作者： admin

Mourinho named Real Madrid coach on three-year deal

In a move that has sent shockwaves across global football, La Liga and 15-time European champions Real Madrid confirmed Thursday that iconic Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho will return to the Santiago Bernabeu as first-team head coach, penning a three-year contract that will keep him at the club until June 30, 2029. The 63-year-old veteran will officially step into his new role on July 13, the opening day of Real Madrid’s preseason campaign, taking over from interim coach Alvaro Arbeloa.

Mourinho’s appointment comes on the heels of back-to-back trophy-less seasons for the Spanish giants, who have fallen behind domestic powerhouse Barcelona in recent campaigns. The move also follows a highly successful, if underrated, recent spell at Portugal’s Benfica, where Mourinho led the club through an entire unbeaten Primeira Liga season, even as the side ultimately finished third in the table. Benfica confirmed Wednesday that Real Madrid has paid a €15 million ($17.25 million) transfer fee to secure the manager’s release.

This marks a full-circle moment for Mourinho, who previously held the Real Madrid head coaching position between 2010 and 2013. During his first tenure at the club, he cemented his legacy by delivering La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup titles, all while leading the club through one of the most heated rivalry periods in modern football against Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona side. It was under Mourinho’s stewardship that Real Madrid became the first La Liga club in history to hit 100 points in a single season during the 2011–12 campaign, a landmark achievement that still stands as one of the most impressive in Spanish football history.

Yet Mourinho’s first spell at the Bernabeu was not without controversy. The manager’s confrontational, iron-fisted leadership style divided the club’s dressing room: while some players including his predecessor Arbeloa remained fiercely loyal throughout his tenure, others clashed openly with the Portuguese coach. That reputation for controlling dressing room dynamics is exactly why Real Madrid has turned to him now, following a chaotic 2024–25 season marked by widespread internal conflict and tactical disarray. High-profile incidents included a physical altercation between midfielders Fede Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni in May that left Valverde requiring hospital treatment, and three consecutive managers – Carlo Ancelotti, Xabi Alonso, and Arbeloa – failed to find a stable tactical balance that could integrate star attackers Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe, and Jude Bellingham without disrupting the team’s overall structure.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who was re-elected to his post earlier in June after promising to bring Mourinho back to the club, has long credited the manager with laying the foundational work for the club’s six Champions League titles won in the years after Mourinho’s first departure. In comments made on Spanish television back in May, Perez reaffirmed that belief, setting the stage for Thursday’s official announcement.

For Mourinho personally, the move marks a dramatic return to the pinnacle of European club football after several years plying his trade at lower-profile top-flight sides. The manager first rose to global stardom after leading a unfancied Porto side to a surprise Champions League title in 2004, before moving to Chelsea where he claimed back-to-back Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, famously dubbing himself “The Special One” amid his instant dominance of English football. He followed that historic run with an unprecedented treble at Inter Milan in 2010, capped by another Champions League crown, which earned him the Real Madrid job the same year.

After leaving Real Madrid in 2013, Mourinho returned to Chelsea for a second spell, claiming another Premier League title in 2015, before inconsistent results led to shorter, less successful tenures at Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Roma. He still added to his trophy haul during this period, winning the EFL Cup and Europa League with Manchester United in 2017 and the inaugural Europa Conference League with Roma in 2022. Most recently, he was sacked by Turkey’s Fenerbahce in August 2025 after the club was eliminated by Benfica in a Champions League qualification play-off, and he was appointed as Benfica’s manager just one month later, setting the stage for his rapid return to the Bernabeu.

11 6 月, 2026
Why does the US have Iran’s Kharg Island in its sights?

More than three months into open conflict between the United States and Iran, the strategic Persian Gulf outcrop of Kharg Island has reemerged as a critical flashpoint, driven by shifting public rhetoric from former President Donald Trump over potential seizure of the facility that underpins Iran’s entire oil export economy.

In an early Thursday post on his Truth Social platform, Trump escalated aggressive rhetoric against Tehran, claiming the US would seize Kharg Island and other key Iranian oil infrastructure assets in the “not too distant future,” assuming full control over Iran’s entire oil and gas markets. He even suggested a major strike on Iran could come that same night. Hours later, however, during an interview on Fox News, the president softened his stance, clarifying that seizing the strategic terminal has long been his “preference” — a move he claimed would generate massive economic profit for the US — but he acknowledged doubts that the American public has the “stomach” for a large-scale ground operation, and ruled out deploying American boots on the ground. Shortly after that interview, Trump announced he was canceling planned airstrikes on Iran, citing incremental progress in ongoing negotiations with Tehran.

This is not the first time Trump has publicly floated seizing Kharg Island. Two months ago, shortly after the outbreak of US-Iran hostilities, Trump first stated he wanted to take control of Iran’s oil reserves and was actively evaluating a plan to seize the island. On March 13, US forces launched large-scale airstrikes across Kharg Island, with Trump claiming American warplanes had “totally obliterated” every military target on the outcrop, but deliberately held off on striking the island’s critical oil processing and export infrastructure.

