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Europe
Scandinavia
10/07/2025 - 18:05 Two small spaceports - one in Sweden and the other in Norway - are vying to become the first on the continent’s mainland to launch satellites into space. Both are in the Arctic circle. /Video/ (Source: France24)
European Commission
(10 July 2025) Der Leyen survives rare confidence vote in the European Parliament. 175 voted in favour; 360 voted against and 18 abstained. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
United Kingdom
10/07/2025 - 21:54 French President Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer today announced a new defence relationship that will coordinate their countries' nuclear ’deterrence’ systems. The Northward declaration deal aims ’to jointly protect Europe’. ’From today, our adversaries will know that any extreme threat to this continent would prompt a response from our two nations’, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a news conference alongside Macron. Macron said the two countries had created an oversight committee to coordinate their cooperation. The closer cooperation ’had nothing to do with their efforts to create a coalition of the willing to support Ukraine’ in the event of a ceasefire with Russia, he added. Macron has previously said he will launch a strategic dialogue on extending the protection offered by France's nuclear arsenal to its European partners. ’Europe's primary nuclear deterrence comes from the United States’. The US has nuclear arms in Europe and tens of thousands of troops deployed in bases across the continent with military capabilities. France spends about €5.6 billion ($6.04 billion) annually on maintaining its stockpile of 290 submarine- and air-launched nuclear weapons, the world's fourth largest. Britain describes its nuclear programme as operationally independent, but sources missile technology from the US and depends on the US for acquisition and maintenance support. (Source: France 24 „with Reuters’ - United Kingdom)
10/07/2025 - 15:45 During his state visit to the UK, French President Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer are pledging renewed support for Ukraine through the 'coalition of the willing,' aiming to boost military aid outside NATO frameworks. (Source: France24)
Ukraine
(July 10, 2025) Russia attacked Ukraine with 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles in multiple waves on Tuesday night, marking the biggest aerial attack of the war on Ukraine yet. Lutsk, which is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army, was the hardest hit. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces took aim at Ukrainian air bases and that 'all the designated targets have been hit.' Ten other regions were targeted. (Source: Outlook - India)
Asia
Gaza
10.07.25, 08:18 AM Israeli airstrikes killed at least 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 10 members of a family sheltering in a tent, Nasser Hospital officials in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis said yesterday. The Israeli military said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza over the past day, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and tunnels. Israel accuses Hamas of hiding weapons and fighters among civilians. (Source: The Telegraph - India)
Iran
20:54 ET, Jul 10 2025 Israel says some of Iran's highly-enriched near weapons-grade uranium stockpile survived US bombings during the 12-Day War last month. Doubts remained about whether Iran quietly removed 408.6 kgs of uranium from its most sensitive sites before the strikes - potentially hiding nuclear material elsewhere in the country. The uranium in question is enriched to 60 per cent - way above levels for civilian usage but slightly below weapons-grade. That material, if further refined to 90 per cent, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs. Tehran admitted that Operation Midnight Hammer - which saw American B-2 Spirit bombers drop more than a dozen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker buster bombs - did cause ’excessive and serious’ damage. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Grossi admitted Iran could still have stockpiles of enriched uranium, saying: 'We don't know where this material could be'. Satellite imagery showed trucks moving out of Fordow in the days leading up to the attack - leading to speculations that Iran moved some of its underground uranium stockpile. However, President Trump dismissed such speculation, saying: "Nothing was taken out... too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!" He added that satellite images showed trucks at the site only because Iranian crews were attempting to shield the facility with concrete. Trump claimed that the strikes had obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities and 'completely destroyed' the Fordow enrichment plant. In an interview with Fox News, the US president said the Fordow enrichment site was just thousands of tons of rock and that ’the whole place was just destroyed.’ He said the strikes had landed at ’the perfect time’. He added: ’We went in, we destroyed their nuclear capability and we stopped. It was a beautiful thing and they couldn't have gone on much further.’ The president also slammed leaked preliminary findings from the Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency that said the damage was not severe enough to destroy its nuclear programme. But Trump made it clear he would absolutely consider bombing Iran again if it was ever needed, without question, if US intelligence pointed towards Iran enriching uranium to concerning levels. US and Israel, as well as independent experts, agree that all of Iran’s working centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo - some 18,000 - were either destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Mr Grossi said Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium in a matter of months, despite the damage. Latest satellite imagery appears to show construction work at the Fordow Nuclear Enrichment facility in Qom, located some 60 miles southwest of Tehran. Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordow enrichment facility appears designed to withstand airstrikes. It hosts centrifuge cascades. Military experts have said it could likely only be targeted by bunker buster bombs, such as the latest, roughly 30,000-pound precision-guided GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, in the American arsenal. The US has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver that bomb, according to the Air Force. Iran's nuclear facility at Natanz, located some 135 miles southeast of Tehran, is the country's main enrichment site up to 60% purity. Israel destroyed the aboveground part of the facility, according to the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. Another part of the facility on Iran's Central Plateau is underground to defend against potential airstrikes. It operates multiple cascades, or groups of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium. The IAEA has said it believes that most, if not all, of these centrifuges were destroyed by an Israeli strike that cut off power to the site. The IAEA said those strikes caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area. Iran also is burrowing into the Kh-e Kolang Gaz L, or Pickax Mountain, which is just beyond Natanzs southern fencing. Two separate attacks, attributed to Israel, also have struck the facility. The facility in Isfahan, some 215 miles southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists. It is also home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country's atomic program. Israel has struck buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site, among them a uranium conversion facility. The IAEA said there has been no sign of increased radiation at the site. Iran has several other sites in its nuclear program that were not announced as targets in the US strikes. Iran's only commercial nuclear power plant is in Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, some 465 miles south of Tehran. Iran is building two other reactors like it at the site. Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the IAEA. The Arak heavy water reactor is 155 miles southwest of Tehran. It produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons. Parchin military site, south of Tehran, is focused on research and the production of ammo, rockets and explosives. Concerns have been raised that it is also used as part of Iran's nuclear weapon development. Qom uranium enrichment plant is heavily fortified – an initially secret facility where Iran carries out uranium enrichment. The Tehran Research Reactor is at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian body overseeing the countrys atomic program. The 12-Day War began on June 13 when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion. The Israelis also orchestrated Operation Red Wedding - 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in near-simultaneous blitz. Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel. Less than a fortnight later, Trump joined the Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. The US military's flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran's Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant. Iran sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base - America's biggest military station in the region. But Tehran seemingly cooked up a fake attack after passing warnings to its Qatari allies, which allowed all US service personnel and aircraft to be moved out of harm’s way. Trump dubbed the expected response weak before announcing that a ceasefire deal had been reached between the Israelis and Iranians. (Source: The U.S. Sun)
July 10, 2025 3:36 p.m. ET Experts are trying to determine how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program. Israeli intelligence picked up the nuclear weapons activity soon after the Israeli Air Force killed Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon. That observation prompted the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to prepare for an attack with or without U.S. help. The Israeli official said the evidence gathered about the secret program - which the official did not describe in any detail - had been fully shared with the United States. But in interviews in January, American officials said they did not believe Iran was yet racing for a weapon, even though they described a nascent effort to explore 'faster, cruder' approaches to building one. And the director of national intelligence, Gabbard, told Congress in testimony in March that she saw no evidence the Iranians had decided to build a weapon, a position intelligence officials reiterated in June. In the days surrounding Israel’s attack on Iran in mid-June, and President Trump’s subsequent decision to join in the action, U.S. intelligence officials said they had seen no evidence of a move by Iran to weaponize its stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium. The United States struck two of Iran’s most critical enrichment sites with 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs and aimed a barrage of submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles at a third site, where the fuel could be converted for use in weapons. Speaking at the NATO summit at