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Europe
European Parliament
June 19, 2025 MEPs propose stricter rules on dog and cat welfare and traceability. (Source: European Parliament)
Russia
(June 19, 2025) At a press briefing, Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry said the Kremlin is particularly concerned about the safety of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which employs Russian specialists. An Israeli strike on Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant in Bushehr would cause a catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl, Rosatom CEO Likhachev the head of Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company warned today. Bushehr sits on the coast of the Persian Gulf and is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant. Russia helped Iran build the plant and some of its staff are Russian. An Israeli military spokesperson said today that Israel had struck the plant, but an Israeli military official soon said that this was a mistake and that he could neither confirm nor deny that the Bushehr plant had been hit. Likhachev said that dozens of Russian specialists employed at the plant have been evacuated, RIA reported. Many Gulf Arab states and nuclear experts have been concerned about the environmental contamination that could spread across the Persian Gulf, if the plant was targeted. A strike on the Bushehr plant 'would result in the dispersal of a lot of radiation', Roecker, the vice president for Nuclear Materials Security at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, told. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
Asia
China
(June 19, 2025) “The international community, especially major powers that have a special influence on the parties to the conflict, should make efforts to promote the cooling of the situation, not the opposite,” Chinese leader Xi said during a phone call with Russian counterpart Putin, according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry. “The parties to the conflict, especially Israel, should cease fire as soon as possible to prevent the situation from escalating in turn and resolutely avoid the spillover of war,” Xi told Putin, according to the Chinese readout. Both leaders believe there is no military solution to the conflict or to Iran’s nuclear program, as they must be achieved exclusively through political and diplomatic means, the Kremlin said. “(Putin) confirmed Russia’s readiness to undertake possible mediation efforts if needed. The Chinese leader expressed support for such mediation". (Source: CNN - U.S.)
Iran
(June 19, 2025) If Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility were damaged or destroyed in a strike 'by the US’, it would likely lead to a limited radiation leak in the immediate area, but it would not pose the same catastrophic consequences as bombing a nuclear reactor. Bombing a reactor is a whole different ball game, Davenport, the Director for Nonproliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association, said. If bombs were able to penetrate Fordow, it would likely lead to ’some limited radiation from the uranium enriched and stored at the facility,’ but ’it’s unlikely to cause significant, widespread environmental health contamination.’ Attacking a site where uranium hexafluoride gas - the material fed into the facility’s centrifuges - is stored, ’is going to create chemical toxicities’ and ’low level alpha radiation,’ which would likely be localized to the site, she explained. Davenport said that it would likely be ’manageable if people are wearing the right protective equipment.’ Taleblu, the Iran program senior director and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), also described the potential damage as being a chemical hazard. Roecker, the Vice President for Nuclear Materials Security at NTI explained: ’There isn’t a major radiation dispersal risk at Fordow because that enriched uranium is fresh.’ It’d be localized around the site, and because it’s buried underground too, ’I don’t know you know how much of that would even be released,’ he said. Davenport said she believes it’s extremely unlikely Israel would bomb a nuclear reactor - a move that “would be a clear violation of international law.” ’You risk a reactor meltdown, widespread radiation and environmental contamination, devastating to the region,’ she said. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
by Hansler
Thursday 19 June 2025 at 8:57am Israel attacked Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, Iranian state television said today. Iran reported there was “no radiation danger whatsoever" and that the facility had been already evacuated before the attack. Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns. In 2019, Iran started up the heavy water reactor's secondary circuit, which at the time did not violate Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. Britain at the time was helping Iran redesign the Arak reactor to limit the amount of plutonium it produces. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, has been urging Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites. IAEA inspectors reportedly last visited Arak on May 14. (Source: ITW News - United Kingdom)