Located just 15 nautical miles off Iran’s southern coast, Kharg Island is far more than a small rocky outcrop: it is the undisputed economic lifeline of Iran. Ninety percent of Iran’s total crude oil exports pass through the island’s purpose-built terminal, pumped via underwater pipelines from mainland oil fields and loaded onto ultra-large crude carriers capable of carrying up to 2 million barrels of oil. Unlike Iran’s shallow mainland coast, Kharg Island’s proximity to deep Gulf waters allows these massive vessels to dock directly at its long jetties, from which they transit through the Strait of Hormuz to the island’s largest export market, China. Beyond national revenue, the terminal also provides a critical stream of income to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian military and paramilitary force leading much of the country’s combat operations.

Speculation about a potential US ground operation to seize the island has circulated for months. In a March interview with the *Financial Times*, Trump reiterated his interest in seizing the facility, noting “we could take it very easily” because he did not believe Iran had sufficient defenses to repel a US attack, but acknowledged that any long-term occupation would require a sustained US military presence. Multiple sources confirmed to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that Pentagon planners have already drafted detailed contingency plans for deploying ground forces to Kharg Island. While both the Pentagon and White House have refused to publicly comment on specific deployment plans or operational timelines, they have repeatedly confirmed that a ground seizure remains an active military option on the table.

Security analysts agree that seizing Kharg Island would deliver a devastating blow to Iran’s war capacity. As BBC Security Brief analyst Mikey Kay explains, taking control of the terminal would effectively cut off a core economic lifeline for the IRGC, severely restricting the organization’s ability to fund and sustain ongoing combat operations. Beyond crippling Iranian oil exports, a US seizure would also give the American military a strategic forward operating base from which to launch additional strikes against targets on the Iranian mainland, and could provide Washington with critical leverage to force Tehran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to global commercial shipping.

That said, military analysts warn that any attempt to seize and hold the island would face significant operational challenges. Aaron Maclean, national security analyst for CBS News and host of the *School of War* podcast, notes that any US landing force would need to travel long distances to reach the island, whether via naval amphibious assault or airborne insertion, creating exposed vulnerability before troops can secure a beachhead.

Iranian officials have issued stark public warnings about any attempt to seize the island or attack Iran’s energy infrastructure. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has stated that Iranian forces are “waiting for American soldiers” and would “rain fire” on any invading ground force. A senior Iranian military official also told local media that Iran would target all commercial shipping in the Red Sea in the event of a US ground invasion.

In response to persistent threats of attack and seizure, Iran has significantly reinforced its defenses on Kharg Island in recent months, US intelligence sources confirmed to CNN. Tehran has deployed additional military personnel and advanced air defense systems to the outcrop, including shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, and has laid extensive underwater traps surrounding the island, including anti-personnel and anti-armor mines to repel amphibious landings.

Trump has repeatedly stated he has held off on targeting the island’s oil export pipelines to avoid long-term damage to Iran’s civilian economy, telling reporters in mid-March that “we can do that on five minutes’ notice. It’ll be over. Just one simple word, and the pipes will be gone too. But it’ll take a long time to rebuild that.”

Following the March 13 airstrikes, US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed that its forces had targeted more than 90 separate Iranian military sites on the island, including naval mine storage facilities, missile bunkers, and other military installations, while deliberately preserving all oil infrastructure. Iranian state media corroborated that the terminal’s critical oil export facilities suffered no damage, noting that strikes were limited to air defense positions, a naval base, an airport control tower, and a helicopter hangar. Ehsan Jahanian, political deputy to the governor of Iran’s Bushehr province, told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency that oil exports continued uninterrupted immediately after the strike. Iranian military officials issued a stark warning after the attack: any strike on Iranian energy infrastructure would result in the immediate destruction of all oil and energy assets belonging to companies working with the United States across the region. The US conducted a second round of airstrikes on Kharg Island’s military targets in early April, again holding off on striking oil and gas infrastructure, and Iranian state media reported that the terminal’s critical maritime export facilities suffered only minimal damage.

Analysts warn that any large-scale US operation to destroy or seize Kharg Island’s oil infrastructure would represent a dramatic escalation of the conflict, with massive global consequences. A successful seizure or destruction of the terminal would immediately take most of Iran’s oil exports off the global market, sending already elevated international crude prices soaring even higher. It would also almost certainly prompt Iran to expand its ongoing drone campaign against Gulf Arab states and commercial shipping, potentially striking critical civilian infrastructure including desalination plants that supply drinking water to millions of people across the Gulf region.

