the US Air Force dropped 14,000 kg bunker-buster bombs on three of the country's nuclear sites — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Iran's nuclear programme has been the centre of delicate political brinkmanship for years. It began under the rule of the former pro-West Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, and was pitched as civilian in nature, developed around former US President Dwight D Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' initiative. Tehran ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1970, committing to not attaining nuclear weapon capabilities. All its Arab neighbours are also signatories to the NPT. Internationally, only a handful of nations, including Israel, India, and Pakistan, remain outside the agreement's ambit. In 2003, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons. This, within Iranian polity, is seen as strong an indictment against nuclear weapons as possible coming straight from the ideological leadership. But today, Iran may be on the cusp of exiting the NPT. A broader nuclearisation of West Asia has been a subject of discussion for many years, and in more contemporary times, Iran has been at the centre of this. Tehran's nuclear brinkmanship could arguably be more related to protecting and sustaining the political system set up post the 1979 Islamic Revolution than the bomb itself. It used this strategy to pull in Western powers, negotiate, and mainstream the state back into the international system via the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. However, questions over its enrichment activities under the NPT have lingered for years, raising suspicion, fear, and anxiety about Iran's intent, especially in Israel. Over the years, Israel has publicly raised fears that Iran was rushing towards a nuclear weapon as it pushed back against the JCPOA. Under Trump, Israel eventually found success, as whispers about intelligence suggesting Iran had materials to build nine warheads reached Trump's ears. Trump ignored even his own intelligence apparatus, which had aired doubts. The Israel-Iran conflict is now central to the region's security debate. While speculation continues over the kind of damage the US air strikes have really caused, and how much of a setback has been dealt to potential weaponisation, the path forward could also accelerate nuclearisation instead of deterring it. The impact of nuclear weapons dictating the strategic calculus in West Asia will not be geographically limited — it will be global. Arguments around the validity of nuclear weapons and their relationship to the protection of sovereignty and power cannot be dismissed. Especially at a time when international norms put in place predominantly by the West after World War II face a potential collapse. The latter is giving rise to a strategic calculus of 'might is right' for the future. And there is no better deterrence than a nuclear weapon. Recently, North Korea has proved this. Whether Iran remains adamant on gaining nuclear deterrence is an open-ended question after the recent strikes. Israel will do its best to preserve its newfound status as the region's primary military power. Irrespective of who holds power in Tehran — moderates, conservatives or ultra-conservatives — the probability of a unanimous view that nuclear weaponisation is the only way to prevent a repeat of June 2025 may solidify. And if this happens, a domino effect could play out where nuclear shields — one Arab, one Iranian, and a publicly acknowledged Israeli one — cannot be discounted. Former prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto perhaps best described a cornered state's vision of what nuclear capabilities can provide and how it can be marketed to a population. In 1977, according to various accounts, Bhutto said, 'A Jewish bomb, a Christian bomb, now a Hindu bomb. Why not an Islamic bomb?' Pakistan is the only nuclear Islamic country, and its know-how in this regard is widely accepted to be transferable to its Arab partners such as Saudi Arabia if need be. In the end, attaining nuclear weapons in today's day and age is not a technical challenge but a political decision that has long-lasting ramifications. West Asia should make such a decision cautiously and wisely. The writer is deputy director and fellow, Strategic Studies Programme, Observer Research Foundation
The Herald Scotland
26-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
See a timeline of 70 years of history that led to U.S. bombing Iran
At the center of it all is the state of Israel, the United States' key ally in the region -- one that consistently finds itself at war with Iran or with the Islamic extremist groups that are proxies for Iran's interests. Some key moments in the relationship between the U.S. and Iran. Can't see the above timeline? Click here to reload the page. 1953: Coup d'etat | The United States and United Kingdom back a coup d'etat in what is then called the Imperial State of Iran. The aim is to stop the Iranian parliament's attempt to nationalize the country's lucrative oil industry. The prime minister is replaced, and the autocratic monarch Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, known as the shah, increases his power. 1957: Atoms for Peace | U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Iran sign an agreement allowing the developing country to participate in the "Atoms for Peace" program. The United States provided materials and training to Iran, and essentially kicked off its modern nuclear program. 1978-1979: Iranian Revolution | After Pahlavi attempts to remove Ruhollah Khomeini, a high-ranking religious leader known as an ayatollah, Iranians grow fed up with the shah's massive power. The people stage a revolution to end the same monarchy that the United States had strengthened. A constitution for the Islamic Republic of Iran is established, and Khomeini becomes Supreme Leader a religious-political position more powerful than the role of president. The new regime is markedly anti-Israel, a stance that contributes to 50 years of tense United States-Iran relations. 