Closing summary
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face” and that the US “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran. He added that Iran had access to “key” US bases in the region and could take action “whenever it deems necessary”.
Referring to US president Donald Trump, who had claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, Khamenei said that he “exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration – anyone who has heard these words has understood that there is another truth behind these words”.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth held a morning news conference to respond to an early leaked intelligence report suggesting US strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months. President Donald Trump has insisted the US strikes delivered a “devastating” attack and that questioning his assessment of the strike was not only unpatriotic but also makes the pilots who dropped the bombs “very upset.”
Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites, European capitals believe, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran’s stockpile of 408 kilogram of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, at the time of last weekend’s attack.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday to postpone his testimony in his long-running corruption trial in light of “regional and global developments”. “The court is respectfully requested to order the cancellation of the hearings in which the prime minister was scheduled to testify in the coming two weeks,” Netanyahu’s lawyer said in a filing.
The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday, citing recent US and Israeli strikes, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Iranian lawmakers voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday, a day after a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel that saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would continue to work with US president Donald Trump to “defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace”. Netanyahu posted the message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands shortly after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his first speech since Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire.
An anonymous Israeli government official has told Reuters that Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with defense minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.
Israel’s national security minister called for a “complete halt” of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Thursday, claiming that Hamas is taking control of the supplied goods and food. Itamar Ben-Gvir says that he will “demand” Benjamin Netanyahu put a new vote to the country’s cabinet on the issue of the introduction of aid to Gaza.
Rescuers in Gaza said Israeli forces killed 35 people in the territory on Thursday, including four who they said were waiting to collect aid. Local health authorities said earlier in the day that an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Trump’s administration ratcheted up its defence of the US’s weekend attacks on Iran, citing “new intelligence” to support its initial claim of complete success and criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months. The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress, according to the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
US senators are set to meet with top national security officials on Thursday as many question president Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites — and whether those strikes were ultimately successful. The classified briefing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump decides to strike Iran again.
Trump has weighed in on ally Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, saying in a social media post that the trial was a “witch hunt” and should be cancelled. The US president, who himself has faced an array of criminal charges and convictions that he argued were politically motivated, said he had “just learned that Bibi has been summoned to court on Monday” and also suggested a pardon for the “great hero”.
Poland’s embassy in Tehran has taken over the duties of EU countries that have evacuated their posts, the Polish foreign ministry said on Thursday. Portugal, Ireland and Germany last week temporarily relocated their embassy staff in Tehran abroad due to the current threat situation, while Bulgaria closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated diplomatic staff and their families to neighbouring Azerbaijan.
Trump said the US will hold talks with Iran next week, with a possible agreement on the table about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared.
Dozens of Israeli settlers have attacked a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, Kafr Malik, sparking a confrontation that ended with Israeli soldiers killing three Palestinians.
Secretary of defense Pete Hegseth has defended the US strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and said that Donald Trump had “decimated … obliterated” the country’s nuclear program despite initial intelligence assessments that last week’s strikes had failed to destroy key enrichment facilities and they could resume operations within just months.
But he and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen Dan Caine largely based that assessment on AI modeling, showing test videos of the bunker buster bombs used in the strikes and referred questions on a battle damage assessment of Fordow to the intelligence community.
Speaking from the Pentagon briefing room, Hegseth cast doubt on an initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, noting it was “preliminary” and “leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful”.
Hegseth also said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that Iran’s 400kg stock of 60% enriched uranium could no longer be accounted for.
“I’m not aware of any intelligence… that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,” Hegseth said.
Poland’s embassy in Tehran has taken over the duties of EU countries that have evacuated their posts, the Polish foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Portugal, Ireland and Germany last week temporarily relocated their embassy staff in Tehran abroad due to the current threat situation, while Bulgaria closed its embassy in Tehran and evacuated diplomatic staff and their families to neighbouring Azerbaijan.
“We, being the country of the (EU) presidency, take over their duties,” the Polish ministry’s spokesperson Pawel Wronski told Reuters.
Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites, European capitals believe, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The newspaper, citing two people briefed on preliminary intelligence assessments, said European capitals believe Iran’s stockpile of 408 kilogram of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow, one of its two main enrichment sites, at the time of last weekend’s attack.
Iranian bill to suspend cooperation with UN nuclear watchdog moves forward after body approval
The Iranian body tasked with vetting legislation approved a bill to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog on Thursday, citing recent US and Israeli strikes, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Iranian lawmakers voted in favour of the bill on Wednesday, a day after a ceasefire ended a 12-day war with Israel that saw Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The bill, which will now be submitted to president Masoud Pezeshkian for final ratification, would allow Iran “to benefit from all the entitlements specified under... the Non-Proliferation Treaty especially with regard to uranium enrichment,” Guardian Council spokesperson Hadi Tahan Nazif said.
He told the official IRNA news agency:
The government is required to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA to ensure full respect for the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The spokesperson said the move was prompted by the “attacks... by the Zionist regime and the United States against peaceful nuclear facilities.”
Since the start of the war on June 13, Iranian officials have sharply criticised the International Atomic Energy Agency for failing to condemn the strikes. Iran has also criticised the watchdog for passing a resolution on June 12 accusing it of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.
Iranian officials say the censure motion was “one of the main excuses” for the Israeli and US attacks.
Key Tehran ally Moscow had earlier spoken out against the move to suspend coooperation with the IAEA.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference:
We are interested in continuing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, so that everybody respects Iran’s repeated statements that Iran does not have and will not have plans to develop a nuclear weapon.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X that cooperation with the watchdog was “not possible” at this time until security at Iran’s nuclear facilities “is ensured.”
Israel launched a major bombing campaign on June 13 that targeted Iranian nuclear and military facilities and killed top scientists and commanders.
On Sunday, Israel’s ally the United States launched unprecedented strikes of its own on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
US president Donald Trump says nothing was moved from an Iranian nuclear facility, echoing his defense secretary who earlier on Thursday said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its uranium to shield it from US strikes over the weekend.
Trump said in a post on Truth Social:
The cars and small trucks at the site were those of concrete workers trying to cover up the top of the shafts.
Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!
The president did not provide any evidence for his claim in the post.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier on Thursday:
I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise.
Israeli source tells Reuters that aid to Gaza halted for two days
An anonymous Israeli government official has told Reuters that Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with defense minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.
The decision was reportedly made after Netanyahu and Katz cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza.
The claim has not yet been formally confirmed by the Israeli government.
The statement did not disclose the information but a video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister’s office, the defense ministry or the Israeli military.
The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed “solely through tribal efforts”.
The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process.
Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions - including Hamas’ secular political rival Fatah - have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.
Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.
Updated
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened to respond to any future US attack by striking American military bases in the Middle East, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel was declared.
The 86-year-old, who has not been seen in public since taking shelter in a secret location after the outbreak of the war on 13 June, said his country had “delivered a slap to America’s face” – a reference to an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar on Monday, which caused no casualties.
In pre-recorded remarks that were aired on state television, he hailed his country’s “victory” over Israel and vowed never to surrender to the US.
As was also the case with his last comments, released more than a week ago during the 12-day Israeli bombardment, he spoke from an undisclosed indoor location in front of a brown curtain, between an Iranian flag and a portrait of his predecessor Ruhollah Khomeini.
In a message to the Iranian people, he said Donald Trump’s demand for Iran’s unconditional surrender at the start of the conflict had revealed America’s true agenda.
“The fact that the Islamic republic has access to important American centres in the region and can take action against them whenever it deems necessary is not a small incident, it is a major incident, and this incident can be repeated in the future if an attack is made,” he said. “America entered the war directly because it felt that if it did not, Israel would be completely destroyed. Here, too, the Islamic republic emerged victorious.”
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a court on Thursday to postpone his testimony in his long-running corruption trial in light of “regional and global developments”.
