Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran national returned to the United States after being deported to his home country, pled not guilty to federal human trafficking charges on June 13.
Abrego Garcia entered the United States illegally more than a decade ago. Upon his arrest and deportation to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March, he was accused of being a member of MS-13, a gang that has been designated a terrorist organization.
However, legal battles ensued to force the U.S. government to return Abrego Garcia to the United States due to a 2019 immigration judge ruling that he could not be deported due to the threat of gang persecution. A judge ruled that the government had to make sure “his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
I’m at the Kilmar Abrego Garcia hearing now in Nashville. Prosecution has a cooperator who says Garcia was making $100,000 a year smuggling guns and people including minors across the border for years.
Abrego Garcia was returned to the United States from El Salvador’s CECOT mega prison last week. A federal grand jury indicted him on May 21 on charges of smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States and conspiring with others to do so.
“The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on June 6. “They found this was his full-time job, not a contractor. He was a smuggler of humans and children and women. He made over 100 trips, the grand jury found, smuggling people throughout our country.”
Among the illegal immigrants smuggled into the nation were MS-13 members, Bondi said, noting that the smuggling ring Abrego Garcia is accused of being part of was responsible for a 2021 tractor-trailer accident in Mexico that resulted in the deaths of more than 50 migrants.
— Mostly Peaceful Memes (@MostlyPeacefull) June 6, 2025
The trafficking charges cite an incident in 2022 involving a traffic stop in Tennessee, where Abrego Garcia is being charged.
In November of 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. While he was not charged with any traffic violations at that time, body camera footage of the encounter reportedly captured a discussion among officers about their suspicions of human smuggling.
One officer said, “he’s hauling these people for money.” Another said Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in an envelope.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have called the allegations “preposterous.”
The hearing on June 13 will also focus on whether Abrego Garcia should be allowed to stay out of jail while awaiting trial on his smuggling charges. A federal judge in Nashville was set to hear arguments from both Abrego Garcia’s lawyers and government attorneys.
Bill Pan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Texas Prepares For Weekend Protests With National Guard Deployment
Governor Greg Abbott of Texas said on Thursday that more than 5,000 Texas National Guard troops and 2,000 state troopers would be deployed across the statein anticipation of widespread protests against federal immigration raids, intensifying a week of mounting political tensions over immigration enforcement and civil unrest.
The announcement follows demonstrations that erupted last week in Los Angeles and have since spread nationwide. In Texas, protests have already led to clashes with law enforcement. On Monday, a march through downtown Austin resulted in the arrest of thirteen people after police deployed tear gas to disperse a portion of the crowd that refused to leave. In San Antonio, where National Guard troops were already present on Wednesday, protests remained peaceful and ended without incident, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
“Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest,” Governor Abbott wrote in a social media post earlier in the week, underscoring the state’s zero-tolerance approach to any form of violence or property destruction. While Abbott did not specify which cities would receive troop deployments, his office said Guard members are “on standby in areas where mass demonstrations are planned.”
Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for the governor, framed the move as a preemptive measure to prevent the sort of unrest seen in California. “Peaceful protests are part of the fabric of our nation, but Texas will not tolerate the lawlessness we have seen in Los Angeles,” he said.
More than two dozen “No Kings” protests are scheduled across Texas this weekend in cities including Houston, Austin, Lubbock, and Longview. Organized by progressive coalitions such as 50501 and Indivisible, the events are designed to protest what participants describe as President Trump’s increasingly authoritarian approach to immigration enforcement.
Additional demonstrations are also expected. Women’s March has called for a Saturday event titled “Kick Out the Clowns,” and FIEL, or Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight, is organizing a “Chant Down the Walls” protest in Houston on Friday.
Law enforcement agencies across Texas are preparing for the wave of activism. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it is working closely with local safety partners to ensure the demonstrations do not threaten public safety.
“Harris County has a long history of people exercising their right to protest peacefully while respecting opposing viewpoints, and I fully expect Saturday’s demonstrations to continue that legacy,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a Democrat, offered a note of support for peaceful protest but warned against destruction. “Much of what we see out of Washington is to create fear and chaos — we should not play into these politics of fear,” he said. “Adding to the chaos — through destruction of property, hurting other people, including police officers, or otherwise — adds to the problems for those people being targeted while empowering those in Washington who want more pain and chaos.”
The deployment of state troops in Texas follows a contentious decision by President Trump over the weekend to send 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who denounced the move as “theatrics over public safety.” California’s state government has since filed suit against the administration, calling the action an “unprecedented usurpation of state authority and resources.”
As Texas braces for the weekend, officials remain wary of potential unrest — and protest organizers are urging calm, even as they prepare to challenge what they see as increasingly aggressive government tactics.
“There are no kings in a democracy,” said a spokesperson for one of the protest coalitions. “This is about holding power accountable — not provoking violence, but standing firm.”
Every morning, millions of people take a vitamin D supplement, thinking mostly about stronger bones and a healthier immune system. However, quietly, at the cellular level, something else may be happening—something that could change how we think about aging.
A long-running study recently found that people who took daily vitamin D supplements for four years had slightly less shortening of their telomeres—a marker linked to cellular aging—than those who didn’t.
