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Iran and the US have continued to trade strikes as the conflict enters its 100th day
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Donald Trump has claimed Iran’s military is “virtually decapitated” as the conflict between Washington and Tehran enters its 100th day.
The US president told NBC News Iran is “desperate” to make a deal but are “too proud” to admit it when he was asked why an agreement had not yet been reached.
He added he is “moving very fast” in the conflict and claimed the US has “totally destroyed” Tehran’s military.
It comes as the two countries continued to trade strikes over the weekend, testing a fragile ceasefire.
The US military said it downed six Iranian ballistic missiles launched towards its Gulf allies on Saturday while a seventh missile failed to reach its target. Tehran responded confirming it targeted a US airbase in Kuwait and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
Later the same day, the US said it shot down two more drones threatening the Strait of Hormuz in a bid to “defend against Iranian aggression.”
Iran’s foreign ministry later warned the US will be responsible for any consequences that emerge from its “illegal actions” in the current conflict.
Donald Trump has again refused to rule out putting US boots on the ground to secure Iranian highly enriched uranium if needed.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press aired on Sunday, moderator Kristen Welker asked the president: “Will you, and would you be open to sending in US forces to retrieve the nuclear stockpile.”
Trump replied: “Yeah … But the way you do it is if we make a deal, if we make a deal now we’re friendly, we’ll all go together. It’ll be our equipment. We’ll take it out and destroy it, whether it’s onsite or whether we take it offsite.”
He added: “We will go with them, or without them. But we won’t have people shooting at us, okay? Now, if we don’t make a deal, then we’re going to take them out militarily very harshly. And we’ll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we’ll have safety either way.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Sunday that regional governments were “not in a position to demand reparations”, responding to reports the U.S. could use Iranian assets to compensate regional allies for war-related damages.
Gharibabadi added in a post on X that Iran’s assets were “neither war spoils for Washington nor a payment fund for its allies”.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday that the U.S. will make Iranian assets available to Gulf allies to support rebuilding and repairs for future damage caused by Iran.
Iran’s plans for the World Cup are in disarray after claims that the national team will only be able to enter the United States on the day of their matches, with the host nation being accused of “discriminatory treatment” over visa denials.
Key members of Iran’s coaching staff have had their visas denied due to the country’s ongoing conflict with the US, with the country’s embassy in Turkey lambasting the US government for “the worst possible form of politically-biased interference in sport”.
Read the full story:
A Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship went on a shooting rampage in several towns in central Israel on Sunday, killing one person and wounding five others, according to Israeli police.
The attacker was killed by police.
The attack came at a time of heightened tensions following a spate of Israeli settler attacks, and the deadly shooting of a Palestinian baby over the weekend, in the nearby West Bank.
Police identified the attacker as a resident of the Arab town of Taybeh in his 20s, but his precise motives were not immediately known.
The attack began with a shooting Sunday morning at a gas station near the town of Kokhav Yair, located on the Israeli side of the boundary with the occupied West Bank.
Several other shootings were reported in two nearby Israeli towns and close to the Israeli settlement of Salit, inside the West Bank.
For Iran’s team, the World Cup tournament taking place in the Americas this summer has been marred by fraught politics at home, the war with the US, and tensions over whether they would actually be able to set foot on US soil to play their games.
This is the first World Cup since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation is set to receive a country it is at war with.
Even their presence in Tijuana is politically tinged. The Iranian federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due to uncertainty over whether they would be granted visas and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the U.S. should be kept to a minimum, Iran’s ambassador in Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told Reuters.
Iran are scheduled to play their first two Group G games near Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, and then face Egypt in Seattle on June 26.
Iran and the US could meet in the round of 32 if both teams come second in their groups.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it struck Hezbollah infrastructure in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs, prompting fears of a new escalation.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike on Dahiyeh was ordered in response to Hezbollah firing toward Israeli territory.
Lebanese state media reported two dead and 11 injured in an initial toll.
Iranian lawmaker Ebrahim Rezaei today threatened a “painful response” for the strikes, adding: “Look at the sky over the occupied lands tonight”.
Iran was briefly said to have suspended indirect talks with the US last week to protest the expanding Israeli operations in Lebanon.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran could retaliate if the operations continue.
Writing on social media, Iranian parliament speaker and negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf suggests the lack of diplomatic action to resolve the war makes “legitimate targets” out of US and Israeli bases in the region.
“They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and by demonstrating through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon that they only understand the language of power,” he says.
“The naval blockade against the Iranian nation and America’s green light today to the Zionist regime turn American and regime bases and assets in the region into legitimate targets. The hand of our armed forces is open, as always.”
A British couple detained in Iran believe a stalker who has spent two decades languishing in a UK maximum security jail could be the key to their release.
Craig and Lindsay Foreman, 53, have called for the British government to deport Richard Jan, who was once described as Britain’s worst stalker.
The Iranian national was sentenced to life with a minimum of seven years for arson and causing public nuisance in 2004, but has languished for more than 20 years as his health deteriorates.
Iranian officials have repeatedly called for Jan to receive urgent healthcare in prison and be returned to the country.
You can read the timeline linking Jan to the Foremans’ chance of release below:
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