In a long post on his Truth Social account on Wednesday night, President Trump called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuโs corruption trial to come to an end in a strong show of support for the Israeli leader, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in war crimes in Gaza.
Netanyahu is on trial for three charges of bribery, theft, and breach of trust. โI was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!โ Trump said.
โBibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land,โ the president added. Trump and Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, 2025 (White House photo)
Trump said that he had just learned โthat Bibi has been summoned to Court on Mondayโ and called for the trial to be โCANCELLED, IMMEDIATELYโ or for Netanyahu to receive a pardon. โIt was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu,โ he added.
On Thursday, Netanyahu requested that the court delay his testimony and criminal trial by two weeks. His lawyer pointed to Israelโs onslaught in Gaza and its recent war with Iran to justify delaying the trial, saying the Israeli leader must devote โall his time and energy to handling top-priority diplomatic, national, and security issues, including the management of the war in Gaza and dealing with the hostage crisis.โ
In a post on X, Netanyahu thanked President Trump for calling for an end to the trial. โThank You, [President Trump]. I was deeply moved by your heartfelt support for me and your incredible support for Israel and the Jewish people,โ he wrote. โI look forward to continue working with you to defeat our common enemies, liberate our hostages and quickly expand the circle of peace.โ
Many members of Netanyahuโs government also thanked Trump, while opposition leaders criticized the US presidentโs intervention in Israelโs affairs. The Trump administration also recently appeared to help Netanyahu resolve a political crisis that threatened his hold on power.
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with ultra-orthodox politicians who were threatening to dissolve the government over the lack of a draft exemption for Haredi Jews and told them that the US would see the move as destabilizing and pointed to Iran as a justification to keep the government together. The crisis was ultimately resolved, and less than a week later, the US backed Israelโs attack on Iran.
Netanyahuโs corruption trial and his desire to remain in power are seen as some of his main motivations for continuing the genocidal war in Gaza and waging other wars in the region.
BBC News: ‘Sir Keir Starmer has warned of a “risk of escalation” to the Middle East and beyond the region, as he calls for a return to the negotiating table after the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites overnight.’
Mr Starmer, open your eyes, if you can! Your Zionist friends in Tel Aviv attacked and carried out the most brazen aggression against Iran. Mr Trump has aided the criminal regime in Tel Aviv and attacked Iran. You should be telling your accomplices to stop the aggression against Iran and turn to peaceful resolution of whatever conflicts there might be. Iran is under attack. Iran has not turned away from negotiations. Under the cover of negotiations, Mr Trump has allowed and aided the attack on ran by Israel. Now Mr Trump has used the military power of the mightiest war machine in the world to attack and destroy the nuclear sites in Iran. These sites were not used to produce any nuclear weapons, this was fully corroborated by the US intelligence services, as we all know. Don’t put imperial lies as the commandments of truth and respect for international law!
President Trump said on Wednesday that he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call a day earlier to โkeep goingโ with his attacks on Iran.
The president told reporters that Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in war crimes in Gaza, is a โgood manโ who has been treated โvery unfairlyโ by his own country. โHeโs a wartime president. Going through this nonsense โ ridiculous,โ Trump said.
Trumpโs comments about Netanyahu come amid anticipation over whether or not the US will enter Israelโs war with Iran directly by launching airstrikes. The US has supported the assault by providing weapons and intelligence and intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, but so far hasnโt launched direct strikes of its own.
Trump and Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, 2025 (White House photo)
The president also said on Wednesday that โnobody knowsโ whether heโll enter the war or not. When asked if he was moving closer on a decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said, โYou donโt know that Iโm going to even do it. You donโt know. I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what Iโm going to do. I can tell you this, that Iranโs got a lot of trouble.โ
In other comments to the press, Trump said he wasnโt interested in an Israel-Iran ceasefire. โWeโre not looking for a ceasefire. Weโre looking for a total and complete victory. Again, you know what the victory is: no nuclear weapon,โ he said.