While experts caution that the real-world health benefits remain unclear, the findings could shed light on the protective effects of vitamin D on specific aging-related diseases, the study authors noted.
A Small but Significant Finding
The study, known as the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL), showed that people taking 2,000 IUs of vitamin D lost about 140 fewer base pairs from their telomeres than those taking a placebo—a small but statistically significant difference.
Telomeres are regions of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that naturally shorten with age. Shorter telomeres have been linked to health risks like heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
The study findings suggest a promising role for vitamin D in slowing a pathway for biological aging and age-related chronic disease, Dr. JoAnn Manson, the study’s coauthor and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in an email to The Epoch Times.
Although the results are encouraging, Manson says more research is needed. “Replication of these results in another randomized trial will be important before changing general guidelines for vitamin D intake.”
The Reality Check
Participants in the study started out with an average of 8,700 base pairs. Independent experts say the difference in loss of base pairs observed in the study is very small and falls within the range of normal fluctuation, meaning it may not translate into measurable real-world benefits.
“This 140-base-pair difference is like saying your hemoglobin went from 13.0 to 13.1,” said Dr. Mary Armanios, a professor of oncology and director of the Telomere Center at Johns Hopkins University. “It trends in the right direction, but it doesn’t carry clinical meaning.”
“It is only at the extremes that telomere length matters in aging,” she added.
More broadly, Armanios cautioned against thinking of telomeres as a simple aging clock. While very short telomeres can signal aging-related disease, unusually long ones are not always better and have been linked to higher cancer risk, according to 2023 research from her group published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Most people fall in a healthy middle range, and that’s exactly where we want to be,” she said.
She also noted that the method used to measure telomere length—quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)—can be affected by lab factors like temperature and sample handling. These variables can make small differences unreliable. Among telomere testing methods, qPCR is the least reproducible.
A Closer Look at Vitamin D Supplementation
While some experts urge caution in interpreting the telomere data, Manson said the new findings align with earlier VITAL results. Those results showed that vitamin D reduced inflammatory markers and lowered the risk of advanced cancers and autoimmune diseases by improving immune function.
Previous studies on vitamin D and telomere length have shown mixed results, including some that found no effect—or even a correlation between higher vitamin D levels and shorter telomeres.
Guidelines from the National Academy of Medicine recommend 600 IU per day for most adults and 800 IU for those over 70. The Endocrine Society also recommends supplements for older adults, people with prediabetes, and others at higher risk of deficiency.
“Most professional societies do not recommend routine vitamin D screening or supplementation for the general population,” said Manson.
However, certain groups—older adults, those with limited sun exposure or absorption issues such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease—may benefit from modest supplementation.
Other studies have suggested that vitamin D may promote healthy aging in older people.
The DO-HEALTH trial, a large European study in adults age 70 and older, found that daily 2,000 IU of vitamin D led to modest improvements in bone strength and infection rates—but not a reduction in new chronic diseases.
Longer-term observational research, like Germany’s ESTHER study, linked higher vitamin D levels with lower rates of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. However, as a nonrandomized study, it couldn’t rule out confounding lifestyle factors.
More large, diverse, and long-term trials are needed to determine who benefits most, at what dose, and for which outcomes.
Vitamin D metabolism is tightly regulated by the body, so only small to moderate amounts are needed to support health. A 2,000 IU daily dose is safe, as demonstrated in the five-year VITAL trial, with no increased risk of side effects.
Very large doses—over 10,000 IU per day—may lead to elevated calcium levels and potential toxicity, Manson noted.
What This Means for You
For now, experts agree that this latest analysis does not mean everyone should start taking vitamin D supplements to slow aging.
“Vitamin D has known benefits, like for bone health,” Armanios said, “but telomere length shouldn’t be the main reason to start taking supplements.”
However, for those already taking vitamin D for bone, muscle, or immune support, the findings may offer one more reason to continue.
Vitamin D is found in fortified foods such as milk, cereal, and orange juice, and in fatty fish like salmon and sardines. Moderate sun exposure also helps the body make its own supply.
“Although it’s easier to pop a pill,” said Armanios, “being active outdoors and eating a healthy diet will do far more to support long-term health.”
Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition and public health at New York University, said the findings are intriguing but still require further confirmation and clarity on their clinical significance.
In the meantime, she encouraged people to spend time outdoors when possible, noting that “sunlight on skin is the best source of vitamin D, far superior to supplements—even if just for a few minutes a day.”
Smells Like Bureaucratic Overreach: FDA Greenlights Lab-Grown Salmon
In a move that reeks of bureaucratic overreach and questionable priorities, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rubber-stamped Wildtype Inc.’s lab-grown salmon, the first of its kind approved for human consumption in the U.S.
Derived from mesenchymal lineage cells and mixed with plant-based goo to mimic sushi-grade saku cuts, this franken-fish is being hailed as a “sustainable” solution to overfishing.
Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is shaking up the public health establishment, firing all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in a bid to root out conflicts of interest and restore trust in vaccine science.
The contrast couldn’t be starker: one agency pushes untested biotech food on the public, while another tries to clean house of industry-aligned insiders. Welcome to the brave new world of “Gold Standards.”