“The court is respectfully requested to order the cancellation of the hearings in which the prime minister was scheduled to testify in the coming two weeks,” Netanyahu’s lawyer said in a filing.
He said the premier was “compelled to devote all his time and energy to managing national, diplomatic and security issues of the utmost importance” following a brief conflict with Iran and during ongoing fighting in Gaza where Israeli hostages are held.
It comes as US president Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Israel to pardon Netanyahu or cancel his corruption trial, saying the US would save him like it did his country.
Updated
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is holding a morning news conference to respond to an early leaked intelligence report suggesting US strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.
President Donald Trump has insisted the US strikes delivered a “devastating” attack and that questioning his assessment of the strike was not only unpatriotic but also makes the pilots who dropped the bombs “very upset.”
The news conference began with Hegseth, a former Fox News host, criticising the media for “hunting for scandals all the time.”
He accused reporters of failing to acknowledge “historic moments” like improved military recruiting and increased spending on European defense by US allies on the continent.
He then shifted to attacking the “fake news” for reporting on a preliminary assessment about the impact of recent US strikes on Iran.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Thursday saw Iran’s supreme leader making his first public comments since the country’s ceasefire with Israel, brokered by the US.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face” and that the US “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran.
He added that Iran had access to “key” US bases in the region and could take action “whenever it deems necessary”.
Referring to US president Donald Trump, who had claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, Khamenei said that he “exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration – anyone who has heard these words has understood that there is another truth behind these words”.
In other developments:
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would continue to work with US president Donald Trump to “defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace”. Netanyahu posted the message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands shortly after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his first speech since Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire.
Israel’s national security minister called for a “complete halt” of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Thursday, claiming that Hamas is taking control of the supplied goods and food. Itamar Ben-Gvir says that he will “demand” Benjamin Netanyahu put a new vote to the country’s cabinet on the issue of the introduction of aid to Gaza.
Rescuers in Gaza said Israeli forces killed 35 people in the territory on Thursday, including four who they said were waiting to collect aid. Local health authorities said earlier in the day that an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Trump’s administration ratcheted up its defence of the US’s weekend attacks on Iran, citing “new intelligence” to support its initial claim of complete success and criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months. The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress, according to the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
US senators are set to meet with top national security officials on Thursday as many question president Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites — and whether those strikes were ultimately successful. The classified briefing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump decides to strike Iran again.
Trump has weighed in on ally Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, saying in a social media post that the trial was a “witch hunt” and should be cancelled. The US president, who himself has faced an array of criminal charges and convictions that he argued were politically motivated, said he had “just learned that Bibi has been summoned to court on Monday” and also suggested a pardon for the “great hero”.
Iran’s parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf was quoted by state media as saying Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear programme. The move came after UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said there was a chance that much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium survived Israeli and US attacks because it may have been moved by Tehran soon after the first strikes.
Trump said the US will hold talks with Iran next week, with a possible agreement on the table about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has defended the US’s decision to bomb Iran, saying it was “about time” someone acted to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons.
The comments came after independent MP Ayoub Khan said on Thursday that although all MPs agreed Iran should not have nuclear weapons, the attack on Iran by Israel and the US did not engage the Caroline principle, the test under international law allowing a pre-emptive military attack. He asked if Starmer agreed, and if he would say he supported the attack.
Starmer said in response:
If we all agree that Iran shouldn’t have nuclear weapons, it’s about time we did something about it. And what happened on Saturday night was a big step towards alleviating that threat, and that is really important.
I think we now need to complete on that, and the way to compete on that is with the talks that are needed to get Iran back to the table to make sure it’s irreversible and that it can be verified.
Netanyahu will continue to work with Trump to defeat 'common enemies'
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he would continue to work with US president Donald Trump to “defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace”.
He said in a post on X:
Thank you, President Trump, for your moving support for me and your tremendous support for Israel and the Jewish people.
We will continue to work together to defeat our common enemies, free our hostages, and quickly expand the circle of peace.
Netanyahu posted the message with a picture of himself and Trump holding hands shortly after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave his first speech since Iran and Israel reached a ceasefire.
