This Week in the World Affairs Brief
ISRAEL’S ATTACK ON IRAN—THE REAL OBJECTIVE
Israel this week expanded the targets hit during their bombing raids beyond Iran’s military facilities to also attack government buildings, oil and gas infrastructure and many targets in major cities. It has become obvious that decapitating Iran’s nuclear program was merely the excuse to trigger an all-out war. They are now clearly also going after regime change and the general destruction of the industry so that Iran can never become a major opposing force again. Israel wants complete hegemony over the Middle East. Every major residential area in Tehran has now been hit as Israel goes after dozens of Iranian leaders, despite the rising death toll of other civilians. Long lines of cars are leaving Tehran in a desperate attempt to escape the war. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is holding his cards close, keeping the world guessing as to whether the US will join in the fight, in two weeks. Part of his reluctance is a strong anti-war trend among his supporters. But the US has already been secretly involved in the Israeli attack since the beginning, providing munitions, air-refueling tanker support for Israel’s super long-distance attacks, and now with the agreed upon use of B-2 bombers, the only aircraft capable of delivering 14 ton bunker busting bombs. To receive a free one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a Sample on the left.
Also:
- “No Kings” Anti-Trump Agenda was not Spontaneous
- Supreme Court Goes After Botched SWAT Raids
“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE ... for 12 hours, at which point the War will be considered, ENDED!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social just after 6 p.m. EDT.
The president wrote that both sides would wind down their final military operations within six hours, beginning what he expected to be a “peaceful and respectful” cease-fire on both sides. The conflict will be declared over within 24 hours, Trump said.
"Iran’s missile attack on a US air base in Qatar was telegraphed well in advance, suggesting Tehran intended a symbolic show of force while offering a way to de-escalate after US airstrikes over the weekend," Bloomberg is reporting. And CNN is currently even saying (based on its correspondent on the ground) that the skies over Tehran have grown quiet, after many days of constant strike waves by Israeli warplanes. The US military is saying all missiles were intercepted over Qatar. Airspace over Bahrain, Kuwait, and Dubai have already been reopened.
Certainly markets have reacted consistent to this off-ramp narrative as well, as if it was all baked in: "One official with knowledge of Western intelligence assessments said the attack was a typical example of an ‘off-ramp’ escalation and warned it was more difficult to understand whether — and at what point — Israel would stop its own military activities in the region," Bloomberg continues. The same report cites Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East, who points to the obvious: “It feels choreographed and intentional. The Iranians get to tell their population they struck a mighty blow against the US, even if they didn’t, and Trump has the room now to decide not to retaliate.”
"So far this is looking like the response we got in 2020 in response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani. A telegraphed attack on US base that did not result in fatalities but is “face saving” for the Iranian regime."
"The events this morning are outrageous and will have everlasting consequences. Each and every member of the UN must be alarmed over this extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior," he said. "In accordance with the UN Charter and its provisions allowing a legitimate response in self-defense, Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interest, and people."
A total of 16 cargo trucks were spotted on the access road leading up to the Fordow tunnel entrance on Thursday, but most of the trucks had relocated to one kilometer (0.6 miles) northwest of the access road by the following day, Maxar said.
New trucks and multiple bulldozers had appeared close to the main entrance by Friday, with one truck very close to the main tunnel entrance, the satellite imagery provider said.
Three of the ships – named the Coswisdom Lake, South Loyalty and Damsgaard – eventually made second U-turns and headed through the Strait today.
Such assistance "all depends on what Iran needs," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained, as quoted in TASS. "We have offered our mediation efforts. This is concrete. We have stated our position, which is also a very important form of support for the Iranian side."
Military planners dubbed the U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities Operation Midnight Hammer.....The U.S. strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight on June 21–22 followed a highly intricate plan that entailed more than 125 U.S. aircraft and warships and layers of deception, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Pentagon news briefing.
He warned Iran ("the bully of the Middle East") that if they do not come to peace then there are many other targets:
"There will be either peace; or tragedy for Iran worse than the likes of which we have seen over the last eight days."
"If peace does not come quickly," we will go after the rest of the nation with "speed and skill."
When corporate greed meets ideological cultism there is little room for objective analysis. Progressives took an extreme minority of aberrant mental health cases (people with the psychological illness of gender dysphoria) and turned them into an international movement to deny basic biology and psychology.
No society should ever enable or embrace mental illness as a cultural ideal. In particular, vulnerable children should be kept far away from emotionally unstable, morally bankrupt political zealots. The western world is well aware of what happens when cult movements get their hands on little kids.
The Dodgers has refrained from directly referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in its statement, instead expressing its intent to help illegal immigrants affected by “recent events” in the city.
“What’s happening in Los Angeles has reverberated among thousands upon thousands of people, and we have heard the calls for us to take a leading role on behalf of those affected,” Los Angeles Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement.
As for the city of Sumy, it lies just 18 lies from the Russian border and has suffered from intermittent aerial attacks and shelling since the war's start.