Wildtype’s cultured salmon, approved in June 2025 under FDA consultation CCC 000005, is grown in bioreactors over four to six weeks, sidestepping nature’s blueprint for a lab-bred alternative.
The FDA, ever the obedient servant of innovation, claims it’s “as safe as conventional salmon” based solely on Wildtype’s own testing—no independent verification required. Sound familiar? It’s the same cozy relationship between regulators and industry that RFK Jr. is dismantling over at the CDC.
Posts on X are already buzzing with skepticism, with users like Dr. Kat Lindley are questioning why the FDA is approving lab-grown foods, while others allege the move is a “slick push of untested science.”
I am so glad I do not like salmon, but the question remains why is the FDA approving lab grown food?!
“according to the FDA, they view lab-grown salmon “as safe as comparable foods produced by other methods,” pic.twitter.com/NtwzAcUnFp
No long-term studies, no public trials, just a green light for lab-grown fish paste to hit your plate at trendy spots like Kann in Portland, OR.
Across the hall at HHS, RFK Jr. is taking a flamethrower to the status quo. His “clean sweep” of the ACIP, announced in a fiery Wall Street Journal op-ed, targets a panel he calls a “rubber stamp” for Big Pharma, plagued by conflicts of interest.
Critics like Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Tina Tan are crying foul, labeling the move “reckless” and warning of eroded trust in public health.
Taking to X, Offit pinned a post claiming this is just the beginning.
“None of this should be surprising. RFK Jr. will do everything he can to make sure that all vaccines are no longer mandated and to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared. This is only the beginning.”
None of this should be surprising. RFK Jr. will do everything he can to make sure that all vaccines are no longer mandated and to make vaccines less available, less affordable and more feared. This is only the beginning.
Yet Kennedy’s supporters on X see it as a long-overdue purge of a system rotten with industry ties, pointing to the CDC’s own conflict-of-interest disclosures showing at least one ACIP member recused from vaccine votes due to ties to manufacturers.
The timing is telling: just weeks after Kennedy axed Covid vaccine recommendations for healthy kids and pregnant women, the entire panel gets the boot before their June 25–27 meeting.
Here’s the rub: while the FDA fast-tracks lab-grown salmon with zero public debate, Kennedy’s overhaul of the ACIP is decried as anti-science.
The hypocrisy is glaring. The same establishment that cheers biotech fish as “progress” clutches its pearls when RFK Jr. demands transparency from a vaccine panel.
If you’re wondering how to report harm from Wildtype’s fish, good luck navigating the FDA’s labyrinthine Safety Reporting Portal or tracking down a state complaint coordinator.
The agency’s happy to approve your cell-cultivated sashimi, but less eager to scrutinize what happens when it hits your gut. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s moves suggest a broader push to question the cozy regulator-industry nexus—something the FDA could use a dose of.
The takeaway is clear: The FDA’s approval of lab-grown salmon and RFK Jr.’s ACIP purge expose the fault lines in America’s health system. One side pushes untested biotech as the future of food, while the other fights to dismantle a corrupted advisory process.
Consumers are caught in the crossfire, left to wonder if their sushi is safe and whether the experts calling the shots are working for them or the highest bidder.
Me, esp when you can have access to grass fed beef @beefinitiative
“Lab grown meat, or cultured meat, is meat produced by culturing animal cells in a lab. This process involves taking a biopsy of an animal’s muscle tissue, growing the cells in a nutrient-rich medium, and… pic.twitter.com/4owobc1IMl
Hold onto your receipts, folks—and for now, it might be wise to stick with wild-caught seafood and clean beef. That’s because all this ultra-processed vegan food can increase the risk of heart disease and early death (read here).
A Florida sheriff on Thursday warned potential anti-ICE rioters that any attack on local law enforcement would be met with deadly force: “We will kill you, graveyard dead.”
🚨 ‘WE WILL K*LL YOU!’: Florida sheriff has a message for would-be leftist rioters. NOT IN FLORIDA.
“If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at. Because we will K*LL you, graveyard… pic.twitter.com/rmpqCS9L2F
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey issued the blunt warning at a press conference on possible protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration operations in Florida.
“Throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at,” Ivey said. “Because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We’re not going to play.”
“This has got to stop,” he continued.
Ivey warned that individuals who block roads in Brevard County risk getting run over and then “dragged across the street.”
“If you spit on us, you’re going to the hospital and then jail. If you hit one of us, you’re going to the hospital, and jail, and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs,” the sheriff asserted.
Ivey, who has served as Brevard County sheriff since 2013 and boasts 42 years in law enforcement, also noted that peaceful protests are allowed in Florida and that his deputies will ensure this constitutionally protected right is preserved.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier kicked off the press conference by warning would-be demonstrators that Florida is the “anti-riot state,” and that “unlike California, we support law enforcement.”
The Florida officials’ remarks come as California struggles with a wave of looting and vandalism in protest of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport violent illegal aliens who may be hiding in the Golden State.
“Border Patrol and ICE agents enforcing immigration law deserve protection from leftists trying to harm them,” Uthmeier said.