The Hague two weeks ago, Mr. Trump said the U.S. strikes “set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come,” ’and suggested he would be willing to strike again if needed. This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material, which it won’t,’ he told reporters. Since then, Iran has expelled the I.A.E.A. inspectors who were in Tehran during the Israeli and American attacks, and has turned off some of the agency’s remaining cameras and other monitoring devices, cutting off the best window into Iranian activity that the West had. Israel and the United States could be entering a new era of hide-and-seek. Iran seems unlikely to try to rebuild its nuclear sites at Fordo or Natanz. Even Fordo, built deep inside a mountain, was far more vulnerable than its Iranian designers had believed. (One key vulnerability was the existence of ventilation shafts that went deep into the plant; the American attack included strikes that sent the 30,000-pound bombs into those shafts, enabling them to plunge closer to the control rooms and enrichment halls than if they had to blast through the rock.) The vast majority of the effort to get to highly enriched uranium is at the initial stages. Any effort to dig the fuel out from the rubble of Isfahan may be hard to hide from satellite surveillance. Mr. Trump has stuck to his insistence that the Iranian program was ’obliterated,’ and that Iran’s leaders were no longer interested in nuclear weapons after being struck by American warplanes. Defense Secretary Hegseth has said the bombing left the fuel and equipment at the most protected site, Fordo, ’buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated.’ The administration kept to that line today. “As President Trump has said many times, Operation Midnight Hammer totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities,’ said Kelly, a White House spokeswoman. ’The entire world is safer thanks to his decisive leadership.” The Israeli official said that Israel has concluded that some of Iran’s underground stockpile of near-bomb-grade enriched uranium survived American and Israeli attacks last month and may be accessible to Iranian nuclear engineers. In a briefing for reporters on yesterday evening, the senior Israeli official did not express concern about the assessment that some of the stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium, stored in casks, had survived the attack. The official, and other Israelis with access to the country’s intelligence findings, said any attempts by Iran to recover it would almost certainly be detected - and there would be time to attack the facilities again. Western intelligence officials confirmed the Israeli assessment, saying that they believed much of the stockpile was buried under rubble in Iran’s nuclear laboratory at Isfahan and potentially other sites. One of the officials concurred that the United States or Israel would know if the Iranians tried to retrieve the enriched uranium. Such a move, the official said, would surely invite a renewed Israeli bombing attack. Israel, the United States and now a growing number of outside experts agree that all of Iran’s working centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo - about 18,000 machines, which spin at supersonic speeds - were damaged or destroyed, probably beyond repair. The question they are now examining is how long it would take the Iranians to rebuild some or all of that capability, especially after the top scientists in their nuclear program were targeted and killed. On one point - whether Iran moved a large part of its stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium just before the American strike in the early morning of June 22 in Tehran - the Israeli assessment differs from the conclusion of Grossi, the secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Mr. Grossi has said he believes that much of the stockpile that was stored at Isfahan was transferred from the site before Israeli and American weapons struck. The senior Israeli official contends that nothing was moved. The storage site at Isfahan, the official said, was too deep for even the most powerful American weapons to destroy. But the U.S. attack on Isfahan did close off many entrances, and appears to have wiped out laboratories that convert enriched uranium into a form that could be used in a weapon, and that would then fashion it into a metal that could be shaped into a missile warhead. The Israeli official said he believed some additional stockpiles are still at Fordo and Natanz, the two major enrichment sites where the fuel is produced. Both were struck by the bunker-busting bombs, and Israel has assessed that recovering those supplies would be too difficult. What remains unknown, American and British officials say, is how fast Iran could reproduce the facilities it has lost, and whether it could do so covertly to avoid another strike. It is not clear how many new centrifuges Iran had under construction in workshops around the country, or when they would be ready to be installed. ’In the years leading up to the attacks, Iran was digging two deep-underground nuclear facilities, one near the Isfahan laboratories and another in Natanz. Neither was a target of the Israeli and U.S. strikes’. But turning them into replacements for the two bombed enrichment facilities would be a major task, and it would require replacing more than 18,000 centrifuges believed destroyed or disabled in the attacks. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)
by Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent, He has reported on the Iranian nuclear program for more than two decades.
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