The supreme leader said in a televised speech aired by state TV on Thursday:
“They attacked our nuclear facilities, which of course would merit criminal prosecution in international courts, but they did nothing significant,” Khamenei said in a televised speech aired by state TV.
He said “nothing significant” occurred to nuclear sites struck by the United States earlier this week, during a war with Israel, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Referring to US president Donald Trump, who had claimed to have “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme, Khamenei said that he “exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration – anyone who has heard these words has understood that there is another truth behind these words”.
He added:
The American president indicated in one of his statements that Iran must surrender. Surrender! It is no longer a question of enrichment, nor of the nuclear industry, but of the surrender of Iran,” said Khamenei in a televised speech.
Such an event (surrender) will never happen. It will never happen.
Updated
Iran supreme leader threatens further action against US bases
The supreme leader says Iran has access to “key” US bases in the region and could take action “whenever it deems necessary”.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US would “pay a heavy price” if any aggression occurred.
He said in a post on X:
The fact that the Islamic Republic has access to key US centers in the region and can take action whenever it deems necessary is a significant matter.
Such an action can be repeated in the future too. Should any aggression occur, the enemy will definitely pay a heavy price.
Updated
Iran 'delivered a heavy slap to the US's face', says supreme leader
Iran’s supreme leader says his country “delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face” in his first public comments since the country’s ceasefire with Israel, brokered by the US.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that the US “gained no achievement” when it joined the war with Israel against Tehran, his account said in a post on X.
He said:
The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing.
The Islamic Republic delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face. It attacked and inflicted damage on the Al-Udeid Air Base, which is one of the key US bases in the region.
Tehran struck a US military base in Qatar on Monday. The attack was seen by the US as being an attempt to respond to the US’s weekend bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites without escalating the situation.
Donald Trump responded by calling the Iranian attack “very weak” and claimed to have intercepted 13 of 14 missiles fired.
In a post on X after the attack, the Qatari foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari added that “Qatar’s air defenses successfully thwarted the attack and intercepted the Iranian missiles” and there had been no casualties.
Updated
The Guardian has published an article on Gaza City’s main high street, Omar al-Mukhtar street, which has been largely destroyed by the Israel-Gaza war.
However, Palestinian memories of life before the ongoing Israeli assault survive.
As those in Gaza face bombing, starvation and miserable living conditions, individuals still try to hold both the past and the present in their minds.
You can read the full article here: A street in Gaza, a map of dreams, and the people desperate to live
Number of deaths in Gaza on Thursday rises to 35
An update has been issued on the number of deaths in Gaza on Thursday, with rescuers in the area saying Israeli forces killed 35 people in the territory, including four who they said were waiting to collect aid.
Mahmud Bassal, spokesperson for the Gaza Civil Defence agency, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 35 people were killed by Israeli fire in various locations throughout the Gaza Strip.
They included “four who were waiting for humanitarian aid,” he added.
The military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment, saying it required further information.
Local health authorities said earlier on Thursday that an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Updated
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday said Gaza was in a “catastrophic situation of genocide” and urged the EU to immediately suspend its cooperation deal with Israel, Reuters reports.
Speaking to reporters before an EU summit in Brussels, Sanchez mentioned a recent human rights report by the bloc’s diplomatic service which, he said, addressed “the catastrophic situation of genocide unfolding in Gaza”.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has offered his congratulations on the “victory” over Israel, his account said on X.
The account added that he will speak within the next few minutes in a video message, his first message since Washington announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
More details soon…
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said there were “hopeful signs” of US-Iran talks after president Donald Trump said they would take place next week, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“We are directing all our diplomatic efforts towards finding a binding agreement as soon as possible,” Wadephul said, during a joint news conference with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand.
He added that the so-called E3 grouping of Britain, France and Germany would “play a central role” in any talks and that “Iran expressly wants a European component”.
The comments came after Wadephul called a vote by Iranian lawmakers calling for a suspension of cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog “a totally wrong signal”
According to Iranian state TV, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the International Atomic Energy Agency “refused to even marginally condemn the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities” and had “put its international credibility up for auction”.