“If the left doxes these agents, we will have their backs,” he added. “Whether you make the poor choice to riot or publish an agent’s personal information online to bring harm, you are committing a crime in Florida. We will find you and hold you accountable.”
Earlier in the year, the U.S. government had already announced that is was cutting short or not extending some other Temporary Protected Status programs. This affects Haitians, Afghanis, Nepalese and Cameroonians. A total of around 220,000 people, mostly from Haiti, are set to lose their legal status in the U.S. this way in July and August.
Even more Temporary Protected Status programs are also suspected to not be extended. Protections for almost 250,000 additional Venezuelans would have to be extended before September, while more than 50,000 Hondurans are currently seeing their status expire in early July. Other programs include those for El Salvadorians (whose extention wasn’t stopped by the Trump administration), Syrians, Ukrainians and Nicaraguans.
U.S. companies have finalized sales agreements with Japanese power generation giant JERA Co. Inc. for it to purchase up to 5.5 million tons per year of American liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Department of the Interior (DOI) said in a June 11 statement.
The four 20-year agreements, which are projected to “support more than 50,000 U.S. jobs and add more than $200 billion to U.S. GDP according to S&P Global analysis, underscore President Trump’s efforts to unleash American LNG production and the significant role the U.S. LNG industry plays in strengthening the U.S. economy and bolstering global energy security,” the DOI said.
JERA’s deal with NextDecade Corporation, Commonwealth LNG, Sempra Infrastructure, and Cheniere Marketing LLC involves procuring LNG from the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The finalization of the deal was announced by JERA, the U.S. companies, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
In a June 12 statement, JERA said the companies offer LNG at competitive prices and with flexible contract terms. The value of these transactions exceeds JERA’s total equity investment in the United States, currently $6 billion.
JERA’s existing operations in the United States include LNG procurement contracts for 3.5 million tons per year with Freeport LNG and Cameron LNG, and a 1 million ton per year agreement with Venture Global CP2.
JERA’s recent decision to buy up to 5.5 million tons of LNG annually from the United States is a “message to the world that American LNG is back thanks to President Trump.”
“We’re leading on the world stage,” Burgum said.
“America is no longer begging for foreign energy—we’re producing it cleaner, smarter, better, and more reliably than the rest of the world.”
Under the Trump administration, several steps have been taken to boost the U.S. energy sector, including supporting LNG exports.
On Feb. 14, President Donald Trump issued an executive order creating the National Energy Dominance Council. The council is tasked with advising the president on “strategies to achieve energy dominance by improving the processes for permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, and transportation across all forms of American energy.”
On May 2, the DOI said it planned to revise an offshore rule from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management that would “massively cut costs and red tape” linked to the current process.
The updated rule will “free up billions of dollars for American producers to use to lease, explore, drill, and produce oil and gas in the Gulf of America while protecting American taxpayers against high-risk decommission liabilities,” the department said.
On May 19, the Trump administration announced it would end a Biden-era pause on LNG export approvals, arguing that higher exports benefit the United States by supporting allies and boosting the domestic economy.
LNG Exports
Last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) said it had made several key findings related to U.S. LNG export capability.
In December 2024, the agency published a study on LNG exports and invited public comment through March 20.
After taking into account the study and public comments, the DOE found that the United States has a “robust natural gas supply that is sufficient to meet growing levels of exports while minimizing impacts to domestic prices.”
Boosting LNG exports was also identified as having “no discernible impact” on global greenhouse gas emissions.
“President Trump was given a mandate to unleash American energy dominance, and that includes U.S. LNG exports,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a May 19 statement. “The facts are clear: expanding America’s LNG exports is good for Americans and good for the world.”
According to a March 27 analysis by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States remained the world’s largest LNG exporter in 2024, exporting 11.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG.
In an April 3 analysis, the EIA said it expects American LNG exports to “continue growing, driven by the start-up of three new facilities: Plaquemines LNG (Phases 1 and 2), Corpus Christi LNG Stage 3, and Golden Pass LNG.”
“These facilities have a combined nominal export capacity of 5.3 Bcf/d (up to 6.3 Bcf/d peak capacity) and will expand the existing U.S. LNG export capacity by almost 50 percent once these projects become fully operational,” the agency said.
Some 100 Iranian Missiles Inbound Against Israel, Impact In Tel Aviv
LIVE FEED OVER TEL AVIV
AJ LIVE:
* * *
Update(1425ET): Israel’s ‘dozens of Iranian ballistic missiles’ en route to Israel. Some appear to have landed, though Israel’s robust air defense system is active, and likely busy intercepting. Times of Israel writes in an update:
Sirens are sounding across Israel amid a major Iranian ballistic missile attack.
An estimated 100 missiles were launched from Iran at Israel, according to an Israeli military source
Al Jazeera is reporting based on eyewitnesses that Israelis have been instructed to take shelter in safe rooms. At least 100 ballistic missiles are inbound.
Jordanian armed forces say they are intercepting over Jordanian airspace. At least one impact in Tel Aviv has been reported. There have been at least eight waves of Israeli strikes on Iran since last night. Times of Israel reports:
Netanyahu is set to convene security chiefs and key ministers at 10 tonight, Channel 12 reports.
