39 m. ago Israeli hospital hit by Iranian missile as Trump 'approves Iran attack plan' but yet to decide whether to strike

A number of people have been wounded in the attack on Soroka Medical Centre, according to a hospital spokesperson

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2 h. ago Europe must stand without the US – but the latest war in the Middle East shows it has no idea how | Nathalie Tocci

If Europe was not so in hock to Washington, it would sanction Israel over Gaza and condemn its unilateral attack on IranThe rupture in the transatlantic relationship has left European leaders struggling to know how to think, let alone act, with any autonomy. Europe most urgently needs a mind of its own on the Middle East.Tragically, EU governments were just beginning to turn the page after a year and a half of complicity with the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza. Donald Trump’s obscene plans for a Gaza “riviera” and “humanitarian” initiatives that breach humanitarian principles were creating distance with the US, and European governments were starting to craft their own course.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

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4 h. ago Iran bombarded with new round of Israeli missile strikes as air defenses activated and US military prepares to join fight 'in coming days': Live updates

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened an attack on U.S. naval ships and troops if Donald Trump authorizes strikes on its nuclear bunkers as Israel is hit with a sixth day of bombing.

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5 h. ago Iran braces for incoming barrage as air defenses activated in advance of Israeli attack and US military awaits orders to strike: Live updates

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened an attack on U.S. naval ships and troops if Donald Trump authorizes strikes on its nuclear bunkers as Israel is hit with a sixth day of bombing.

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8 h. ago British, German and French foreign ministers plan meeting with Iranian counterpart

The meeting in Geneva would be the first face-to-face diplomatic communication with Iran since Israel’s attackThe foreign ministers of the UK, France and Germany are planning to meet the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in what could represent a potential diplomatic breakthrough after five days of Israeli bombing.The meeting is due to take place in Geneva on Friday but final confirmation from Tehran is still pending; if confirmed it would represent the first face-to-face diplomatic meeting since Benjamin Netanyahu launched Israel’s attack on Iran’s military and nuclear sites. Continue reading...

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12 h. ago The Guardian view on Israel, the US and Iran: you can’t bomb your way out of nuclear proliferation | Editorial

The age of disarmament is over. But military action only increases the dangers instead of ending the threatEighty years after the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and 40 years after the US and Soviet Union pledged to reduce their arsenals, the threat of nuclear war has resurged with a vengeance. The age of disarmament is over, a prominent thinktank warned this week: “We see a clear trend of growing nuclear arsenals, sharpened nuclear rhetoric and the abandonment of arms control agreements,” said Hans M Kristensen of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.The world’s nine nuclear-armed states have amassed the equivalent of 145,000 Hiroshima bombs. Israel’s illegal attack upon Iran is purportedly a last-ditch attempt to prevent it joining this club – as Israel did long ago, though does not admit it. While Tehran possesses the capacity to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to, US intelligence believes it has not made that decision – and would stil...

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12 h. ago Trump undecided on joining war on Iran as Khamenei warns him not to attack

‘I may do it, I may not do it,’ US president says as Tehran reportedly prepares to strike US bases in responseDonald Trump said he had not decided whether or not to take his country into Israel’s new war, as Iran’s supreme leader said the US would face “irreparable damage” if it deployed its military to attack.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel had made a “huge mistake” by launching the war, in his first comments since Friday. “The Americans should know that any US military intervention will undoubtedly be accompanied by irreparable damage,” he said in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV. Continue reading...

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14 h. ago Keir Starmer holds Cobra meeting on Middle East fighting as UK evacuates families of Israel embassy staff

The Prime Minister gathered ministers and outside experts including military leaders after returning from the G7 summit in Canada, where he met Donald Trump.

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15 h. ago Israel’s assumption US would get drawn into Iran war is being put to the test

President Donald Trump initially appeared to discourage attacks but Israeli officials claim they always had his supportIsrael’s attack on Iran was carried out with Donald Trump’s approval, government officials in Israel claim, and it appears to have been unleashed in the expectation – but not certainty – that the US would ultimately get drawn into the war.That assumption is now being put to the test as the US president weighs a decision on whether to join an assault he has increasingly embraced in his public pronouncements. Continue reading...