1979-1981: Iran hostage crisis | Pahlavi is in exile, but U.S. President Jimmy Carter allows him to come to New York for cancer treatment. As retaliation, Iranian militants take over the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take hostages. Carter issues a series of sanctions that freeze billions of dollars in Iranian government assets and block trade between the two countries. More than 50 people are held for more than 400 days and finally released just after Carter leaves office. 1980-88: Iran-Iraq War | Iraq invades Iran, and the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, eventually sides with Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein. The war lasts for eight years, and hundreds of thousands of people die. More than a decade after the war ends, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will call the United States' policies "regrettably shortsighted." 1984: State sponsor of terrorism | The U.S. Department of State declares Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and imposes new sanctions. The designation continues until this day. 1989: A new supreme leader | Ali Khamenei succeeds Khomeini as supreme leader of Iran. Now in his 80s, Khamenei has stayed in the position for nearly 36 years. 1992-1997: More sanctions | Congress passes laws and President Bill Clinton signs executive orders that sanction Iran. The policies begin with attempts to stop the country from getting chemical or nuclear weapons, crippling its oil industry, and harming its general economy. They culminate with a near-embargo on goods and services traded between the United States and Iran. 2002: Axis of Evil | U.S. President George W. Bush, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, identifies three countries -- Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- as an "Axis of Evil" that threaten American security. "Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom," Bush says. Later that year, the world learns that Iran has been enriching uranium, a key step toward building a nuclear bomb. 2007-2010: Stuxnet | The Bush administration deploys a cyber weapon called Stuxnet that sabotages the computers Iran uses in its nuclear program while making users believe everything is running as usual. The public learns about the program, built in conjunction with Israel, in 2010, after U.S. President Barack Obama's administration also uses it. 2011-2013: Obama-era sanctions | U.S. President Barack Obama issues a series of sanctions designed to harm Iran's ability to move money around the international banking system and profit off its oil industry. 2013: Preliminary nuclear deal | Obama announces a temporary deal between U.S., its allies, and Iran. The deal requires Iran to limit its nuclear program for six months in exchange for reducing sanctions that have been harming the country's economy. 2015: Final nuclear deal | Obama -- along with leaders of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union -- reaches a deal with Iran to put significant restrictions on its nuclear program. The terms include limits on enriched uranium, and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. While defending the deal from critics, Obama says the only other alternative is war. 2016: Sanctions end | Obama signs an executive order revoking sanctions against Iran that were originally designed as consequences for its nuclear weapons program. The order says there has been a "fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran's nuclear program." 2017: Axis of Evil 2.0 | Fifteen years after Bush, President Donald Trump identifies a new "Axis of Evil" that includes Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.2018: Trump reverses course | Trump withdraws the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and instead renews sanctions on Iran. The administration says the campaign, called "maximum pressure," devastates Iran's economy and oil revenue. 2020: Soleimani assassination | Trump orders a drone strike in Iraq that assassinates Qasem Soleimani, an influential Iranian military leader. Iran threatens revenge, and international experts and policymakers warn that the United States may have started an unwinnable war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Trump for "acting swiftly, forcefully, decisively," and says Israel stands with the United States in its "just struggle for peace, security and self-defense." 2022: Jerusalem Declaration | U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid meet in Jerusalem to sign a declaration reaffirming the "unshakeable" alliance between the two countries. "The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome," the pledge says. 2023-2024: Tensions rise | Israel goes to war in Gaza, following a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that galvanizes the nation. The Iran-backed militant Houthis in Yemen attack ships in the Red Sea. The conflict expands when Israel conducts a first-of-its-kind attack on Iran-backed Hezbollah, detonating explosives hidden inside their handheld communication devices. The following month, Iran fires nearly 200 missiles at Israel, which intercepts most of them, but promises revenge. March 2025: U.S. takes on Houthi rebels | In March, the United States bombs the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, a now-notorious attack that officials discussed it on Signal. June 2025: Israel-Iran war | Israel launches airstrikes on Iran, killing top military leaders and damaging nuclear technology. Iran counters with its own missile attacks on Israel. The United States bombs Iran's nuclear facilities days later. The Western intervention escalates the war and stokes fears of a wider global conflict. Contributing: Shawn J. Sullivan More visual stories explaining the Iran conflict: Current conflict timeline: From Israeli attack to Iran's retaliation, US bombing and ceasefire How Operation Midnight Hammer unfolded: Details of US bombing in Iran How does a bunker-buster bomb work? A closer look at the GBU-57 Iran fires missiles at U.S. base in Qatar. Where else could it strike? Live updates: Ceasefire in place, but Iran nuclear program may have survived