Netanyahu launched his war of aggression against Iran under the pretext of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, but US intelligence assessed before the attacks that Tehran was not pursuing a nuclear bomb.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected President Trumpโs demand for an โunconditional surrenderโ and warned the US against entering the war by launching strikes on Iran, saying the US would suffer โirreparable harm.โ
Trump has also threatened Khamenei, claiming the US was aware of his location but wasnโt going to kill him for the time being. โ[Trump] has threatened us. Not only does he make threats, but he also uses absurd, unacceptable rhetoric to openly demand that the Iranian people surrender to him. When a person hears such things, itโs truly surprising,โ Khamenei said in a televised address.
โIt isnโt wise to tell the Iranian nation to surrender. Wise people who know Iran, the Iranian people, and Iranโs history would never utter such words. What should the Iranian nation surrender to? The Iranian nation isnโt a nation that surrenders. We havenโt attacked anyone, and we definitely wonโt tolerate anyone attacking us, and we will never surrender in response to the attacks of anyone,โ Khamenei said.
Khamenei during his televised address (photo via his website)
The US has supported Israelโs war on Iran by providing weapons and intelligence and by intercepting Iranian missiles and drones. So far, the US hasnโt launched direct airstrikes on Iran, but Trump is considering doing so, especially against the Fordow nuclear plant, which is buried deep underground.
โOf course, the Americans who are familiar with the policies of this region know that the US entering in this matter [war] is 100% to its own detriment,โ Khamenei said. โThe damage it will suffer will be far greater than any harm that Iran may encounter. The harm the US will suffer will definitely be irreparable if they enter this conflict militarily.โ
Iranian ballistic missiles are believed to be able to do significant damage to US bases in the region. Trump was asked on Wednesday if he would launch strikes on Iranโs nuclear program, but wouldnโt say. โI may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what Iโm going to do,โ he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the war under the pretext of stopping Iran from advancing toward a nuclear bomb, but US intelligence agencies had assessed there was no evidence Tehran was working to make a nuclear weapon, and the US was unconvinced by new Israeli intelligence.
Israelโs attack also disrupted negotiations between the US and Iran. Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked for a meeting at the White House, but the claim was rejected by Tehran, as Iranian officials have said they wonโt negotiate while Israel continues its attacks.
โNo Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House. The only thing more despicable than his lies is his cowardly threat to โtake outโ Iranโs Supreme Leader,โ Iranโs mission to the UN said. โIran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance.โ
US President Donald Trump suggested that Israel and the US have joint mastery over Iran’s skies.
โWe now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” Trump wrote on Tuesday on his Truth Social media platform.
Trump has said that the US is not directly engaged in fighting Iran, although the US is defending Israel from missiles and drones.
โIran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesnโt compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured โstuff.โ Nobody does it better than the good olโ USA,โ Trump wrote.
When Israeli warplanes struckIran this week โ violating Iranian sovereignty in a brazen act of aggression, killing scores of civilians alongside top military commanders and nuclear scientists and inviting Iranโs equally indiscriminate retaliatory strikes โ Europeโs leaders didnโt condemn the attack.
They perversely endorsed it and condemned Iran for the attacks on its own territory.
The president of France Emmanuel Macron set the tone by condemning Iranโs โongoing nuclear programโ and reaffirming โIsraelโs right to defend itself and secure its security.โ President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen seemed to have spoken from the same script โreiterating Israelโs right to defend itself,โ embellished by some generic platitudes about the need for restraint and de-escalation.
The German foreign ministry went a step further and actually โstrongly condemnedโ Iran for โan indiscriminate attack on Israeli territoryโ โ even before Tehran launched its missiles in response for Israelโs attack on its territory โ while fully endorsing Israelโs actions.
This Orwellian rhetoric isnโt just incompetence or ignorance. Itโs the culmination of years of European diplomatic malpractice that helped to manufacture this crisis โ and exposed the “rules-based order” as a corpse. Europeโs double standards killed its credibility.