11 6 月, 2026
Israeli MP Ariel Kellner declares Turkey an ‘enemy state’

A sharp war of words between senior Israeli and Turkish leaders has pushed already strained bilateral relations to a new boiling point, with top Israeli officials openly labeling Turkey an enemy state amid a growing geopolitical split over the ongoing Gaza conflict and competing influence across the Middle East.

The latest escalation began when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a forceful address this week, arguing that Israel’s ongoing military operations in Syria and Lebanon had grown so aggressive that they now pose a direct security threat to Turkey. Erdogan went further, framing Israeli actions as a risk to global stability, and declared that halting Israeli military expansion was a universal moral duty for the international community.

That speech drew immediate and harsh pushback from Israeli leaders aligned with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling right-wing Likud party. First, Knesset member Ariel Kellner openly branded Turkey an enemy state “for all intents and purposes” during an interview with Israeli outlet Galei Israel radio. Kellner doubled down on his criticism, describing Erdogan as a dictator with expansionist ambitions to rebuild an Islamic caliphate, saying “He is a very dangerous person who hates Israel to the core.” He called on both Israel and Western governments to formally recognize Erdogan as a global security threat.

Netanyahu himself followed up Kellner’s remarks with an equally scathing rebuke, labeling Erdogan an antisemitic dictator. This verbal escalation is not an isolated incident: just weeks before Kellner’s comments, Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar became the first senior cabinet member to publicly call for treating Turkey as an official enemy, warning that Ankara could emerge as Israel’s next major military adversary. “If Turkey chooses the path of war with us, it will undoubtedly pay a very heavy price. Israel knows how to defend itself and how to harm those who harm it,” Zohar stated.

The sharp exchange of accusations comes against a years-long backdrop of deteriorating bilateral ties. Turkey has positioned itself as one of the most vocal international critics of Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon. Relations hit a new low in May 2024, when Ankara formally cut official trade ties with Israel and joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Despite the formal embargo, limited trade has continued through indirect third-party channels, with total bilateral trade volume reaching $924 million in 2025 according to trade data. Energy cooperation also remains intact, with Azerbaijani crude oil transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline continuing to flow to Israeli markets through Turkish ports.

International reaction to the rising tensions has been mixed. When asked to comment on Erdogan’s recent statements, former U.S. President Donald Trump pushed back against criticism, telling reporters “He’s a very good friend of mine, and we’ve worked very well together. I like him a lot.”

Analysts note that the current rhetorical escalation reflects a deeper structural rift between the two nations, rooted in competing regional ambitions, disagreements over the future of Syria, and clashing positions on the Israel-Palestinian conflict that have only widened as the Gaza war drags on into its second year.

11 6 月, 2026
US and Iran are unlikely to bomb their way to peace

This week, the United States has launched a new wave of airstrikes targeting Iranian assets, a sharp escalation of military pressure that comes as former President Donald Trump has lost patience with months of stalled negotiations to end the broader Middle East conflict. The move marks a stark shift from the fragile ceasefire that had held between Washington and Tehran since early April, a truce both sides had initially signaled they wanted to preserve even as talks dragged on.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth left little room for ambiguity following the strikes, warning that additional military action would continue if peace negotiations remain deadlocked. “If we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs,” he stated. The airstrikes were launched in retaliation for the downing of a US helicopter by Iranian forces, an incident that followed days of cross-border missile exchanges between Iran and Israel that had already tested the truce.

Even as military tensions spike, Trump continues to publicly insist that a comprehensive peace deal is imminent. To understand the sudden breakdown of the calm that held for months, analysts have put forward several overlapping explanations for the current escalation.

The most widely cited framework is the strategic doctrine of “escalate to deescalate”, a common tactic in interstate conflict where a power ramps up military force to intimidate the opposing side into making concessions. Both Washington and Tehran have leaned into this approach, seeking to demonstrate their willingness to use force to push the other side to accept an agreement aligned with their core non-negotiable interests.

To date, however, the two sides remain fundamentally at odds on the issues that matter most. The United States is demanding that Iran fully capitulate on its nuclear program, agreeing to dismantle all nuclear infrastructure and end all uranium enrichment activities, and reopen the Strait of Hormuz – a critical global chokepoint for energy trade – to unconstrained commercial shipping. For its part, Iran is demanding the immediate release of billions of dollars in frozen sovereign assets and a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

With talks stuck in this stalemate, both sides see limited downside in demonstrating their willingness to escalate, even as neither seeks to collapse the ceasefire entirely and trigger a return to full-scale war. Yet this mutual pressure tactic carries major risks: when both sides pursue the same strategy simultaneously, it can easily lead to an uncontrollable “escalation trap”, where each side is forced to ramp up attacks to avoid appearing weak, leaving no path to de-escalation.