The network quotes a senior Israeli official warning against any euphoria and saying: “Iranian missiles will get here, and it won’t take them long. The results will not be minor. That’s precisely why we need to use every moment to attack and not hold back. We won’t take our foot off the gas. We are preparing for a lengthy conflict. This is one of the most significant historic events since the establishment of the state.”
The TV station also says that perhaps the most likely scenario presented to ministers last night is that of Iran firing 600 ballistic missiles in phases at Israel.
All out war emerging, via Al Jazeera latest developments:
Explosions in Tel Aviv as sirens sound across Israel amid reported Iranian missile attacks in response to Israeli strikes.
The Israeli military continues to launch waves of strikes against Iranian military and nuclear sites, as well as major cities.
US President Donald Trump says it’s not too late for Tehran to halt the bombing campaign by reaching a deal on its nuclear programme.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned Israel that it “must expect severe punishment” following the “crime” of attacking Iran and killing several top-level military commanders and six nuclear scientists.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the US is “not involved” in the strikes and warns Iran against attacking American bases in the region.
* * *
Update(1330ET): There are reports that Israeli strikes on Iran have continued through Friday, with the WSJ reporting that up to two weeks of attacks could be coming.
“Israel’s operation against Iran’s nuclear program, military leadership and arsenal of missiles is nowhere near over, with Israel having planned out 14 days of operations, a senior Israeli official said,” WSJ writes.
“The likely duration of the campaign fits with analysts’ expectations that a single wave of strikes wouldn’t be able to do enough damage to Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s comprehensive approach of attacking Iran’s facilities, leadership and arsenal at the same time to limit the possibility of a retaliatory strike,” the report says.
Israel is bracing for potential big counterattack, and yet clearly Iran is struggling to even get its air defenses active in thwarting the Israeli airstrikes. Still, air defenses appear very active over the capital on Friday.
❗️ Skies over Tehran light up with RED streaks — FARS
ISRAEL SAYS AIR FORCE CONTINUES TO ATTACK IRAN: REUTERS
IRAN WILL NOT PARTICIPATE IN NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS WITH US SCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY: IRAN STATE TV
TRUMP SAYS NOT SURE US-IRAN MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE: REUTERS
Some of the first footage I have seen of air-defenses actually attempting to do anything, from tonight over the Iranian capital of Tehran. pic.twitter.com/zfaD7GSSTW
The Israel Defense Force has released a graphic showing the uranium enrichment site located beneath the Natanz Nuclear Facility in Central Iran, which was heavily targeted during today’s strikes by the Israeli Air Force.
The Israel Defense Force has released a graphic showing the uranium enrichment site located beneath the Natanz Nuclear Facility in Central Iran, which was heavily targeted during today’s strikes by the Israeli Air Force. pic.twitter.com/DztB04got6
State media reports that over 100 Iranian have been killed, with the casualty toll likely to continue to rise amid rescue efforts and emergency crews responding to sites hit.
❗️ 104 KILLED, 376 injured in Israeli attacks on Iran
Update0930ET: There are emerging reports of possibly more waves of Israeli attacks, with state media reporting new, loud blasts heard near an airbase in west Iran. Netanyahu has vowed to keep up the attacks ‘as long as necessary’ to degrade and destroy Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran has long defended as only for peaceful nuclear energy purposes.
Importantly, Iranian leaders have made clear their intent to continue enriching uranium, and even to potentially expand its nuclear activities. Israeli attacks “will not affect our determination” to continue nuclear activities in Iran, state TV reports, as cited in Bloomberg.
Iran’s spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization Behrouz Kamalvandi confirmed damage as a result of Israel’s attack on Natanz nuclear site. He claimed that most of the damage is limited to the surface, and that there were no casualties at the stie. There have been no signs of a radiation breach as of yet, the IAEA has said in follow-up. And Al Jazeera writes:
Fars news agency reports “unofficial statistics” saying that more than 70 people were killed and more than 320 were injured in Israel’s attacks.
Fars is managed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and considered semi-official state media of the Iranian government.
Trump to WSJ on the impact on markets:
“I think ultimately, it would be great for the market because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. … Iran won’t have a nuclear weapon that was a great threat to humanity.”
Legacy defining moment for Trump.
He bragged about being the only President in a generation who didn’t start any new wars.
If he gets America involved in a new Middle East, regime change war… he failed.
Up until yesterday the Trump White House had been publicly distancing itself from any potential Israeli attack on Iran. But that major attack did occur overnight, reportedly involving over 200 Israeli warplanes, as well as potential intelligence-assisted drone attacks on the ground conducted by Mossad assets.
And yet following days of contradictory messaging coming from the White House, President Trump has told ABC news early Friday that “there’s more to come” in terms of Israeli military action that the operation was “excellent”. ABC’s Jonathan Karl writes:
I just spoke to President Trump and asked him about the Israeli attack on Iran. Here’s what he told me: “I think it’s been excellent. We gave them a chance and they didn’t take it. They got hit hard, very hard. They got hit about as hard as you’re going to get hit. And there’s more to come. a lot more.”
Washington and Tehran were literally days away from the next round of nuclear negotiations, and this certainly wasn’t the messaging Trump was sending just over 24 hours ago.