Europeโs stance on Ukraine invoked Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter with political clarity: “All members shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any state.” Yet when Israel attacked Iran โ with no legal basis for self-defense โ Europe de-facto reframed aggression as virtue, and condoned it.
Europeโs moral and diplomatic collapse hasnโt gone unnoticed. Two globally respected voices delivered particularly damning verdicts. Mohamed ElBaradei, Nobel Laureate and former head of the U.N.โs atomic energy watchdog, offered a humiliating crash course in international law to the German foreign ministry.
Reacting to Berlinโs endorsement of Israelโs โtargeted strikes against Iranian nuclear facilitiesโ (never mind the hundreds of civilians killed in these strikes), El Baradei reminded it that such strikes are prohibited under the Geneva Conventions to which Germany is a party, and that the use of force in international relations โis generally prohibited in the UN Charter with the exception of the right of self-defense in the case of armed attack or upon authorization by the Security Council in the case of collective security action.โ
For her part, Francesca Albanese, U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, reacting to Macronโs statement, commented that โon the day Israel, unprovoked, has attacked Iran, the president of a major European power, finally admits that in the Middle East, Israel, and only Israel, has the right to defend itself.โ
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The message of the likes of El Baradei and Albanese is unequivocal: when Europe applauds Israelโs strike while condemning Russiaโs invasion, it doesnโt uphold universal rules โ it enforces its tribalist identity: โrulesโ only apply to adversaries, not friends. This is fatal to Europeโs pretense of moral authority โ it has been well noticed in the Global South, but also among many European citizens too.
This pretense looks even more detached from reality given that the crisis in the Middle East erupted on fertile ground prepared by serial European failure. First it was the E3 (Britain, France, Germany) failure to uphold the JCPOA following the U.S. withdrawal under Donald Trumpโs presidency in 2018. While the EU offered rhetorical support for the nuclear deal, it buckled to U.S. sanctions and refused to shield EU firms willing to engage with Iran. It let the JCPOA die, de-facto creating a vacuum for escalation.
Further, while mediators like Oman and Qatar brokered talks on a new nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran, the EU pushed for an IAEA resolution censoring Iran days before Israelโs strike, torpedoing de-escalation and contributing to creating a more menacing, dangerous security environment, with the U.N. Security Council sanctions snapback and potential Iranโs withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) lurking in the background.
Each of these failures validated Tehranโs view that it is futile to negotiate with Europe. The E3/EU are now seen not just as a weak party unable to fulfil its commitments under the nuclear agreement, but also an actively destructive player undermining Iranโs security and regional stability.
European powersโ staggering descent into diplomatic irrelevance was starkly illustrated by Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchiโs categorical rejection of his British counterpart David Lammyโs pleas to de-escalate. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine why Tehran should heed these calls when they come from parties it sees as actively colluding with the aggressors.
The likely fallout from Europeโs diplomatic self-sabotage is that it incinerated whatever residual trust it still had in Iran and the broader Global South. It all but guaranteed proliferation by giving Iranians โ now not just the hardliners โ a powerful incentive to seek nuclear weaponization, an outcome that could have been avoided had Europe engaged in serious, good faith talks with Iran on reviving the nuclear deal. Iranโs withdrawal from the NPT is no longer a merely theoretical possibility.
All of these developments dramatically increase the likelihood of blowback against European interests: a regional war in the Middle East means more uncontrolled migration, heightened risks of terrorism on European soil or against European interests in the region, and energy shocks if Iran delivers on its threats to block the Hormuz Straight, the worldโs principal oil trade artery.
Absent an urgent but unlikely course correction, such as holding Israel accountable for its regional aggression, Europeโs decay will accelerate. When Brussels exempts allies from rules imposed on rivals, it doesnโt preserve peace โ it signs its own geopolitical suicide note.