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16 h. ago Putin wades in: Russia warns Trump against bombing Iran and says Israel is 'millimetres away' from sparking nuclear 'catastrophe' with its airstrikes as Trump considers US military attack

Fears that the United States could wade into yet another war in the Middle East grew yesterday when a security source revealed Trump was considering joining Israel in strikes on Iran

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17 h. ago Keir Starmer to hold Cobra meeting on Middle East fighting as UK evacuates families of Israel embassy staff

Sir Keir Starmer will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the Middle East, amid fears that the US will join Israel's attack on Iran.

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17 h. ago Is the 'Thursday surprise' going to be a nuclear attack? DAVID AVERRE breaks down five possible moves Israel may be planning for Tehran

Israel's ambassador to the US gave a cryptic statement this week, declaring there were 'surprises up our sleeves' for Iran. DAVID AVERRE breaks down Israel's possible plans for Tehran.

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17 h. ago Keir Starmer to hold emergency Cobra meeting amid fears of US joining Israel's attack on Iran

Sir Keir Starmer will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in the Middle East, amid fears that the US will join Israel's attack on Iran.

Politics

34 h. ago Is this Trump’s WMD moment? President overrules intelligence agencies on Iran to justify war

ANALYSIS: Donald Trump rose to power criticizing Bush-era politicians for lying about weapons of mass destruction. Now he is accused of doing the same, Richard Hall writes.

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37 h. ago JD Vance braces MAGA that Trump planning 'further action' to stop Iran's nuclear program

Vice President JD Vance broke his silence about the military strikes on Iran on Tuesday, bracing supporters of President Donald Trump for possible American military action in the conflict.

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40 h. ago World braces for US strikes on Iran: Donald Trump 'surges planes to UK and Europe' after walking out of G7 summit and warning people to 'evacuate Tehran'

More than 40 extra jets are said to have been sent to the UK and Europe by Donald Trump in recent days.

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43 h. ago Russia’s ‘unrelenting’ attacks on Ukraine show Putin not interested in peace, EU says, after at least 15 die in Kyiv strike – Europe live

Kaja Kallas says strike in Kyiv one of ‘most devastating’ of war as Zelenskyy accuses world leaders of ‘turning a blind eye’According to the Spanish government, we should soon get a decent idea of what caused the massive and unprecedented blackout that hit the Iberian peninsula at the end of April.The findings of a special committee convened to investigate the episode are due to be made public at a press conference addressed by Spain’s environment minister, Sara Aagesen, at 1 pm Madrid time. Continue reading...

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48 h. ago Republican hawks vs Maga isolationists: the internal war that could decide Trump’s Iran response

Trump could decide to help Israel by joining the fight against Iran, or refrain from involving the US in a new overseas war – either choice will upset his supportersFollow live updates in the Middle East crisis As Donald Trump considers a direct intervention in Israel’s conflict with Iran, another war has broken out in Washington between conservative hawks, calling for immediate US strikes on uranium enrichment facilities, and Maga isolationists, who are demanding Trump stick to his campaign pledge not to involve the US in new overseas wars.At stake is whether the US could target the mountain redoubt that is home to the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, a key uranium enrichment site hidden 80 to 90 metres underground that cannot be targeted directly by Israeli jets – although they can attack some of the infrastructure that allows the plant to operate. Continue reading...

Politics

56 h. ago Trump fires back at Tucker Carlson after he accuses US president of being ‘complicit’ in Israel

Donald Trump fired back at Tucker Carlson after he accused the US president of being “complicit”in Israel’s attacks on Iran.

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60 h. ago The Guardian view on Netanyahu’s Iran war: long planned, recklessly pursued – and perilous for all | Editorial

Israel’s strikes against Tehran risk spiralling conflict, flout legal norms and may permanently bury the last chance for nuclear diplomacyIn late 2020, Gen Mark Milley – then chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff – urged Donald Trump not to attack Iran and to ignore pressure from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was pushing hard for military action. Mr Trump backed down after the general warned that attacking Iran would start a war, with the risk of US officials being “tried as war criminals in The Hague”.Five years on, Israel’s prime minister has the fight with Tehran that he has spent decades preparing for, bolstered by Mr Trump’s claims that international law no longer applies. After all, why worry about red lines when The Hague’s already got a warrant out for you and your allies pretend not to notice? It helps when the US treats the international criminal court like a rogue actor. Mr Trump has even gone after the court’s judges and prosecutor for ...

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