A second, alternate explanation frames the current escalation as an unintended consequence of the tense, militarized status quo that has prevailed under the ceasefire, particularly the ongoing live military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It remains unclear to this day whether the Iranian drone that downed the US helicopter – the incident that directly triggered the US airstrikes – was a deliberate act of aggression or an accidental mistake amid heightened military alertness.

Compounding these dynamics is the deeper regional complexity that the Trump administration has largely failed to account for: this is not merely a bilateral conflict between the US and Iran. Israel is currently conducting a large-scale military offensive against Hezbollah, Iran’s key regional ally, in southern Lebanon, an operation that has already upended the existing geopolitical order and put enormous strain on the US-Iran truce.

For both Israel and Iran, the conflict is not a temporary dispute over terms of a peace deal – it is an existential struggle that predates the current war by decades. Iran’s Islamic regime has long rejected Israel’s legitimacy and place in the Middle East, while successive Israeli governments have repeatedly identified a nuclear-armed Iran as the single greatest threat to Israeli national survival. Against this backdrop, Iran cannot be expected to respect a ceasefire with the US while Israel wages war on its closest ally; Tehran views itself and Hezbollah as part of a single unified front in this regional struggle.

On the Israeli side, the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israeli territory triggered a fundamental shift in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regional strategy. Netanyahu’s far-right government has since adopted an aggressive expansionist military doctrine, seeking to seize territory in neighboring Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza to establish permanent security buffer zones, and has vowed to eliminate all threats posed by Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

This approach faces a fundamental structural flaw: non-state militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Yemeni Houthis cannot be eliminated through conventional military force. These organizations are deeply embedded within civilian populations, able to disperse, regroup, and reemerge months or even years after major military offensives. As a result, even with massive military firepower that has left wide swathes of Gaza and southern Lebanon in ruins, Israel has not come close to eliminating Hamas or Hezbollah, and the fighting will continue.

Trump’s approach to Middle East diplomacy has centered heavily on bilateral, personal diplomacy between leaders, and has consistently shown little patience for unpacking the deeply rooted ideological and political drivers that motivate the multiple actors involved in this layered conflict. This oversimplification has left the administration unprepared for the spillover from Israel’s campaign in Lebanon that is now unraveling the ceasefire.

Looking ahead, the future of the truce depends heavily on how Trump defines a ceasefire itself. During a press conference this week, Trump offered a revealing framing, noting that in the Middle East context, a ceasefire often means “shooting in a more moderate manner.” It is clear he has no interest in returning to full-scale open war, which is why he publicly called for an immediate halt to exchanges between Iran and Israel earlier this week.

The most likely outcome in the coming weeks is that limited strikes will continue across all three fronts even as formal negotiations proceed. While a preliminary memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran could be reached in the near term, it would almost certainly do no more than commit both sides to keep talking, rather than resolving the core sticking points that have deadlocked talks for months. Israel, meanwhile, is highly unlikely to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon or end its asymmetric campaign against Hezbollah.

As analyst Jessica Genauer, academic director at the Public Policy Institute of UNSW Sydney, argues, the current dynamics are already laying the groundwork for a long-term “frozen conflict”: an unresolved, low-intensity war that remains below the threshold of full-scale open combat but continues indefinitely. Unless the deeper structural and ideological roots of the conflict are addressed, any ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran can only ever be a temporary pause, not a lasting resolution.

11 6 月, 2026
Netherlands arrives at the World Cup as arguably the best never to win, and reminders are everywhere

RIVERSIDE, Missouri — When local organizers set out to build a welcoming home away from home for the Netherlands men’s national soccer team at their pre-World Cup practice facility, every detail was tailored to make the global soccer powerhouse feel comfortable. Dutch-language “welkom” greetings line the entry road, and even the official street name — originally Teal Rising Way, named for NWSL side Kansas City Current, who owns the facility — has been temporarily rebranded to Oranje Rising Way for the next six weeks, a nod to the Dutch squad’s iconic orange team colors.

But one small oversight has become an unintentional, constant reminder of the biggest heartbreak in Dutch soccer history: a series of white route signs marking the team’s past major World Cup milestones that only serve to highlight a decades-long gap on the nation’s trophy shelf. The Netherlands is still chasing its first-ever World Cup title, a stat that every sign quietly reinforces.

For captain Virgil van Disk, who is set to lead his squad into its opening Group Stage match against Japan this Sunday in Dallas, that unmet ambition is fuel, not frustration. This tournament marks the Liverpool center back’s second World Cup appearance, and he says the team’s focus starts and ends with their opening fixture, even as bigger goals hang in the air.

“How far can we go? Yeah, hopefully all the way,” van Dijk said following a recent grueling training session, held under the relentless, sweltering Midwestern sun that pushed the heat index into the triple digits. “We know how difficult it will be. But our full focus will be on Japan, first and foremost. That will get all our attention. We won’t look too far ahead. But we all have big dreams, and we’ll give all we have.”