Call the White House and tell them you do not want any part of this disastrous war
by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Jun 15, 2025
Sources familiar with the matter have told Antiwar.com Editorial Director Scott Horton that the Trump administration is poised to enter Israelโs aggressive war against Iran directly. US airstrikes on Iran could begin as soon as Monday. Please contact the White House by calling (202-456-7041) or sending an email. Tell them that you do not want the US to enter this disastrous war, which could lead to heavy American casualties at US bases across the Middle East. The US has supported the war by reportedly providing Israel with intelligence and helping intercept Iranian missiles and drones, but so far, there have been no direct US attacks on Iran. Iranian officials have warned that Tehran would hit US bases in the region in response to any US strikes. Axios reported on Saturday that Israel is urging the US to join the war since Israel lacks the bunker-busting bombs necessary to do serious damage to Iranโs Fordow plant, which is buried deep underground. An Israeli official told Axios that President Trump had previously suggested the US could strike Fordow. Trump himself said on Sunday that it was โpossibleโ that the US would get directly involved in the war, which Israel launched early Friday morning with airstrikes across Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu started the war under the pretext of preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. But it was the consensus of the US intelligence community that there was no evidence Iran was working toward a nuclear weapon, and Tehran made clear they were ready to make a deal with the US that would significantly lower uranium enrichment levels and increase oversight of its nuclear program in exchange for US sanctions relief. Ali Larijani, an aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has previously said that the one thing that would make Tehran reconsider its prohibition on the development of nuclear weapons would be a US or Israeli attack. โWe are not moving towards (nuclear) weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself,โ Larijani said on April 1. โIran does not want to do this, but โฆ (it) will have no choice,โ he added. โIf at some point you (the US) move towards bombing by yourself or through Israel, you will force Iran to make a different decision.โ
Published date: 14 June 2025 19:34 BST | Last update:9 hours 49 mins ago
The US and Israel altered Israel’s F-35 warplanes to extend their range without the need for refuelling or compromising on stealth to help Israel’s attack on Iran, Middle East Eye can reveal.
The modification is secret, but two US officials speaking to MEE on condition of anonymity confirmed that Israel did not use mid-air refuelling during its Friday attack on Iran or land their warplanes for refuelling at any nearby countries.
Instead, the US officials told MEE that Israel and the US modified the F-35’s system to carry additional fuel that did not impact the F-35โs stealth features. The Israeli designation for their version of the F-35s is called the F-35I Adir.
The F-35 is the only long-range stealth fighter in the world, and its features make it difficult for radar or infrared sensors to track it.
The scale of Israelโs Friday attack and the surprise nature of it mean the improvement is a sea change for the F-35, the US officials told MEE.
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The F-35s performance is going to be carefully studied by Middle Eastern countries looking to acquire them, as well as the USโs foes, China and Russia.
โThis is a game changer. Israel had our cooperation on this modification,โ one US defence official told MEE, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Both officials confirmed that Israel modified their F-35Is with US involvement.
Exclusive: US quietly sent hundreds of Hellfire missiles to Israel before Iran attack
One US official refused to share details on how the F-35 was altered to carry more fuel, but suggested an external feature was added.
The second US official said that Israel attached external drop tanks to the F-35s.
โItโs impressive. Period,โ Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace expert at aerodynamic advisory told MEE when asked about the US officials’ statements.
Aboulafia said that the only option Israel had in place of not refuelling was to use drop tanks.
โThe big challenge is devising the F-35s interface system with drop tanks that donโt compromise stealth. Not only do you have to design the fixtures, but some sort of in-line modification has to be done. The Israelis, with our cooperation, I assume, practically did surgery on an existing jet to make this modification.โ
The F-35 has a publicly stated combat range of roughly 700 miles. The shortest distance between Israel and Iran is roughly 620 miles one way.
If mid-air refuelling wasn’t employed, then theoretically they could have used a US base in the Gulf or in Azerbaijan, but the officials MEE spoke to said land refuelling did not take place on any US bases in the region.