USA Today
25-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Timeline: See how 70 years of history led to the U.S. bombing in Iran
The bellicose saga between Iran and the United States goes back seven decades and 13 presidents, a relationship that broke down after the people of Iran rose up against a regime the United States helped install 1953. While President Donald Trump's decision to bomb the country's nuclear sites has Americans on edge, the United States has a long history of punishing Iran's government, most often through sanctions. At the center of it all is the state of Israel, the United States' key ally in the region — one that consistently finds itself at war with Iran or with the Islamic extremist groups that are proxies for Iran's interests. Some key moments in the relationship between the U.S. and Iran. Can't see the above timeline? Click here to reload the page. 1953: Coup d'etat | The United States and United Kingdom back a coup d'etat in what is then called the Imperial State of Iran. The aim is to stop the Iranian parliament's attempt to nationalize the country's lucrative oil industry. The prime minister is replaced, and the autocratic monarch Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, known as the shah, increases his power. 1957: Atoms for Peace | U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Iran sign an agreement allowing the developing country to participate in the 'Atoms for Peace' program. The United States provided materials and training to Iran, and essentially kicked off its modern nuclear program. 1978-1979: Iranian Revolution | After Pahlavi attempts to remove Ruhollah Khomeini, a high-ranking religious leader known as an ayatollah, Iranians grow fed up with the shah's massive power. The people stage a revolution to end the same monarchy that the United States had strengthened. A constitution for the Islamic Republic of Iran is established, and Khomeini becomes Supreme Leader a religious-political position more powerful than the role of president. The new regime is markedly anti-Israel, a stance that contributes to 50 years of tense United States-Iran relations. 1979-1981: Iran hostage crisis | Pahlavi is in exile, but U.S. President Jimmy Carter allows him to come to New York for cancer treatment. As retaliation, Iranian militants take over the U.S. embassy in Tehran and take hostages. Carter issues a series of sanctions that freeze billions of dollars in Iranian government assets and block trade between the two countries. More than 50 people are held for more than 400 days and finally released just after Carter leaves office. 1980-88: Iran-Iraq War | Iraq invades Iran, and the United States, under President Ronald Reagan, eventually sides with Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein. The war lasts for eight years, and hundreds of thousands of people die. More than a decade after the war ends, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will call the United States' policies 'regrettably shortsighted.' 1984: State sponsor of terrorism | The U.S. Department of State declares Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and imposes new sanctions. The designation continues until this day. 1989: A new supreme leader | Ali Khamenei succeeds Khomeini as supreme leader of Iran. Now in his 80s, Khamenei has stayed in the position for nearly 36 years. 1992-1997: More sanctions | Congress passes laws and President Bill Clinton signs executive orders that sanction Iran. The policies begin with attempts to stop the country from getting chemical or nuclear weapons, crippling its oil industry, and harming its general economy. They culminate with a near-embargo on goods and services traded between the United States and Iran. 2002: Axis of Evil | U.S. President George W. Bush, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, identifies three countries — Iran, Iraq and North Korea — as an 'Axis of Evil' that threaten American security. 'Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom,' Bush says. Later that year, the world learns that Iran has been enriching uranium, a key step toward building a nuclear bomb. 2007-2010: Stuxnet | The Bush administration deploys a cyber weapon called Stuxnet that sabotages the computers Iran uses in its nuclear program while making users believe everything is running as usual. The public learns about the program, built in conjunction with Israel, in 2010, after U.S. President Barack Obama's administration also uses it. 2011-2013: Obama-era sanctions | U.S. President Barack Obama issues a series of sanctions designed to harm Iran's ability to move money around the international banking system and profit off its oil industry. 2013: Preliminary nuclear deal | Obama announces a temporary deal between U.S., its allies, and Iran. The deal requires Iran to limit its nuclear program for six months in exchange for reducing sanctions that have been harming the country's economy. 2015: Final nuclear deal | Obama — along with leaders of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the European Union — reaches a deal with Iran to put significant restrictions on its nuclear program. The terms include limits on enriched uranium, and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. While defending the deal from critics, Obama says the only other alternative is war. 2016: Sanctions end | Obama signs an executive order revoking sanctions against Iran that were originally designed as consequences for its nuclear weapons program. The order says there has been a 'fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran's nuclear program.' 2017: Axis of Evil 2.0 | Fifteen years after Bush, President Donald Trump identifies a new 'Axis of Evil' that includes Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela.2018: Trump reverses course | Trump withdraws the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and instead renews sanctions on Iran. The administration says the campaign, called 'maximum pressure,' devastates Iran's economy and oil revenue. 