The Dutch soccer program carries an unusual, unwanted distinction: it is the most successful nation never to lift the World Cup trophy, having reached the tournament’s final match three separate times without sealing a win. No other country has made three finals and walked away empty-handed.

The first heartbreak came in 1974, when the Netherlands returned to the World Cup after a 40-year absence. Led by legendary playmaker Johan Cruyff, the squad fought its way to the final against host nation West Germany, captained by one of the game’s all-time greats, Franz Beckenbauer. The Netherlands jumped out to an early lead from a penalty kick, but West Germany netted two goals before halftime. The Dutch couldn’t find an equalizer in the second half in front of 78,000 fans at Munich’s Olympiastadion, and they fell short of the title.

That result stung, but Dutch fans widely agree the 1978 final defeat was far more painful. For the second straight tournament, the Netherlands faced the host nation in the final, this time Argentina in Buenos Aires. Argentina held a 1-0 lead at halftime, before Dick Nanninga slotted home an equalizer in the 82nd minute to force extra time. Mario Kempes notched his second goal of the match for the hosts, and Daniel Bertoni added a late third to seal Argentina’s first title, leaving the Dutch once again going home without the trophy.

The third final defeat came in 2010, in Johannesburg, South Africa, where the Netherlands faced Spain. After 90 minutes of scoreless play, the match remained deadlocked through most of extra time, until Andrés Iniesta slotted home the winning goal in the 116th minute, once again leaving the Dutch trophy-less.

In recent years, however, strong tournament performances have given the squad legitimate reason to believe this could be their year. The Netherlands reached the semi-finals in 2014, infamously missed out on qualification in 2018, then bounced back strong at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, with van Dijk leading the side. The Netherlands conceded just one goal through group play, rolled past the United States in the Round of 16, and only fell to eventual champion Argentina on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.

Excluding penalty shootout defeats, the Dutch are actually unbeaten in their last 12 World Cup matches. Only Brazil holds a longer such streak, with 13 consecutive unbeaten games led by Pele between 1958 and 1966.

Van Dijk highlighted the chemistry of this year’s squad as a key strength, pointing to a roster full of experienced players who have won titles at the biggest club levels across European soccer. “I think we have a great group of players, especially human beings. We are getting along so well with each other,” van Dijk said. “But obviously it’s all about the results. It’s all about performing. All the players that are here, especially over the years — it’s players that have played at the highest level, experiencing amazing things in their careers. Winning trophies. Playing for the biggest clubs. They’re coming together here and trying to make their country proud. It’s the biggest thing you can do.”

While the Netherlands enter the tournament as favorites to advance out of their group, the road to knockout stage success is far from guaranteed. Group matches against Japan, Sweden and Tunisia will test the squad early on, and the team has already faced significant injury setbacks. Defender Jurrien Timber was forced to withdraw from the roster entirely with a groin injury, and starting goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen is currently managing a recent hip injury, leaving his availability for Sunday’s match against Japan uncertain.

Head coach Ronald Koeman says his side has fully prepared for the opening challenge, and respects Japan’s strength while maintaining confidence in their own abilities. “We know Japan is strong. We’ve analyzed the team and the players,” Koeman said. “We spoke about their system, normally where they play out of, and the physical state of their players. It’s difficult. But we believe in ourselves. We respect Japan, but we are Holland, and they will respect us. I think it will be an interesting match, and a difficult one.”

11 6 月, 2026
US and Iran trade strikes as ceasefire comes under renewed strain

A rapid cycle of reciprocal strikes between the United States and Iran this week has pushed a months-long fragile ceasefire to its most severe test in the two-month truce, drawing multiple Gulf nations directly into the spiraling escalation and stoking global fears of a wider regional conflict.

The outbreak of renewed hostilities traces back to the downing of a U.S. military helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week. In response, Washington launched targeted strikes against Iranian military installations, with U.S. officials confirming the operations were designed to knock out Iranian surveillance networks, communications infrastructure and air defense systems that the U.S. says pose an ongoing threat to American troops and commercial shipping transiting key regional waterways.

U.S. Central Command announced the first wave of coordinated strikes wrapped up after launching at 5:15 p.m. Washington time on Wednesday, which fell in the early hours of Thursday local time in Iran. The operation drew on joint assets from the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy, which deployed precision-guided munitions against targets spanning multiple Iranian locations. Iranian state media reported loud explosions across multiple provinces, including coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz — Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island and Minab — as well as sites in Karaj, Nazarabad and Pishva close to the Iranian capital of Tehran. Local reports confirmed at least three people suffered injuries in Tehran province.

The strikes came after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly accused Iran of deliberately dragging out ceasefire negotiations to end the three-month conflict. Speaking Wednesday, Trump claimed Tehran had been “playing us for suckers” and warned the Islamic Republic would “have to pay the price” for the delay. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth further signaled that military pressure would remain on the table, noting that if directed by the president, Washington would continue to “negotiate with bombs.”