Azerbaijan today said it would not allow its airspace or territory to be utilised for launching attacks on Iran or any other country, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said in a call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi.
Reports have emerged in recent years that Israel was working on such a project.
In 2021, Israelโs Walla news reported that the Israeli Air Force was working on a drop tank for the F-35I Adirs. The report at the time said Israel could finish the modification in two years.
Adding a drop tank that carries extra fuel sounds easy, but it is extremely sensitive and difficult, US officials and experts say.
The F-35 contains radar-absorbent materials and its entire engineering is designed to avoid detection. Any change to the body could compromise those features.
One challenge noted by The Aviationist magazine in 2021 was that once the tank was dropped it could expose other parts of the aircraft to radar because the attachment points and fuel lines would not be covered by any Radar Absorbing Material (RAM).
The US officials MEE spoke with refused to share details about the F-35s closely guarded engineering.
Today is the birthday anniversary of Che Guevara (June 14, 1928 – October 9, 1967).
Che Guevara was and is an inspiration to all those who fight against and oppose imperialists and their lackeys throughout the world. The centre of that power was and still is the United States, the ‘leader’ of the warmongers, war criminals, weapon industries and its allies who further the cause of American hegemony and perpetuate the power of colonial powers like Israel.
Che Guevara and Fidel Castro stood against the gangster policies of the United States and its wars of aggression. For instance, the ethnic cleansing in Palestine that is still going on is because of the power Zionists wield in America and direct the course of US foreign policies.
In Iran, America and Britain toppled the democratic government of Dr Mossadegh in 1953 and reinstated the pliant regime of the Shah. The Washington rulers did the same with the socialist-democratic government of Allende in Chile. America has been the patron of all the right-wing dictatorships in Latin America.
The people who stood up against the American domination in the western hemisphere were Fidel Castro and his comrades like Che. They were the people who liberated Cuba from the Batista dictatorship and heroically upheld the cause of freedom and independence of the island nation despite all the efforts of the US to destroy the Cuban revolution and the CIAโs hundreds of secret plans and attempts to kill Fidel Castro.
—-
“Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.”
Gazaโs Health Ministry said on Sunday that Israeli attacks killed at least 106 Palestinians and wounded 393 as Israeli forces continue to pound the Strip with airstrikes and shoot desperate Palestinians seeking aid.
The Health Ministry said that at least five Palestinians were killed and 123 were injured while seeking aid at distribution points run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
According to The Cradle, at least one Palestinian was killed by Israeli gunfire at a distribution site at the Netzarim Corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip. Four were reported killed when Israeli tanks, gunboats, and snipers opened fire near a site in the southern city of Rafah. Other reports said the death toll in Rafah rose to 13.
Mourners react during the funeral of a Palestinian killed, in what the Gaza health ministry says was Israeli fire near a distribution center in Rafah, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
According to Reuters, the Israeli military acknowledged that it opened fire on Palestinians near the site in Rafah, claiming its forces โhad directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them.โ
The Health Ministry said that the total number of Palestinians killed en route to aid sites since the GHF began operating has reached 115, and another 1,100 have been injured.
Heavy Israeli airstrikes and shelling were also reported across Gaza. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, at least 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes, mainly in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, and in Gaza City and Jabalia in the north.
Also on Sunday, the Israeli military claimed that it had found and identified the body of Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, who it alleges was killed in a May 13 bombing outside the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Israel alleged that tunnels were underneath the facility, which Hamas has previously denied. Sinwar took over as Hamasโs leader following the killing of his brother, Yahya Sinwar, in October 2024.
Gazaโs Health Ministry said that since Israel resumed its genocidal war on March 18, at least 4,603 Palestinians have been killed, and 14,186 were injured. The numbers account for dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals and morgues.
Since October 7, 2023, the ministryโs death toll has reached 54,880, and the number of wounded has climbed to 126,227, figures that donโt account for thousands missing and presumed dead under the rubble or indirect deaths caused by the Israeli siege.
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