2020: Soleimani assassination | Trump orders a drone strike in Iraq that assassinates Qasem Soleimani, an influential Iranian military leader. Iran threatens revenge, and international experts and policymakers warn that the United States may have started an unwinnable war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praises Trump for 'acting swiftly, forcefully, decisively,' and says Israel stands with the United States in its 'just struggle for peace, security and self-defense.' 2022: Jerusalem Declaration | U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid meet in Jerusalem to sign a declaration reaffirming the 'unshakeable' alliance between the two countries. 'The United States stresses that integral to this pledge is the commitment never to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, and that it is prepared to use all elements of its national power to ensure that outcome,' the pledge says. 2023-2024: Tensions rise | Israel goes to war in Gaza, following a brutal terrorist attack by Hamas that galvanizes the nation. The Iran-backed militant Houthis in Yemen attack ships in the Red Sea. The conflict expands when Israel conducts a first-of-its-kind attack on Iran-backed Hezbollah, detonating explosives hidden inside their handheld communication devices. The following month, Iran fires nearly 200 missiles at Israel, which intercepts most of them, but promises revenge. March 2025: U.S. takes on Houthi rebels | In March, the United States bombs the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, a now-notorious attack that officials discussed it on Signal. June 2025: Israel-Iran war | Israel launches airstrikes on Iran, killing top military leaders and damaging nuclear technology. Iran counters with its own missile attacks on Israel. The United States bombs Iran's nuclear facilities days later. The Western intervention escalates the war and stokes fears of a wider global conflict. Contributing: Shawn J. Sullivan More visual stories explaining the Iran conflict: Current conflict timeline: From Israeli attack to Iran's retaliation, US bombing and ceasefire How Operation Midnight Hammer unfolded: Details of US bombing in Iran How does a bunker-buster bomb work? A closer look at the GBU-57 Iran fires missiles at U.S. base in Qatar. Where else could it strike? Live updates: Ceasefire in place, but Iran nuclear program may have survived
NDTV
25-06-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
How The United States Forced Iran To Pursue A Nuclear Programme
New Delhi: When American scientists helped install a nuclear reactor in Tehran in the 1960s, they did so under the banner of peace. Decades later, US warplanes bombed Iranian nuclear sites to halt what they now see as a threat. It began with the 'Atoms for Peace' programme, launched by President Dwight D Eisenhower to share civilian nuclear technology with allies. At the time, Iran, ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was a model Cold War partner, secular, West-leaning, and eager to modernise. The US responded by helping install the Tehran Research Reactor, training Iranian scientists at elite institutions like MIT, and encouraging partnerships with European allies. To Washington, it was a strategy to extend influence, contain Soviet power, and showcase the "benevolent" use of atomic energy. In practice, it created an entire ecosystem of nuclear capacity inside Iran that would long outlast the Shah's regime. "We gave Iran its starter kit," said Robert Einhorn, a former US arms control negotiator and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "We weren't terribly concerned about nuclear proliferation in those days, so we were pretty promiscuous about transferring nuclear technology." The concern was not about what Iran might do with the technology one day, but what the Soviet Union could do at the time. Under the Shah, Iran's ambitions scaled. Despite sitting on massive oil reserves, Iran was determined to become a nuclear power in both symbolism and capability. France and Germany signed multibillion-dollar reactor deals. US media ran ads touting the Shah's responsible embrace of nuclear power. Behind the public enthusiasm, intelligence officials in Washington were growing wary. The Shah's insistence on uranium enrichment, legal under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), but dual-use in nature, was raising flags. By the late 1970s, US policymakers tried to restrain Iran's growing autonomy by modifying reactor contracts and insisting on fuel restrictions. But by then, the nuclear infrastructure was already embedded. And then came the 1979 Islamic Revolution, sweeping away the Shah from power and replacing him with a clerical regime hostile to the US. US-Iranian relations collapsed overnight. Initially, the new rulers had little to no interest in the nuclear project. It was expensive, Western-built, and closely tied to the ousted regime. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini saw little value in continuing it. Iran's brutal war with Iraq in the 1980s, marked by chemical weapons and massive casualties, forced its leadership to reassess national defence. Once again, nuclear technology looked less like a luxury and more like a deterrent. But this time, the US wasn't the supplier. Instead, Iran turned to Pakistan. There, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, provided Iran with designs and components for uranium enrichment centrifuges. That transfer, based on stolen European technology, gave Iran its first real tools for weaponization of nuclear energy. Yet the foundation that enabled Iran to absorb that technology had been laid by the United States decades earlier. By the early 2000s, the world discovered Iran's secret enrichment sites. Tehran claimed it was within its rights under the NPT. The US and its allies were unconvinced. From there, the crisis hardened: sanctions, sabotage, and shadow wars replaced dialogue. The 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA, briefly froze the crisis. But the Trump administration withdrew from the deal in 2018. That unravelling triggered a return to confrontation, ending in the very airstrikes meant to destroy the kind of capability the US once helped cultivate.