(June 19, 2025) Internet connectivity across the country plummeted from 78% to just 3% yesterday afternoon, according to data from Netblocks, a non-governmental organization that monitors internet governance. Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology said it had imposed temporary internet restrictions, citing security concerns. The Israeli military said it struck what it said was a nuclear weapons development site in the area of Natanz, around 300 kilometers south of Tehran, which it said contained 'components and specialized equipment' used to advance a nuclear weapons development. Israel had also struck Natanz on June 13, on the first day of its attack on Israel. IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Defrin said Iran had launched more than 450 ballistic missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel. Most of the drones had been launched from Iran, Defrin said, but some had come from proxies in the region. He said Israel had destroyed approximately two-thirds of Iran’s missile launchers. Still more than 100 launchers left by the IDF’s estimates and are still capable of striking Israel. Defrin said the IDF is also attacking Iran’s ballistic missile production facilities. Iran launched at least one ballistic missile at Israel today morning armed with multiple warheads, the Israeli military said. It was the first time such a warhead had landed in Israel. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
June 19 2025 08:54 Israeli Defence Minister Katz said yesterday afternoon that air force jets had 'destroyed the internal security headquarters of the Iranian regime'. (Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Turkey)
Israel
(June 19, 2025 Israel has never acknowledged its nuclear weapons program. But it is one of nine countries known to have nuclear weapons. Israel began exploring nuclear weapons development ’before its establishment’ in 1948, then at a secret development site in 1958, near the southern town of Dimona. It has signed and ratified the 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which obligates signatories not to explode a nuclear device in the atmosphere or oceans. Israel first assembled its first nuclear weapon around 1966 or 1967. In 1968, the CIA issued a report that said Israel had successfully started production of nuclear weapons. Israel has not signed the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and opposes diplomatic efforts to establish a WMD Free Zone in the Middle East. It is believed to have conducted a clandestine atmospheric nuclear test in 1979, which it denies. In an interview with CNN in May 2018 – shortly after Israel stole Iran’s nuclear archive from Tehran – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked if he was ready to acknowledge Israel’s own program. ’We’ve always said that we won’t be the first to introduce (a nuclear weapon), so we haven’t introduced it,’ he said. Israel now possesses around 90 nuclear warheads and is believed to have enough nuclear material to produce up to 300 nuclear weapons, according to the Washington, DC-based NGO, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). It is continuing to modernize its stockpile, according to SIPRI, who said that Israel conducted a test of a missile propulsion system in 2024 that could be related to its Jericho family of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. Israel also appears to be upgrading its plutonium production reactor site at Dimona, SIPRI said. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
19.06.2025 With no treaty obligations, no inspections, and strong backing from Western allies, Israel remains nuclear power without transparency or accountability, shows a recent UK House of Commons research briefing, which exposes Israel’s secret nuclear arsenal. The report outlines decades of strategic silence, lack of treaty commitments, and minimal international pressure on Israel’s undeclared arsenal. Estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggest Israel holds 80 to 90 warheads, with fissile material stockpiled for as many as 200. At the heart of Israel’s covert nuclear effort lies the Dimona nuclear facility, originally constructed with French assistance in the late 1950s. Publicly presented as a civilian reactor, 'Dimona is thought to have produced enough plutonium for over 100 nuclear warheads,' the report said. ’Inspections by American and international officials were misled through false walls and hidden elevators’, while Israel reassured allies that its intentions were peaceful. In 1986, Vanunu, a technician at Dimona, delivered photographic evidence and detailed testimony to The Sunday Times. The information he revealed is still considered the most detailed public account of Israel’s nuclear capability, the report underlined. Kidnapped by Mossad agents in Rome, Vanunu was smuggled back to Israel, tried in secret, and imprisoned for 18 years - 11 of them in solitary confinement. Despite widespread knowledge of its capabilities, unlike India, Pakistan, or North Korea, Israel is not subject to the same level of international scrutiny as other states, it has faced little pressure from its Western allies. Israel signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996 but has not ratified it and retains the right to conduct nuclear tests. In 1979, a mysterious ’double flash’ detected over the South Atlantic raised suspicions of a clandestine Israeli nuclear test, possibly in collaboration with apartheid-era South Africa. „Efforts to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East, led by Arab nations and backed by the UN, have consistently met Israeli resistance’. ’Israel has consistently voted against UN resolutions calling for a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East,’ the report said. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Thursday 19 June 2025 at 8:57am A spokesperson for the Soroka Medical Centre in Beer Sheba said the hospital suffered extensive damage in different areas and people had been wounded in the attack. The hospital has over 1,000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel's south. Iran claims it was targeting a military site next to Soroka Hospital which was accurately hit, causing damage to the hospital in the blast wave. (Source: ITW News - United Kingdom)