Either he could be trying to save face as Israel perhaps went rogue, or the more likely scenario is that Washington quietly approved what Israel is defending as a ‘preemptive attack’ to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons (a narrative Tel Aviv has been pushing going back to the 1990s).
And more from Trump on Friday morning, as the smoke still smolders over Tehran and Iranian nuclear energy sites in other parts of the country:
This certainly isn’t going to hasten negotiations, it is their death knell, and Iran has issued a statement saying it holds the United States responsible for last night’s attack and destruction.
Iran has said it is preparing a “harsh response” – with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warning that Israel faces a “bitter and painful” fate. “By God’s will, the powerful hand of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic will not let it [Israel] go unpunished,” he said Friday.
Government and residential buildings in Iran were damaged, and as we reported earlier, top nuclear scientists and military officials were targeted and in some instances killed, most importantly the head of IRGC, General Major Gen. Hossein Salami.
⚡️Satellite images of the Natanz nuclear enrichment complex following Israeli strikes pic.twitter.com/Lb9ItZIrQD
Al Jazeera has listed that trikes have been confirmed in the following locations:
The capital, Tehran, and military sites in the surrounding area.
The city of Natanz, where explosions were reported at the main uranium enrichment facility.
The city of Tabriz, where explosions have been reported near a nuclear research centre and two military bases.
The city of Isfahan, south of Tehran.
The city of Arak, southwest of Tehran.
The city of Kermanshah, west of Tehran.
Iran has already appointed a new IRGC leader, per WSJ. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour has been placed in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Maj. Gen. Sayyed Abdolrahim Mousavi has made chief of staff of the armed forces, while Lt. Gen. Ali Shadmani was named to succeed Lt. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid. How it allegedly unfolded, per Israeli sources cited in the WSJ:
The majority of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air force leadership was killed by an Israeli military strike, according to defense minister Israel Katz.
The group were convening in an underground bunker, the minister said in a statement. Israeli intelligence determined that overnight, senior air force leaders were in an underground meeting preparing to attack Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement.
Fighter jets struck the location, killing Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the air force. Along with him, Israel killed the commander of Iran’s UAV force and the commander of aerial command, the military said.
Major fire near Tabriz Airport in Iran after attack…
In a remarkable revelation (if true), the Wall Street Journal describes an operation that’s parallel to both Ukraine’s ‘Operation Spider’s Web’ and Israel’s covert pager bombings of Hezbollah:
Long before Israel launched its attacks against Iran on Friday, agents from Mossad smuggled explosive drones and other guided weapons into Iran. As the attack got under way, Mossad assets on the ground used the drones and other weapons to attack Iran’s air-defense system and ballistic-missile launchers: WSJ
Fox News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst writes:
On the strikes against IRGC Air Force leadership: Israel tricked the top command of Iran’s air force into a meeting and then kept them there, I’m told by an Israeli security official.
“We did specific activities to help us understand things about them and then used that information to make them act in a specific way,” the official said. “We knew this would make them meet, but more importantly we knew how to keep them there.”
The Israeli army said it had damaged the Natanz uranium enrichment site’s underground structures. It says that “vital infrastructure at the site that allows for its continuous functioning and the continued advancement of the Iranian regime’s project to obtain nuclear weapons was attacked.”
NHTSA Tweaks Robotaxi Rules To Unleash “Rapid Innovation”
What a week for the electric vehicle space in America.
First, President Trump publicly mended ties with Elon Musk, calling him a “friend” just a week after their viral feud. Then came the policy hammer: Trump signed three congressional resolutions dismantling California’s EV mandate and terminating the federal clean vehicle credit. Musk? Unfazed. With Tesla’s dominance in the EV industry and rivals like Rivian and Lucid on life support, this could be the final chapter (explained by Musk one year ago) in the multi-year EV price war, leaving Tesla as the last one standing.
With the current events out of the way, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has updated its exemption process under the Automated Vehicle (AV) Framework to accelerate the safe deployment of vehicles with Automated Driving Systems (ADS). The current exemption process (Part 555) was built for legacy vehicles and has proven too slow and rigid for the unique challenges of ADS-equipped vehicles.
What’s changing:
Streamlined Exemptions: NHTSA will expedite exemptions for ADS-equipped vehicles to keep pace with rapid innovation and ensure safety technologies can be tested and deployed faster.
Enhanced Guidance: New application instructions will help manufacturers provide better information upfront, reducing back-and-forth delays.
Flexible Oversight: NHTSA will move away from a one-size-fits-all approach and adopt more dynamic, adaptive oversight throughout the lifecycle of AV exemptions.
Full NHTSA Memo:
The move to support AVs comes just days before Tesla officially rolls out its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
In a post on X, Musk wrote earlier this week that the current plan is for the robotaxi launch to take place on Sunday.
“We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift,” he said.
Tentatively, June 22.
We are being super paranoid about safety, so the date could shift.
First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28.
