3 h. ago Trump in the Situation Room as he 'considers' using 30,000lb bombs on Iran and Israel threatens to assassinate Supreme Leader: Live updates

President Trump has entered the Situation Room as he mulls using a 30,000lb 'bunker buster' bomb to devastate Iran's nuclear capabilities after Iran escalated its attacks on Israel overnight.

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7 h. ago Inside Iran’s secret nuclear bunker that's 260ft deep underground in the Fordow mountains

The heavily guarded mysterious Fordow bunker is built into the side of a mountain near the city of Qom, around 60 miles of Tehran. It was first made public in 2009, according to officials

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12 h. ago 'Strong case' for Donald Trump to attack Iran's nuclear sites with bunker

Sir John Sawers, head of the Secret Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2014, believes it may be better if the US president ‘got on with it’

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12 h. ago Starmer 'must give green light for Trump's Iran strikes': Frantic diplomacy as US could launch nuclear bunker raids from Diego Garcia base

Donald Trump is keeping the world guessing about whether he will join Israeli attacks on Tehran's nuclear facilities.

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24 h. ago US edges closer to Iran strike as military assets move into position

President hints at action within days as US readies forces capable of striking underground Fordow nuclear facility

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28 h. ago Buried in a mountain and fortified against bombs: Inside Iran’s secret Fordow nuclear site out of Israel’s reach

When Barack Obama revealed the existence of Iran’s nuclear facility in 2009, he said its size and capacity were ‘inconsistent with a peaceful programme’

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30 h. ago Bunker buster bombs: The American weapon which could spell the end of Iran’s nuclear sites

Experts believe only Washington has the weapons capable of halting Iran’s nuclear programme

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53 h. ago Could US attack Iran’s Fordow nuclear site? Military movements offer a clue

Refuelling aircraft were tracked heading east, potentially to support B-2 jets carrying bunker-buster bombsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US has stepped up its military presence in the Middle East since the weekend but has left certain details vague to preserve operational ambiguity for Donald Trump as he considers whether the US will intervene in the Israel-Iran war.Critically, there has been no new information about the deployment of B-2 bombers that would be used to attack Iran’s deep-lying nuclear enrichment site at Fordow with 13.6-tonne (30,000lb) bunker-buster bombs, designed to penetrate 60 metres of rock. Continue reading...

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54 h. ago What is a bunker buster bomb? US weapon could be key to destroying Iran’s nuclear sites

Experts believe only Washington has the weapons capable of halting Iran’s nuclear programme

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55 h. ago US has no shortage of military assets if it wants to target missile launch sites in Iran

An assault to eliminate Fordow fuel enrichment plant would require more than one bomberMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe US has stepped up its military presence in the Middle East since the weekend but has left certain details vague to preserve operational ambiguity for Donald Trump as he considers whether the US will intervene in the Israel-Iran war.Critically, there has been no new information about the deployment of B-2 bombers that would be used to attack Iran’s deep-lying nuclear enrichment site at Fordow with 13.6-tonne (30,000lb) bunker-buster bombs, designed to penetrate through 60 metres of rock. Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Iran 'using secret agents to sabotage UK' would be 'real threat' as WW3 fears rise

EXCLUSIVE: With Iran having accused Israel of 'launching war,' some commentators in the UK are now urging the country to brace itself for what could be attempts of 'sabotage'

Events

6 d. ago Is Iran as close to building a nuclear weapon as Netanyahu claims?

Israeli PM alleges Tehran has capacity to make nine bombs, but this runs contrary to recent US and UN assessmentsMiddle East crisis – live updatesIn justifying Israel’s attack on Iran, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had acted to pre-empt a secret Iranian programme to build a nuclear bomb, claiming Tehran already had the capacity to build nine nuclear bombs. Israeli officials also claimed to have presented information to the US that Iran had recently made the necessary technical breakthroughs.Netanyahu’s critics are saying he acted to pre-empt something else: a diplomatic agreement between the US and Iran on its civil nuclear programme, or even the demise of his own government. They point out that Israel has been saying for 20 years that Iran is on the brink of building a bomb. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Inside Israel's Operation Rising Lion: How Mossad spec ops smuggled weapons into Iran and set up secret drone factory near the capital in years

In a brazen stealth operation, Mossad was said to have set up a secret base of drones laden with explosives, tasked with striking defences near Tehran.

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6 d. ago Nuclear site destroyed and top military chiefs wiped out as Israel unleashes airstrikes after years

Operation Rising Lion is the culmination of years of research and planning by Israel's military and Mossad intelligence agency to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons

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6 d. ago Revealed: How Mossad commandos launched secret operations deep in Iran before Israel attack on nuclear sites

The covert missions included setting up an attack-drone base near Tehran

Events

3 w. ago Why does Switzerland have more nuclear bunkers than any other country?

Switzerland is home to more than 370,000 nuclear bunkers – enough to shelter every member of the population. But if the worst should happen, would they actually work?At first, Zora Schelbert, the chief operating officer and tour guide at the Sonnenberg nuclear bunker in Lucerne, Switzerland, wasn’t sure whether the requests she was receiving were a joke. It was February 2022, and Russia had just dropped the first bombs over Kyiv. “People were asking me what kind of measures they should take, where they would have to go,” Schelbert said. She quickly realised they had confused the historical society she works for, Unterirdisch Überleben (Surviving Underground), for the local department of civil protection.To the alternating fascination, bewilderment and envy of its European neighbours, Switzerland, population nearly 9 million, has more bunkers per capita than anywhere else in the world – enough to guarantee shelter space to every single resident in the event of a crisis. (Sweden and F...

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3 w. ago Iranian director Jafar Panahi wins Palme d’Or at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident

Panahi, long censored and previously imprisoned in his home country, took top prize as Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent also honouredThe dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has won the top prize at the Cannes film festival for his drama It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his stints of imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government.The film was the first made by the director after a ban on film-making was lifted – although he has continued to direct despite being expressly forbidden to do so. In 2011, a year after his first arrest, a copy of his drama This Is Not a Film was snuck into Cannes on a USB stick hidden in a cake. Continue reading...

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