(June 19, 2025) 'The principal target of the attack was the vast command and intelligence base of Israel’s army (IDF C4i) and the campus of their military intelligence, located in the Gav-Yam technology park, next to Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva,' Iran’s IRNA state news agency has claimed. The apparent target, Gav-Yam Negev technology park, is less than a mile from Soroka Medical Center, the Beer Sheva hospital which was damaged in the strike. The technology park’s website describes itself as “Israel’s most advanced center of research and development… adjacent to the Ben Gurion University campus and the IDF C4i Branch campus.” C4i directorate is the IDF’s elite technological unit. The website adds that the park connects “veterans of the IDF’s elite technological units, graduates of Ben Gurion University, the high-tech industry” as well as investors and academics. Iran’s latest wave of missiles struck shortly after 7 a.m. local time (00.00 ET) an area near Tel Aviv, causing damage to several high-rise buildings on a street in Ramat Gan city, around three miles from Tel Aviv city center. In Ramat Gan the missile struck shredded the facades of buildings and blew out windows in high-rise blocks. Damage to other structures surrounding the site can also be seen. Ramat Gan city has an estimated population of just over 175,000 and is home to Israel’s Diamond Exchange, one of the world’s top diamond districts. Neighboring cities Tel Aviv and Holon were also hit in the Iranian attack. Israel’s health ministry says at least 271 people were admitted to hospital this morning following Iranian strikes across the country. 'The Prime Minister and I have instructed the IDF to intensify strikes against strategic targets in Iran and against government sites in Tehran, in order to remove the threats facing the State of Israel and destabilize the Ayatollahs’ regime,' Israel’s Defense Minister Katz said, after Iran launched its latest wave of ballistic missiles at cities across Israel today. Iran fired more missiles at Israel today, the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded in the northern city of Haifa and its surroundings. ’A dictator like Khamenei, who’s heading a state like Iran, who set himself the goal of destroying the state of Israel… he can no longer continue to exist,’ Israel’s Defense Minister Katz said today, speaking to reporters in the central city of Holon, which was also targeted by Iran overnight. Iran’s foreign minister asked Israelis to avoid being near military and intelligence sites as his country continues to carry out strikes. (Source: CNN - U.S.)
19.06.2025 The Israeli army reported air raid sirens sounding today across northern Israel triggered by missile launches from Iran. Sirens warning of suspected drone infiltration sounded in Nazareth and several surrounding towns. The Israeli Air Force said earlier that it intercepted a drone launched from Iran overnight which set off air raid sirens in multiple areas of northern Israel. A second drone was intercepted shortly afterward in the Jordan Valley. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
June 19 2025 08:54 Explosions heard in Jerusalem around 7:10 am (0410 GMT). Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, southern Israel known to treat soldiers wounded in Gaza was struck by Iranian missiles. (Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Turkey)
Pakistan
June 19, 2025 US President Trump and Army Chief Field Marshal General Munir discussed regional peace, trade and Iran-Israel tensions over a luncheon at the White House. In their meeting, Trump said Pakistan has valuable insight into Iran and plays a key role in peace efforts in the region. After the successful meeting with President Trump, the Pakistani top general is expected to have follow-up meetings with US Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary of Defense Hegseth as Pakistan and the US enter a new era of strategic cooperation. (Source: Daily Ausaf - Pakistan)
Turkey
12:03 19/06/2025 Thursday "We have had great support from Turkish authorities to make sure people can cross easily, get connecting flights from eastern part of country to international airport," in facilitating the evacuation of EU citizens from Iran, EU official Berger, director of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Crisis Response Center said today. (Source: Yeni Şafak - Turkey)
North America
United States