The United States has partially distanced itself from Israel’s military operation characterising the strikes as a “unilateral action” and emphasising that the United States was “not involved”. It is likely the United States had some degree of foreknowledge of the operation. “Israeli officials said that Netanyahu signed orders authorizing the attack on Monday. He spoke on the phone with Trump that same day,” according to the Washington Post. It seems very likely that the issue was discussed in at least general terms during the call on June 9. In the following days, the United States had taken steps to reduce its exposure to retaliation in the days leading up to the strike by reducing its diplomatic and military footprint in the region.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also issued an unusually specific warning on June 11 to vessels in the region: “UKMTO has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners. Vessels are advised to transit the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Straits of Hormuz with caution.” Give the extent of intelligence sharing and diplomatic between Israel and the United States and between the United States and the United Kingdom and the other European allies, some degree of foreknowledge is very likely. The diplomatic moves and vessel warnings strongly indicate the United States had significant prior knowledge of the operation even if Israel did not share precise about the timing or specific targets and operations plan.
It is unlikely Israel formally requested U.S. support or the United States formally gave the greenlight to the operation to enable the United States to maintain some plausible deniability. But Israel will only have felt confident to proceed if it believed the United States and its European allies would eventually, tacitly and retrospectively support the operation, especially by taking steps to constrain Iran’s retaliation.
The United States position on the strikes remains ambiguous for the time being. By partially distancing itself from the operation, the United States seems keen to portray the conflict as bilateral between Israel and Iran, trying to avoid counter strikes against U.S. personnel, assets and interests in the region, and thereby limiting Iran’s options for retaliation. But the United States has not condemned the operation and it is likely to provide support to Israel to help the country defend itself from the inevitable retaliation. For the time being, the United States and its European allies are characterising their involvement and support to Israel as defensive rather than offensive in nature. The intention appears to be limit further escalation and leave space for further diplomatic negotiations to end the immediate hostilities and resume talks about the nuclear programme.
In response to the attacks, Iran is likely to end cooperation with the International Atomatic Energy Agency (IAEA) and suspend or withdraw from the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Iran’s government has threatened multiple times in the past it would respond to any attack on its nuclear facilities by ending its adherence to the NPT and is unlikely to see any benefit from remaining within the NPT framework while under attack. Iran will see withdrawal as a high-profile symbolic move as well as a means to impose diplomatic costs on the United States and its European allies for supporting Israel.
Iran is likely to suspend or end nuclear negotiations with the United States and European Powers (the United Kingdom, France and Germany) seeing little advantage in continuing the talks. From Iran’s perspective, the purpose of the talks was to avert a direct military strike on the enrichment facilities and other military and state targets. Iran is unlikely to agree to resume negotiations unless it receives a clear assurance from the United States that it can and will restrain Israel from further military operations.
AIR STRIKES AND DIPLOMACY
The relationship between the U.S./European military and diplomatic approaches to Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme and other destabilising activities also remains ambiguous. For now, the military approach has taken primacy over the diplomatic one. Scheduled negotiations have already been cancelled. Israel has long argued diplomatic negotiations would not reach a satisfactory conclusion and only military action would prevent Iran from enriching uranium and having the potential to develop nuclear weapons in future. In some senses, strategy has shifted from the diplomatic track to the military one.
But some advocates of military action will likely argue military and diplomatic approaches can be pursued simultaneously. Negotiations while Iran is under fire are more likely to secure an ambitious agreement on terms favourable to Israel and the United States. From this perspective, a weakened Iran can be forced to make greater concessions to preserve what remains of its military capability and ensure the survival of the state. Iran can be confronted with the alternative of accepting an agreement that is unfavourable but at least ends the military action, or refusing a deal and continued bombing. Israel’s military action can be seen as creating leverage and pursuing the hard-line negotiating strategy popularised by in The Art of the Deal ghostwritten for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israel’s military action also creates an alternative to the diplomatic process and an alternative to enforcement of any future agreement through sanctions. The alternative to a negotiated agreement is likely to be sustained and periodically renewed military operations targeting Iran’s enrichment and missile building facilities and the possible escalation to other military and state targets. If the attacks are severe enough and repeated often enough, they may arrest or reverse Iran’s enrichment activities even in the absence of an agreement. If an agreement is eventually reached, Israel has created a precedent for responding to any non-compliance by using military force rather than economic sanctions.
The Trump administration’s initial response to Israel’s military action has preserved some ambiguity and ensured some limited diplomatic distance but it is likely that it will have to resolve the ambiguity fairly quickly. The Trump administration will have to decide whether or not to embrace Israel’s strategy of military operations as a substitute for diplomacy or coercive negotiations under fire in the hope of securing a favourable resolution to the long-term standoff over Iran’s nuclear activities. Israel’s operation has created a krisis in the sense used by the ancient Greeks, a moment when the Trump administration will be forced to choose. Some members of the Trump administration are likely to welcome the pressure to reach a decision while others may resent the fact Israel has forced the president’s hand and limited his options.
ESCALATION DOMINANCE
Iran’s options for retaliating against Israel remain limited and constrain its response. Drones launched from Iran fly too slowly and travel too far to be much of a threat to Israel. Ballistic missiles fly faster and are harder to intercept but Iran’s missiles are too inaccurate and the payloads are too small to do much damage or hit targets with precision. Iran’s carefully cultivated allies in the Axis of Resistance including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad government in Syria and Hamas in Gaza have all been neutralised and are in no position to fight proxy conflicts against Israel on behalf of Iran.