On Thursday, Iran’s foreign ministry issued a formal condemnation of the U.S. attacks, stating the strikes had rendered the nearly two-month-old ceasefire “practically meaningless” and held Washington fully accountable for any “extremely serious consequences” that stem from the escalation.

In line with its promise of retaliation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s elite military force, announced it had launched counterstrikes against U.S.-affiliated military targets in three regional states: Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Iranian state media reported the retaliatory operation used both drones and ballistic missiles, striking facilities including the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, air bases in Kuwait, and the al-Azraq airbase in northern Jordan.

Bahrain triggered an air raid alert Wednesday after Iranian reports confirmed the U.S. base in the country had been targeted, with the interior ministry urging residents to stay calm and move to designated safe shelters. In Kuwait, authorities ordered a temporary closure of the country’s airspace early Thursday and diverted all incoming commercial flights over risks to civil aviation posed by the Iranian strikes. Kuwaiti military confirmed its air defense systems were actively engaging “hostile aerial targets,” before later announcing commercial air traffic had resumed normal operations. Jordan’s military confirmed Thursday that its integrated air defense systems and combat aircraft intercepted 20 missiles launched from Iran that were headed toward the Azraq area in Zarqa governorate, roughly 80 kilometers east of the capital Amman. The military added that falling missile debris caused no casualties or material damage, despite the large-scale attack. The IRGC has claimed its 12 ballistic missiles scored direct hits on al-Azraq airbase and its command center, destroying key facilities and aircraft on the tarmac. The IRGC’s claims have not yet been independently verified by third-party observers.

The escalating confrontation has also spread to the Sea of Oman, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global energy trade. According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, the Iranian governor of Sirik county confirmed a U.S. projectile struck an Iranian cargo barge in the Gulf of Oman early Thursday. This attack marks one of multiple strikes on vessels with Indian crew members carried out by U.S. forces this week. The 150-tonne barge, owned by local Sirik residents and carrying essential consumer goods from the Omani port of Khasab, was hit roughly five nautical miles off the Khasab coast. All five crew members were rescued by passing commercial vessels and brought to Omani shores for care, the official added.

This week alone, U.S. forces have disabled three commercial tankers transiting the vital waterway as part of enforcement of a blockade on Iranian ports, a campaign that has left three seafarers dead. Indian national newspaper The Hindu confirmed Tuesday that two Indian crew members were killed and a third remains missing after a U.S. attack on the Palau-flagged oil tanker Settebello off the Omani coast.

Iranian media reported Thursday that the Iranian navy had also struck two vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command has rejected claims that commercial shipping through the strait has been halted, confirming that commercial vessels continue to move in and out of the waterway without widespread disruption.

Global energy markets reacted immediately to the escalation, with oil prices climbing higher Thursday as traders priced in the risk of prolonged disruption to energy shipments. Major Gulf stock markets also pulled back, reflecting broad investor concern that the confrontation could expand far beyond direct U.S.-Iran exchanges.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump claimed U.S. forces launched 49 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the latest strikes, and added that Iranian leadership reached out to him directly mid-bombing to request an end to the operations. The IRGC has flatly denied the claim, dismissing it as a propaganda effort to cover up Washington’s failing position in the three-month conflict.

Despite the sharp military escalation, diplomatic channels have remained active to de-escalate the crisis. Qatari negotiators traveled to Tehran Wednesday after holding consultations with U.S. officials in Washington, in a last-ditch effort to bridge the remaining policy gaps between the two sides. The Qatari delegation departed Tehran Thursday after concluding their talks.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent warning against a return to full-scale open war between the two countries. Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani emphasized that no sustainable long-term agreement can be reached through threats or the use of military force.

The latest exchange of strikes comes after weeks of stalled negotiations over a permanent deal to end the conflict, which first erupted in February when the U.S. and Israel launched joint strikes against Iranian targets. Tehran has repeatedly insisted that any final peace settlement must include a binding ceasefire in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have continued to bombard civilian areas. The ongoing Lebanese campaign has killed 3,696 people since March, while Hezbollah has continued its cross-border strikes targeting Israeli military positions.

11 6 月, 2026
Man accused of killing Minnesota lawmaker and husband pleads guilty

Last June, a shocking act of targeted political violence left a Minnesota state legislator and her spouse dead, and another lawmaker and his wife injured. Now, almost a year after the attack, the man charged with carrying out the shootings has entered a guilty plea as part of a negotiated deal that removes the possibility of capital punishment, according to multiple United States media reports.

Vance Boelter, the 57-year-old suspect, formally confessed to pulling the trigger that killed Representative Melissa Hortman, 52, and her husband Mark Hortman, 55, at the couple’s private residence in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. The attack did not end there: Boelter is also alleged to have traveled to the home of fellow state legislator John Hoffman minutes later, where he shot Hoffman and his wife Yvette. Both survived the assault despite sustaining serious injuries.