Putin has also raised eyebrows in the West due to his speech when he said, "I consider Russians and Ukrainians to be one people. In that sense, all of Ukraine is ours," he said, and added: "There is a saying: wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours."
This is being taken in the West as more confirmation that the US-backed peace process is struggling and barely alive, given neither side is in the mood to compromise.
‘My intelligence community is wrong,’ Trump said, referring to its belief that Iran was not actively building a nuclear bomb before last week.
The United Nations has warned that the Iran-Israel war could trigger a new refugee crisis in the Middle East, saying that if things keep escalating and people flea, there is no quick way back to their home countries.
UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, says ratcheting tit-for-tat attacks are already triggering population movements in both countries, and that this could easily slide into a worse crisis.
The UK Telegraph reported on Tuesday that all three of the cargo planes “flew westward along northern China, crossing into Kazakhstan, then south into Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan,” and then dropped off radar screens as they approached Iran.
All three of the planes apparently filed false flight plans that showed their destination as Luxembourg, but none of them flew anywhere near Europe.
Multiple members cast votes despite receiving or recently receiving funds from pharmaceutical companies affected by the votes.
The expected worldwide mobilization of protests this weekend, from Mississippi to Malawi, will hardly be a spontaneous eruption. On the contrary, the tumult is a carefully plotted production (complete with a protest song book) financed by the progressive dark money network that has perfected the mounting of made-to-order protests.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that an Atlanta family whose home was mistakenly raided by the FBI in 2017 can move forward with their lawsuit.
The decision stems from a pre-dawn incident in which an FBI SWAT team broke down the family's front door, deployed a flashbang grenade, and pointed weapons at Trina Martin, her then-boyfriend Toi Cliatt, and her 7-year-old son, only to realize moments later they had entered the wrong house.
In line with forecasts, The Federal Open Market Committee announced Wednesday that it will not cut rates, holding for the fourth time this year. The decision comes as Trump's quick-changing tariff policies with top trade partners have spooked businesses and investors for the past several months. CME FedWatch, which anticipates interest-rate changes based on market moves, had projected a 99% chance of steady rates in June.
More waves of missiles and strikes were exchanged between Israel and Iran overnight, with Israeli's military announcing that 1,100 Iranian targets were hit since Friday.
The Israeli Air Force affirmed Wednesday that it is currently striking "military targets belonging to the Iranian regime in Tehran." The war shows no signs of abating, and as yet there are no announcements that Iranian and US negotiators plan to meet.
Following multiple rounds of Iranian missile barrages that have proven far more effective than many "experts" anticipated, the Israeli Defense Forces are already running low on defensive Arrow interceptor missiles, making Israel all the more desperate for the United States to join the war Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government initiated on Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, as Iran's retaliation continues, reports of war-fatigue among Israel's population are already emerging.
General He Weidong, once the second-highest-ranking officer in China’s military and a close ally of President Xi Jinping, has been purged—three months after vanishing from public view.
His removal is now clear, following his absence from a high-profile funeral and other political signals
We know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Are we witnessing the start of another regime change war in the Middle East - and with no Congressional input or authorization whatsoever?
Or is this all one big game of [nuclear] chicken, where the hope is that Iran will suddenly raise the white flag? Trump is now suggesting that Israel and the US could go all in until there's nothing short of "unconditional surrender!"
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on Monday introduced a War Powers Resolution that would require a debate and a vote in Congress before the US enters Israel’s war against Iran with offensive support.
Gabbard had previously firmly stated before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the US intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003."
Russia overnight unleashed one of its largest and sustained attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in recent months, resulting in 15 people killed and over one hundred wounded.
The assault, which lasted some ten hours, involved a coordinated barrage of drones, ballistic, and cruise missiles - and severely impacted residential areas, including a direct hit on a nine-story apartment building in the city's Solomyanskyi district.
Both sides are clearly trying to take out the other's military and intelligence leadership and sites. Israeli warplanes are also especially focusing on destroying Iranian oil depots in order to wreck the Islamic Republic's economy.
On the other side, Israel also continued to tout battlefield successes. Israel has announced its forces killed a senior Iranian general overnight, shortly after eliminating his predecessor. The campaign against Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israel is now in its fifth day.
the US Embassy in Tel Aviv has sustained "minor damage" by an Iranian ballistic missile.
A volley of Iranian missiles targeted the area early Monday, amid a major overnight surge in missile launches on Israel out of the Islamic Republic. There are no reports which say there was any kind of direct hit.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee confirmed on X: "Some minor damage from concussions of Iranian missile hits near Embassy Branch in @TelAviv but no injuries to US personnel," he wrote.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is on its way to the Middle East from the South China Sea, a U.S. official tells Fox News. The Nimitz was previously scheduled to replace the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group which has been deployed for several months, but is now heading to the Middle East ahead of schedule. The two will now be in the Middle East at the same time.
Vance Luther Boelter - a Democrat activist and 2019 appointee of Gov. Tim Walz - is the suspect in a targeted shooting of MN lawmakers Melissa Hortman and John Hoffman.
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