Israel’s repeated attacks on targets in Iran (assassinations, bombings and air strikes over multiple years) have proved Israel’s intelligence services have thoroughly penetrated Iran’s state apparatus enabling the precise identification of targets.
Iran has also proved unable to defend its airspace. The country’s air defences have long been seen as inadequate, outdated and ineffective. The previous round of Israeli air strikes in 2024 specifically targeted Iran’s limited air defence capabilities and degraded them even further. They cleared the corridor for further air strikes and were specifically intended to reduce the risks of further and more ambitious operations in future. In some ways, the current military operation in 2025 and the previous one in 2024 could be characterised as a double tap, an initial operation designed to create conditions for an even more devastating follow up.
Israel successfully de-risked the military operation in advance both militarily and diplomatically. Iran’s air defences have been degraded by previous air strikes. The United States and its European allies have committed themselves to defending Israel from Iran’s retaliation since the first round of military exchanges in 2024. Israel’s intelligence services have thoroughly penetrated Iran’s military and state apparatus allowing them to operate freely within the country and creating a climate of paranoia. Israel has secured almost unconditional diplomatic support from the United States under the current administration and significant if not unconditional support from the most important European governments.
As a result, Israel has successfully achieved escalation dominance over Iran which has emboldened Israel and to some extent the United States to pursue a hardline strategy in recent years. In retrospect, Iran’s lack of escalation options was revealed by the lack of an effective response when Revolutionary Guards Commander Qasem Soleimani was assassinated by the United States in Iraq in 2020. Iran proved unwilling and/or unable to threaten escalation or restore deterrence after the assassination of Soleimani and a string of other high-profile state figures.
Since then, Iran has proved unable or unwilling to support its allies in the Axis of Resistance, standing by impotently as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad government were neutralised by Israel. As Israel has moved steadily up the escalation ladder, Iran’s lack of good response options has become increasingly obvious. Iran’s weakness has been revealed by its inability to impose significant costs in response to attacks on leading personnel and facilities. Despite hardline rhetoric from senior government figures, Iran has increasingly been seen as a paper tiger.
Iran’s top leadership have been revealed as very risk averse and lacking good options to respond. Top leaders have tried hard to avoid open state-to-state conflict with Israel and the United States to focus on ensuring the survival of the state. But it has fallen into the use it or lose it trap. Conservatism and unwillingness to risk conflict has led to the steady loss of allies, destruction of defensive capabilities and narrowing policy options. Israel’s strategy has become bolder as Iran’s weakness has been revealed.
Until recently, Iran’s military and diplomatic strategy centred on creating defence in depth – moving the frontline of conflict into neighbouring states (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian areas and Yemen) and away from the homeland. With the exception of Yemen, all those Iranian allies have been neutralised. For the last decade, however, Israel’s shadow war has progressively moved the conflict onto Iran’s own territory through the assassination of leading nuclear scientists and other military and intelligence figures. The exchange of missile and drone attacks in 2024 moved the conflict into the open and showed that it would no longer be restricted to covert actions and proxy conflicts but had moved into a homeland-to-homeland phase in which Israel and not Iran had the upper hand.
THREATS IN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Oil market participants have long warned Iran could respond to any conflict by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic. For the reasons discussed above, this threat was never very credible and has become less credible over time. Israel and the United States have increasingly held and demonstrated escalation dominance over Iran.
In theory, Iran could halt tanker traffic in the Strait for a short period by attacking or threatening vessels transiting the narrow waters at the entrance to the Gulf. But the most likely response is that the United States and its allies would organise an armed convoying system with U.S. and allied warships escorting tankers. Once convoys were in place, an attack would bring Iran into direct conflict with the United States – a conflict Iran’s leaders have revealed they are anxious to avoid by their prior behavior.
The UKMTO warning to vessels in the area on June 11 in advance of Israel’s attack on Iran on June 13 has significantly reduced the risk of immediate retaliation by clearing the area of all but necessary shipping and ensuring the remaining vessels have been on high alert. The United States has also sought to discourage an immediate Iranian attack on tanker traffic by partially distancing itself from Israel’s military operation. The United States has created some diplomatic space for Iran to retaliate directly against Israel while avoiding attacks on tanker traffic that would risk drawing Israel’s western allies into open conflict with Iran. This is a diplomatic fiction, but possibly a useful one, and the United States may hope Iran’s risk averse leaders are eager to accept.
For similar reasons, Saudi Arabia has condemned Israel’s attack on Iran, attempting to insulate its own oil installations and exports from Iran’s retaliation. Given their risk aversion and current isolation, Iran’s government and military are unlikely to repudiate that rhetorical support by attacking tankers carrying crude from Saudi Arabia or any of the other Gulf producers.
In theory, Iran’s top leaders could escalate the conflict by temporarily blocking the Strait, triggering a sharp rise in oil prices, and hope the resulting threat of severe economic damage causes the United States and its allies to restrain Israel and make concessions. But that high-risk escalatory strategy would be out of character and seems unlikely for the time being unless the top leaders in Iran conclude their survival is under threat.