Under the terms of the federal plea agreement, Boelter pleaded guilty to six criminal charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and multiple counts of stalking, prosecutors confirmed. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office had previously announced they would not pursue a death sentence, clearing the way for the negotiated deal. Prosecutors are now recommending that the court hand down a sentence of two consecutive life sentences plus an additional 40 years of prison time, local Minnesota news outlets have confirmed.

Crucially, the plea deal only applies to federal charges brought in the case. State-level charges against Boelter are still pending, and Minnesota state officials confirmed that the judicial process for those counts will move forward independently in the coming months.

In the wake of the guilty plea, family members of the slain lawmaker spoke publicly about their ongoing grief, describing the attack as a devastating, unfathomable loss to their family and to the state of Minnesota. In the months after the shooting last year, thousands of Minnesotans gathered across the state to pay their respects to Hortman, a 16-year veteran of the state legislature who was widely praised for her work on climate policy and public education reform.

11 6 月, 2026
BBC tours UFC arena at White House

In a moment that blends high-profile combat sports with the pinnacle of U.S. political space, a BBC White House correspondent has gained early access to the one-of-a-kind temporary venue set to host a groundbreaking Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bout on June 14.

Bernd Debusmann, the outlet’s veteran White House reporter, was offered an exclusive preview tour of the custom-built arena, which marks an unprecedented coming-together of professional mixed martial arts and the grounds of the U.S. executive residence. The event, set to take place on June 14, will be the first major professional MMA event hosted on White House property, making the construction of the temporary facility a historic undertaking that has drawn attention from both political and sports circles.

During the tour, Debusmann got an up-close look at the preparations underway to convert a section of the White House grounds into a fully functional fight venue, with work ongoing to finalize seating, the octagon fighting area, and broadcast infrastructure ahead of the upcoming matchup. The unusual placement of a professional sports event at the White House has already sparked widespread curiosity, as the location is most commonly associated with state visits, policy announcements, and official presidential functions rather than high-octane combat sports competitions.

11 6 月, 2026
Three ships attacked by the US in three days: What we know

Over a three-day period in mid-June 2026, three commercial tankers operating in the Gulf of Oman have been targeted by United States military strikes, leaving at least three Indian seafarers dead and triggering sharp diplomatic pushback from New Delhi against Washington. The attacks come as part of a sweeping US naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports that began in mid-April, a response to Tehran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s total oil and natural gas supplies transit annually.

The most recent strike unfolded early Thursday morning, when a US warplane launched two Hellfire missiles into the engine compartment of the cargo tanker Jalveer. US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, confirmed the attack, stating the vessel had violated the Iran blockade by attempting to transport Iranian crude oil and that its crew repeatedly ignored instructions to stop for inspection. Maritime risk firm Vanguard reported the Jalveer issued an emergency alert shortly after the strike noting a catastrophic fire had broken out in its engine room. Distress calls intercepted by BBC Verify show the crew contacted Oman’s Royal Navy and a nearby commercial vessel for rescue, with one crew member explicitly blaming the US for intentionally targeting a civilian merchant ship. Satellite imagery analyzed by BBC Verify confirms thick plumes of smoke rising from the Jalveer following the attack. Indian officials later confirmed all 20 Indian crew members on board were safely evacuated by Omani naval forces. Notably, ship tracking records show the Jalveer has operated regularly between Gulf ports and multiple Indian ports over the past year, and the vessel has never been officially sanctioned by the US for Iranian ties.

The deadliest attack of the three came on Wednesday, when US forces struck the tanker Settebello, killing three Indian sailors and leaving 21 others in need of rescue. Centcom says the Settebello also violated the blockade by carrying Iranian oil and that its crew failed to respond to repeated directives. The vessel is owned by Indian shipping firm Aqua Aurora Shipping Lines and managed by the United Arab Emirates-based IOS Marine FZE, which has issued a categorical denial of the US claims. The company says it had no affiliation with Iran or Iranian oil shipments, and that US forces never made any attempt to contact the vessel before launching the strike, calling on Washington to release public evidence of its claimed communications. While the Settebello has never been officially US-sanctioned, it is listed as a high-risk vessel by the non-proliferation campaign group United Against Nuclear Iran, which accuses it of moving Iranian crude. Ship tracking data shows the vessel made multiple voyages from the Gulf to Chinese ports in Zhoushan and Lianyungang over the past six months, and its tracking beacon has been inactive since May 31. IOS Marine reports the vessel had been anchored and stationary for roughly 10 days before the strike, and BBC Verify satellite imagery from June 8 places the vessel approximately 120 kilometers off Oman’s port of Sohar. India’s shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal called the incident deeply unfortunate, confirming the bodies of the three deceased sailors would be repatriated to India as quickly as possible.

