Iran Vows Retaliation, Damascus Church Attack, HD Nebulae

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

French daily l’Humanité headlines “Peace according to Trump” after the United States entered the war against Iran, striking three Iranian nuclear sites with 30,000 pound “bunker bombs” in the early hours of Sunday local time in an unprecedented air operation called “Midnight Hammer.” U.S. president Donald Trump said hours after the attack that “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace.” He stated Sunday on his Truth Social Network that “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran […] Obliteration is an accurate term!” while Tehran has not declared yet how much damage was done. Satellite images analyzed Monday by The Associated Press appear to show at least one crater at the Natanz site, as evaluations are still in progress.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Iran vows retaliation after U.S. strikes, Israel hits Fordow nuclear facility. Iran’s military has vowed a “decisive response” after the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, which marked the biggest U.S. military action against the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent his foreign minister to Moscow on Monday to ask President Vladimir Putin for more help from Russia, as U.S. President Donald Trump floated the possibility of leadership change in Iran. The U.S.’s move sparked protests internationally while oil prices spiked on Monday to their highest since January. Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear facility of Fordow was hit again on Monday in an Israeli attack, a day after the U.S. struck the same target, as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz cited a new focus on targets in central Tehran. For more, check this Kayhan-London analysis about the differences between the Iranian and North Korean regimes, translated from Persian by Worldcrunch.

• Suicide bombing at Damascus church kills 22. At least 22 people have been killed and 63 others wounded after a suicide bomber opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church filled with people praying on Sunday in Damascus, Syria. While the country’s interior ministry said the attacker was affiliated with the jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS), there was no immediate claim from the group itself.

• At least 10 killed in new Russian aerial attack on Ukraine. At least 10 civilians were killed and several injured in an overnight Russian missile and drone attack in the Kyiv region, local officials said Monday. Seven deaths were reported in Kyiv, where emergency crews raced to find people believed trapped under the rubble of a partially collapsed apartment building. Moscow fired 352 drones and decoys overnight, as well as 11 ballistic missiles and five cruise missiles.

• Spain reaches NATO defense spending deal ahead of annual summit. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday that the country struck a deal with the NATO military alliance that would allow it to avoid spending 5% of its GDP on defense spending. This comes amid pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on NATO members to ramp up their defense spending. Trump and his NATO counterparts are due to gather Tuesday in The Hague for the alliance’s annual summit. Read more in this La Stampa analysis, translated from Italian by Worldcrunch.

• South Korea’s president picks first civilian defense minister in decades. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has nominated veteran lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back as the country’s first civilian defense minister in 64 years on Monday, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals. Lee, who took office on June 4, fulfills a campaign promise made after December’s martial law shook faith in the military in South Korea.

• Dozens evacuated as flames ravage Greece’s Chios island for second day. Some 190 firefighters assisted by six aircraft are battling to tame wildfires fanned by strong winds on the Greek island of Chios in the northeastern Aegean Sea for a second day on Monday, as authorities evacuated more villages. The country, which has experienced frequent wildfires exacerbated by a fast-changing climate these past few years, had hired a record number of firefighters this year in anticipation of a difficult fire season.

• News Quiz! Which world record was broken over the weekend during a festival in the Thai city of Phuket?

A. Longest scuba diving session
B. Loudest bass at a DJ set
C. Most Hokkien noodles served
D. Quickest Muay Thai fight

[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

$35 million

Despite positive reviews, Disney and Pixar‘s latest movie Elio earned a meager $35 million globally in its box office debut, having cost $150 million to produce. The story of a young boy who mingles with aliens after getting mistaken for Earth’s ambassador is the worst opening performance for a Pixar movie.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

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🖌️ Nude modeling in Paris is a demanding, underpaid job clinging to relevance as figurative art fades. Despite its decline, many still see it as essential to preserving artistic tradition.
— LE FIGARO

📣 VERBATIM

“Mr Trump, the gambler, you may start this war, but we will be the ones to end it.”

— Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s central military headquarters, issued Monday a warning to U.S. president Donald Trump in a recorded video shared on X after Saturday night’s U.S. air strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites. Zolfaqari said that “Criminal America” had “blatantly violated the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran […] trespassing upon Iran sacred soil […] with the aim of reviving the dying Zionist regime.” He also said the U.S. attack expanded the range of legitimate targets for Iran’s armed forces and “lay the groundwork for the expansion of war across the region.” Trump’s administration has repeatedly said that its aim is solely to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, not to open a wider war. But in a social media post on Sunday, Trump openly spoke of toppling the Iranian regime: “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change?” he wrote.