(Thursday), June 19, 2025 If Trump wants to preserve his “no new wars” legacy, he needs to stay out of Iran. It would also give him the opportunity to be the president who finally and fully reoriented US priorities and attention to the Indo-Pacific. Since the October 7 attacks, the United States has surged ships, personnel, and other materiel to the region to protect Israel and deter Iran and its ’Axis of Resistance’ allies. In some cases, these military assets have been repositioned from the Indo-Pacific, where they are stationed in large part to deal with potential Chinese threats. In April, Washington relocated missile defense batteries, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, and the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier from Asia to the Middle East. Before the Trump administration reached a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis in May, US commanders expressed concern that the military would have to move long-range precision weapons stockpiles from the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East. The US military expended massive amounts of munitions to fight a militia that couldn’t even take over one of the poorest countries in the world. What kind of resources would it have to marshal - and from where - to prosecute a war against a state like Iran with serious military capabilities? The military is further shifting resources and moving ships and other assets to the region in light of Israel’s attack on Iran and the ongoing back-and-forth between the two countries. On Monday, Reuters reported that the USS Nimitz left the South China Sea and was heading west toward the Middle East. These military assets and the roughly 40,000 American personnel in the region are now especially vulnerable to Iranian attacks. Before Israel’s attack, Tehran vowed to strike US targets in the region if its nuclear sites were targeted. Now that threat could become a reality that sucks America into a pointless war while diverting attention away from China, which the Trump administration and several previous presidents have said is that biggest threat to the United States. Every military asset moved to the Middle East is one that could be used to deter China in the Indo-Pacific. Iran is a relatively weak country halfway around the world and poses no serious threat to core US interests. If you liked the failed forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you’d love the quagmire of a war in Iran - a country of 90 million people with a significantly stronger military than those two countries. Israel appears intent on drawing the United States into this destabilizing war of choice. Because Israel can’t totally eliminate Iran’s nuclear program alone, it has urged the United States to intervene directly. A joint US-Israeli war in Iran harms American interests and would threaten American lives while draining resources and diverting strategic attention from pressing priorities. Indeed, one of the most crucial reasons why Washington needs to stay out of the war is that it serves as a distraction from more critical strategic challenges. While China’s efforts and wherewithal to dominate the Middle East are overhyped, Beijing does have considerable interests that a regional war would threaten. China relies heavily on the region for its energy supplies, with half of its imported oil coming from the Persian Gulf. Iran and China have a strong relationship, and Beijing would not like to see the destruction of the regime in Tehran. A war with Iran would offer short-term strategic benefits for China - advantage of a distracted United States by making more aggressive moves against Taiwan or in the South China Sea and a much-needed strategic breathing room in its backyard. A war with Iran would underscore Beijing’s argument that the rules-based order only applies to Washington’s adversaries. The United States called out Russia for illegally invading Ukraine. But under what pretext would the United States join a war against Iran? These kinds of double standards have driven droves of Global South countries into China’s embrace and undermined American competition with its strategic rival. President Trump often extols his record of not starting new wars during his first administration. Joining Israel’s war would certainly betray that legacy and be seen as an act of perfidy by the millions of Americans who voted for a president who promised to pursue peace. For years, Republican and Democratic presidents have pledged to pivot to Asia and prioritize competition with China, America’s only near-peer competitor. The new Trump administration came into office making the same promises. Yet nearly all these presidents have entangled America’s attention and resources in the Middle East, a region of declining strategic significance to US interests. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)
(February 19, 2025) The United States yesterday said that new norms had been framed and it will restart its student visa appointment process soon but added that all applicants will need to unlock their social media profiles to allow them to be reviewed. The Trump administration had on May 27 told its embassies worldwide to pause scheduling student visa interviews until further guidance”was issued. More than 1.1 million international students were enrolled in US universities during the academic year 2023-’24, accounting for 6% of those pursuing higher education in the country. India sent the highest number of students, followed by China. The Department of State said that every visa adjudication is a national security decision. (Source: Scroll - India)
Oceania
Cook Islands
June 19, 2025 at 10:55 JST New Zealand, the Cook Islands’ biggest funder, halts money to the Pacific nation over its China ties until the relationship improves. Cook Islands is self-governing but shares a military and passports with New Zealand. (Source: The Asahi Shímbun - Japan / The Associated Press - U.S.)
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