BREAKING: Israel strikes Iran, retaliation expected – National & International News – THU 12Jun2025
Breaking : Israel strikes Iran, retaliation expected
Israel’s air force has conducted a strike in Iran. Targets are unclear but explosions were reported in Tehran. Israeli minister of defense Israel Katz declared a special state of emergency throughout Israel. In a statement, Katz wrote, “Following the State of Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, a missile and drone attack against the State of Israel and its civilian population is expected in the immediate future”.
It’s unclear at this moment whether Iran has launched a retaliatory strike. Iran has previously threatened to strike US military bases in the region in the event of an Israeli strike on their nuclear facilities, as detailed below
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Earlier today, multiple unnamed US officials told CBS News that Israel is planning an attack on IRan. The sources offered little in the way of details or timelines, but said that the US military would not be playing a leading role in any potential strike.
In recent months, Tehran and Washington have been engaged in intense negotiations aimed at reinstating the Iranian nuclear deal. The Trump administration says it aims to ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon. During the Obama administration, such an agreement was reached, but Trump unilaterally withdrew from it during his first term.
The current talks appear to have reached an impasse in recent weeks. The Trump administration, at the urging of the Israeli government, has insisted that Iran must not be allowed to enrich its own uranium at all. For the Iranians, this is a red line and a deal breaker. Nevertheless, Trump said today that he believed a deal was close and that he had asked the Israelis to hold off on a strike on Iran for now, believing that it would sink any chance of a deal.
There is to be one more round of talks this weekend in Oman, and the stakes could not be higher. Either the two sides will come to some sort of understanding, or potentially, the largest and most destructive war the Middle East has ever seen could be right around the corner. Even if the US does not start it, it seems likely we will be dragged into it.
Witkoff predicts “mass casualty event” for Israel
Without direct US military involvement, an Israeli strike on Iran would be unlikely to do any significant damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iranian nuclear facilities and missile launched sites are located deep underground, the Israelis do not have the capability of delivering a payload big enough to do any damage to these sites. While the unnamed officials said that the US would not be actively participating in the strike, some sources indicated the US may play a supporting role. For example, they may offer logistical help to the Israelis in the form of aerial refueling, as well as intelligence support.
The US would also likely try to defend Israel from Iran’s inevitable retaliation but it’s unclear how effective this defense will be. Axios reports that Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading the talks with Iran, told Republican Senators in a closed-door meeting last that an Iranian retaliation on Israel could result in a “mass casualty event”.
In last year’s Iranian missile strikes on Israel, quite a few of Iran’s missiles were able to strike their targets, even with the combined defensive capabilities of Israel, the US, Jordan, France, and the UK. Iran is believed to have a vast arsenal of missiles capable of reaching Israel. By launching a large number of projectiles all at once, they could simply overwhelm Israel’s defenses.
Iran has threatened to strike Israel’s own nuclear facilities in the event that Israel attempts a strike on its nuclear facilities. If even one missile were to strike a nuclear facility, it could spell disaster for Israel.
Danger for US troops in region
Also vulnerable to Iranian retaliation are the thousands of US troops stationed throughout the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. Tehran has warned that they will retaliate against US facilities in the region in the event of an Israeli strike. Earlier this week, the US ordered the partial evacuation of its embassy in Baghdad, and called for a voluntary evacuation of the dependents of military personnel stationed in the region. No evacuation or withdrawal of US service members themselves have yet been announced.
Iran claims major intelligence coup with trove of Israeli documents
Tehran claims to have come into possession of a vast trove of secret information from Israel. They have not explained where these documents come from (apart from claiming that some of them come from Netanyahu’s private office). The Iranians also haven’t explained how they obtained these documents. However, claimed to have obtained material on a wide range of sensitive subjects, including but not limited to:
- Israeli nuclear secrets.
- Information collected by Israel about 6 million social media users.
- Embarrassing personal information about Netanyahu.
- Information on criminal networks involved in organ trafficking as well as the sexual exploitation of women and children.
- Compromising information collected on Netanyahu’s domestic political opponents, including footage from cameras hidden in their homes, bedrooms, and bathrooms, as well as information hacked from their personal electronic devices.
It is impossible to verify any of Iran’s claims at the moment. If their claims are true, it is a major intelligence coup for Iran, and an extremely embarrassing one for Israel. Or it could be a bluff, or it could be something in between. Interestingly, Iranian headlines and statements from Iranian ministers have focused chiefly on intelligence regarding Israel’s nuclear program rather than any of the other more salacious tidbits.
It is an open secret that Israel has obtained nuclear weapons capabilities. Israel has never officially acknowledged the existence of its nuclear weapons program, nor is it a signatory to any nuclear non proliferation treaties, while Iran is.
Iranian officials have also made the extraordinary claim that Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has collaborated with the Israelis to sabotage and undermine Iran’s nuclear program. For example, Iranian officials have claimed that the IAEA provided the names of prominent Iranian nuclear scientists who were later assassinated, presumably by Israel.
Comments from Grossi himself seem to lend weight to the claims that Iran has, at the very least, obtained some intel on Israel’s nuclear facilities. Iran is currently butting heads with the IAEA, which issued a report this week declaring that Iran is not in compliance with its obligations to the agency. This is the agency’s first non-compliance finding against Iran in over 20 years of monitoring.
Air India crash kills 240 people – British man sole survivor
At 1:39 PM local time this afternoon, a London-bound Air India flight took off from the international airport in Ahmedabad in Gujarat province with 242 souls on board. Less than a minute later, the plane lost signal before crashing into a housing complex for a nearby medical school. A shaky mobile phone video taken by a bystander about 200 meters from the crash site shows the plane, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, losing altitude before disappearing behind some buildings. Seconds later, an explosion is heard and a huge fireball emerges from behind the buildings.
All but one of the 242 people aboard the plane were killed, as well over a dozen people on the ground. Authorities believe that about 240 people perished in all. Earlier counts of 292 dead were inaccurate and due to double counting.
The lone survivor of the crash was Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, a British-Indian who lives in London. Ramesh was in India visiting relatives with his brother, who was also aboard the flight and perished. Remarkably, Ramesh seems to have no serious injuries. It seems he has thrown clear of the plane when it split in two seconds before it ignited. He was assigned seat 11A which is in an exit row.
The crash happened in the middle of a crowded city and it was ordinary local people who first reached the scene, attempted to put out flames and search for survivors. In addition to the students who were killed on the ground, dozens were also seriously injured and were taken to local hospitals.
At present, the causes of the crash are unknown. Ramesh said that, “Thirty seconds after take off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed. It all happened so quickly”. The investigation into the crash will be led by Indian authorities, with support from the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, and Britain.
More trouble for Boeing
It may not be clear for some time whether today’s tragedy was a case of manufacturing faults, maintenance failures, or pilot error.
This is the first fatal crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Just last month, Boeing reached a settlement of over $1 billion with the US government to avoid prosecution in connection with two fatal crashes of its 737 Max plane, one in Ethiopia and one in Indonesia, which killed a combined total of 346 people. The attorneys of the surviving family members in those crashes called the deal “morally repugnant”.
Last year, Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour warned that Boeing was cutting corners in the manufacture of its 787 Dreamliner which may lead to premature structural failures. Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, called for all Dreamliners around the world to be grounded and checked. Boeing disputed these accusations, calling them “inaccurate”.
Air India has also long had a troubled reputation, but has gone to great lengths to improve its image. The airline’s most recent fatal plane crash was in 2020 when 185 people were killed after a plane skidded off the runway during landing.
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Harvey Weinstein rape retrial ends in mistrial.
Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees quietly reinstated.