The first of the three strikes hit the tanker Marivex on Monday. The vessel was already sanctioned by the US for Iranian links under its previous name, Arihant, and its owner, Arihant Shipping Inc, is also subject to American sanctions. Centcom confirmed an F/A-18 Super Hornet jet launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier hit the vessel’s engineering and steering compartments with a precision munition, after accusing it of transporting hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian fuel oil and bitumen in the Gulf since July 2025. Ship tracking records show the Marivex last docked at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port in early April to load cargo before sailing to two ports on India’s west coast, Mangaluru and Karwar. After the strike, the disabled vessel issued a desperate distress call obtained by BBC Verify from the Forward Seaman’s Union of India (FSUI), with crew reporting a massive onboard fire and that the ship was sinking, pleading “send help” to rescuers. Omani military helicopters eventually responded and evacuated all 24 Indian crew from the burning vessel.

Centcom has declined to respond to questions from BBC Verify about whether it notified Indian or Omani government officials ahead of any of the three strikes, a lack of advance coordination that has amplified anger in New Delhi. The Indian government has formally condemned the series of attacks, issuing a statement calling for an immediate end to the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region. New Delhi also summoned the deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in New Delhi to lodge an official diplomatic protest against the attacks.

The strikes have sparked widespread concern across India over the safety of the country’s massive maritime workforce, which numbers nearly 300,000 seafarers working on commercial vessels globally, with more than 18,000 currently operating in the Gulf region alone. India’s shipping ministry reports that 13 Indian-flagged vessels remain stranded in the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing blockade and heightened tensions. Harsh V Pant, a senior analyst at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, noted that seafarers have almost no influence over the geopolitical disputes that put their lives at risk, despite bearing the full brunt of conflict. He added that while the attacks will increase friction in already strained India-US relations, a full rupture in bilateral ties is unlikely. Seafarer advocacy groups have echoed these concerns, calling for urgent international action to protect civilian maritime workers. “Seafarers are workers. They are not soldiers,” the FSUI said in a statement Thursday, adding that “the international community cannot remain a silent spectator while seafarers are forced to navigate through conditions resembling a war zone.” As of mid-June, Centcom reports it has disabled nine vessels and redirected 135 others since the blockade of Iranian ports went into effect in April.

11 6 月, 2026
US administration investigating Iran war critic Trita Parsi, says report

A growing political controversy has emerged following a new report from the Free Press revealing that the second Trump administration has opened an official investigation into Trita Parsi, one of the most vocal and high-profile critics of Washington’s aggressive military policy toward Iran, with deportation explicitly listed as a potential outcome of the probe.

Parsi, who holds dual Iranian and Swedish citizenship, occupies key leadership roles in two major U.S. foreign policy organizations: he is co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, and also co-founded the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC). For years, he has been an outspoken opponent of ongoing U.S. military strikes and aggressive posture against Iran, and has recently amplified criticism of U.S. backing for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and attacks on Lebanon.

Notably, Parsi is himself a public critic of Iran’s Islamic Republic; his family fled the country decades ago to escape political persecution by the ruling government, and he has faced repeated attacks from both Iranian monarchist factions and pro-Trump conservatives over his anti-war stance.

A senior Trump administration official speaking to the pro-Trump outlet confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has explicitly framed the administration’s push to target individuals accused of advancing the interests of U.S. adversaries at the expense of American security. “Anyone who seeks to undermine the US, we’re taking a hard look at,” the official stated.

The investigation into Parsi is part of a wider, escalating crackdown on people of Iranian descent based in the United States that launched shortly after the U.S.-Israeli joint offensive against Iran began in February. In April, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter Sarina were taken into federal custody and had their U.S. residency permits revoked, after far-right political influencer Laura Loomer incorrectly identified the pair as relatives of the late former Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Despite the pair’s repeated, unrefuted denials of any connection to Soleimani, they remain detained in a Texas facility as of the latest reporting. That same month, U.S. authorities also detained multiple relatives of former Iranian minister Masoumeh Ebtekar and revoked their green cards.

In comments given to Middle East Eye (MEE) in May, Parsi warned that any potential diplomatic deal between Washington and Tehran would depend entirely on the U.S. willingness to rein in unprovoked Israeli military aggression across the Middle East. “If Trump either cannot or will not do so, then the value of any agreement with Washington comes sharply into question,” Parsi said. He added that a fragile ceasefire that leaves Israel free to restart hostilities on its own terms – while the U.S. remains unable to avoid being pulled back into open conflict – cannot deliver long-term regional stability, drastically reducing any benefit of a diplomatic agreement with the United States.

MEE reached out to both the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to request comment on the investigation into Parsi and the broader crackdown, but neither agency had issued a response by the time of this report’s publication.

11 6 月, 2026