The decision of the Iranian parliament still requires the approval of Iran’s Guardian Council, a body empowered to vet legislation.
Here are some of the latest photos of Gaza City coming through on the wires:
Updated
Germany on Thursday urged Iran to keep cooperating with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, calling a vote by Iranian lawmakers calling for a suspension of cooperation “a totally wrong signal”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Iran’s parliament unanimously agreed to a bill on Wednesday to suspend all cooperation with the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear inspectorate, making it harder for an independent expert assessment to be made about the degree of damage inflicted on Iran’s three key nuclear sites by the joint US and Israeli bombing.
Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul told a press conference that Germany “urges the Iranian government not to go down this path”.
Members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet have praised Donald Trump’s call to cancel the Israeli prime minister’s corruption trial.
The US president said on Wednesday night he had “just learned that Bibi has been summoned to court on Monday” and also suggested a pardon for the “great hero”.
Miki Zohar, Israel’s culture minister, called the trial “absurd” and said Netanyahu would go down as “one of the greatest leaders in history”.
He said in a post on X:
President Trump is right – it is time to overturn the trial!
The president of the world’s greatest power, and a true friend of the Jewish people, Donald Trump, is voicing what many Israeli citizens feel in their hearts – particularly and especially in the midst of historic days in the country’s history.
Shlomo Karhi, the country’s communications minister, shared Trump’s post supporting Netanyahu and said he would like to see the Israeli prime minister “crush the political prosecution in court”.
Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Trump was “absolutely right” and said an “urgent reform” was needed to the country’s legal system
Israeli minister calls for 'complete halt' of aid to Gaza
Israel’s national security minister called for a “complete halt” of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Thursday, claiming that Hamas is taking control of the supplied goods and food.
Itamar Ben-Gvir says that he will “demand” Benjamin Netanyahu put a new vote to the country’s cabinet on the issue of the introduction of aid to Gaza.
He said in a post on X:
The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace. What is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt to the “humanitarian” aid, but a complete halt to it.
When I warned and warned, and unfortunately the only one who voted a month and a half ago against the introduction of the aid, it was clear to me that it would give oxygen to Hamas.
There were those who mocked me and claimed that “the aid that will enter the northern Gaza Strip will only last for 10 days,” and today what was known in advance is becoming clear: Hamas is taking control of the quantities of food and goods that contribute to its survival.
Stopping the aid will quickly advance us to victory. I will demand from the Prime Minister that at the upcoming cabinet meeting the issue of the introduction of aid to Gaza be put up for a new vote.
Food has become extremely scarce in Gaza since a tight blockade on all supplies was imposed by Israel throughout March and April, threatening many of the 2.3 million people who live there with a “critical risk of famine”.
Since the blockade was partly lifted last month, the UN has tried to bring in aid but has faced major obstacles, including rubble-choked roads, Israeli military restrictions, continuing airstrikes and growing anarchy.
There have been multiple incidents in recent weeks in which crowds have been fired on after gathering in the hope of getting aid from one of the dozens of trucks being brought into Gaza by UN agencies each day.
Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid said Donald Trump should keep out of the matter of Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, Reuters reports.
The US president had said in a social media post that the trial was a “witch hunt” and should be cancelled.
Lapid told Israeli news website Ynet:
With all due respect and gratitude to the president of the United States, he’s not supposed to intervene in a legal process of an independent state.
I hope and suppose that this is a reward he (Trump) is giving him (Netanyahu) because he is planning to pressure him on Gaza and force, to force him into a hostage deal that will end the war.
France’s military took part in efforts to stop Iranian drones targeting Israel prior to this week’s ceasefire, the country’s defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said late on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Lecornu said during a parliamentary debate on the situation in the Middle East:
I can confirm that the French army intercepted less than 10 drones in the last few days during the different military operations conducted by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Israel, either by ground-to-air systems or via our Rafale fighter jets
Lecornu said Iran had launched some 400 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones towards Israel during the 12-day conflict.
Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, saying it aimed to destroy its arch-enemy’s nuclear capabilities.
Its strikes wiped out a senior echelon of Iran’s military command and killed several nuclear scientists. Iranian authorities said 610 people were killed and nearly 5,000 injured in the country.
Tehran’s retaliatory missiles killed at least 28 people in Israel and damaged hundreds of buildings, until a ceasefire came into effect on Tuesday.
At least 21 killed in Gaza Strip by Israeli fire and airstrikes
Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as mediators reached out to Israel and Hamas to seek a resumption of ceasefire talks to end the war, Reuters reports.
Local health authorities said an Israeli airstrike killed at least nine people at a school housing displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan suburb in Gaza City, while another strike killed nine people near a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the south of the enclave.
Three other people were killed by Israeli gunfire and dozens were wounded as crowds awaited UN aid trucks along a main route in central Gaza, medics said, the latest in a series of multiple fatalities at aid distribution points.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Thursday’s incidents.
The new deaths come as Arab mediators, Egypt and Qatar, backed by the United States, reached out to the warring parties in a bid to hold new ceasefire talks, but no exact time was set for a new round, according to Hamas sources.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a coalition with far-right parties, insists that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, release all hostages, relinquish any role and lay down its weapons to end to the war.
Hamas, in turn, has stated it would release the hostages if Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire and withdraws from Gaza. While it has conceded it would no longer govern Gaza, Hamas has refused to discuss disarmament.
Hamas-led militants killed close to 1,200 people and took 251 hostages when they attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, according to tallies from Israel, which launched a huge military campaign in response.
Israel’s retaliatory war has so far killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and destroyed much of the coastal strip.
Most of the hostages released so far have been freed through indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
In the latest episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, published on Thursday, Michael Safi hears how Iranians’ relationship with the regime has changed in the last two weeks since the escalation of the country’s conflict with Israel.
You can listen to the full podcast here: Afraid of Israel, angry at the regime: Iranians on 12 days of war - podcast
Updated
Trump brands Netanyahu's corruption trial a 'witch hunt'
Donald Trump has weighed in on ally Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, saying in a social media post that the trial was a “witch hunt” and should be cancelled, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Trump said on Wednesday night:
Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land
The US president, who himself has faced an array of criminal charges and convictions that he argued were politically motivated, said he had “just learned that Bibi has been summoned to court on Monday” and also suggested a pardon for the “great hero”.
He added:
It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu.
In December, Netanyahu became the first Israeli prime minister to take the stand as the defendant in a criminal trial for corruption. He assailed the charges against him as an “ocean of absurdity”.
He was charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. The 75-year-old is accused of accepting tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne from a billionaire Hollywood producer in exchange for assisting him with personal and business interests, and of promoting advantageous regulation for media moguls in exchange for favourable coverage of himself and his family.
He denies wrongdoing, saying the charges are a witch-hunt orchestrated by a hostile media and a biased legal system out to topple his lengthy rule.
Netanyahu’s trial has been delayed many times since it began in May 2020, with the prime minister requesting postponements due to the war in Gaza and later conflict in Lebanon. It was unclear when the next hearing would be scheduled for.
Shah Meer Baloch covers Pakistan for the Guardian.
Donald Trump’s intervention into the Iran-Israel war, and brokering then announcing a ceasefire, has drawn a heated debate in Pakistan.
The government had formally nominated the US president for the Nobel peace prize as the US military was making its final preparations for a strike that threatened all-out war in the Middle East.
A statement in the early hours of Saturday local time – shortly before US B-2 bombers left the Whiteman air force base in Missouri and headed to Iran – had credited Trump for a “legacy of pragmatic diplomacy” and “pivotal leadership” for ensuring Pakistan’s ceasefire with India in a conflict that had begun with the killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in April.
A day later that same government was condemning Trump for the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities and what it said was a violation of international law, insisting that diplomacy was the only way to resolve the crisis. The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, called the Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, to express his concerns over the US strike.
You can read Shah Meer Baloch’s full report here: Pakistan debates Trump Nobel peace prize nomination after US strikes on Iran
Top administration officials are pressing Donald Trump’s case, with a news conference set for Thursday at the Pentagon.
Briefings also are scheduled for lawmakers on Capitol Hill, though the White House plans to limit the sharing of classified information after the initial intelligence assessment leaked this week suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months by the US strikes, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Larry Pfeiffer, a 32-year intelligence veteran who held positions including CIA chief of staff and senior director of the White House Situation Room, said:
Intelligence people strive to live in a world as it is, describe the world as it is, where politicians are all about describing the world as they want it to be.
I don’t think we’ve seen another president push back as strong as this guy has.
Trump claims US strikes on Iran were 'devastating' with 'new intelligence' supporting success
Donald Trump’s administration ratcheted up its defence of the US’s weekend attacks on Iran, citing “new intelligence” to support its initial claim of complete success and criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months.
The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress, according to the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
“This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop,” Trump said on Wednesday, apparently backing away from comments he’d made earlier in the day, that the intelligence was “inconclusive”.
Senior Trump officials publicly rejected the leaked initial assessment of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which concluded key components of the nuclear programme were capable of being restarted within months. Director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X that “new intelligence confirms” what Trump has stated.
She said:
Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.
CIA director John Ratcliffe in a statement said that new intelligence from a “historically reliable” source indicated that “several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.
Donald Trump’s administration has cited “new intelligence” to support its initial claim of complete success of the US’s weekend attacks on Iran, while criticising a leaked intelligence assessment that suggested Tehran’s nuclear programme had been set back by only a few months.
The growing row came amid reports that the White House will to try to limit the sharing of classified documents with Congress.
“This was a devastating attack, and it knocked them for a loop,” Trump said on Wednesday, apparently backing away from comments he’d made earlier in the day, that the intelligence was “inconclusive”.
The claim comes after the US president hit back at a leaked intelligence report that said US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities had likely only set back the country’s nuclear programme by a few months.
Trump had earlier criticised CNN and the New York Times for their reports on the leaked intelligence assessment, claiming they had teamed up to “demean one of the most successful military strikes in history”, and declared Iran’s nuclear sites were “completely destroyed”. The White House earlier called the intelligence assessment “flat-out wrong”.
In other key developments:
US senators are also set to meet with top national security officials on Thursday as many question President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three Iranian nuclear sites — and whether those strikes were ultimately successful. The classified briefing, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday and was delayed, also comes as the Senate is expected to vote this week on a resolution that would require congressional approval if Trump decides to strike Iran again.
Donald Trump has weighed in on ally Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, saying in a social media post that the trial was a “witch hunt” and should be cancelled. “Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land,” Trump said on Wednesday night, using a nickname for the Israeli leader.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio told Politico on Wednesday that Iran is “much further away from a nuclear weapon” after a US strike on Iran’s three main nuclear sites over the weekend.
There is a chance that much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium survived Israeli and US attacks because it may have been moved by Tehran soon after the first strikes, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.
Trump said the US will hold talks with Iran next week, with a possible agreement on the table about Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The US president said that Israel and Iran are “tired” but the conflict between the two countries could start again.
Speaking alongside the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, Trump compared the US strikes on Iran to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saying: “This was essentially the same thing: that ended that war; this ended the war.”
Mark Rutte defended Donald Trump’s swearing outburst on Tuesday when commenting on the Israel-Iran war. “Daddy sometimes has to use strong language,” Rutte told reporters.
France is conducting its own analysis on damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities after US and Israeli strikes, French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters on Wednesday.
Iranian authorities are pivoting from a ceasefire with Israel to intensify an internal security crackdown across the country with mass arrests, executions and military deployments, particularly in the restive Kurdish region, according to officials and activists.
Iran’s parliament approved a bill on Wednesday to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, state-affiliated news outlet Nournews reported. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf was quoted by state media as saying Iran would accelerate its civilian nuclear programme.
