Israeli warplanes have struck Iran, delivering what officials say is a major assault against Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs.
The Israeli military launched a large-scale preemptive strike against Iran early Friday in an attempt to crush the country’s ability to build a nuclear weapon, officials said. The operation marked a major escalation and is likely to draw a response from Tehran.
The Israel Defense Forces said dozens of aircraft recently completed the first wave of strikes, attacking dozens of military targets, including “nuclear targets” in different areas across Iran.
The IDF said the strikes were based on “high-quality intelligence” and intended to damage Iran’s nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement that the operation, nicknamed “Rising Lion,” will continue for “as many days as it takes” to remove what he characterized as an existential threat to his country.
Smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran early on Friday.
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Netanyahu said Iran has made enough highly enriched uranium for nine atom bombs and has taken unprecedented steps in recent months to weaponize the material and produce a weapon in a short time. He did not provide evidence to support his claim.
The Israeli leader said that his forces targeted Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its nuclear weaponization programs, its main enrichment facility of Natanz, its top nuclear scientists, and its ballistic missile program. The extent of the damage is unclear; some of Iran’s critical nuclear facilities are buried deep underground, making them particularly challenging targets.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, shared footage and photos of damage purportedly caused by the Israeli strikes, including partially damaged buildings and plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods. Business Insider could not independently verify the imagery.
Tasnim also reported that Major General Hossein Salami, IRGC commander-in-chief, was killed in an Israeli strike on his headquarters.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was not involved in the Israeli strikes against Iran. In a statement, he said the Trump administration has taken steps to protect its forces in the Middle East and warned Iran not to retaliate against American assets in the region.
A view of a damaged building after Israeli aircraft bombed Iran.
ajid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
The strikes are likely to derail ongoing talks between the US and Iran to reach a new nuclear deal and could draw a significant military response from Tehran, which has already launched two major missile attacks on Israel since October 7, 2023, the day a Hamas massacre against Israel sent the region spiraling into war and violence.
The Trump administration and Netanyahu have very different views on how to handle Iran, with the Israeli leader long pressing for military action. The White House, however, has favored the diplomatic route.
Israeli officials have long said that they will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Tehran, meanwhile, asserts that its nuclear program is for civilian, not military, purposes.
Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the IDF spokesperson, said that the country had “no choice” but to attack Iran. Without presenting specific evidence, he said that Tehran’s nuclear program is an “imminent and existential threat” that could pose a global threat.
Joe Jaszewski | Idaho Statesman | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Despite widespread fears to the contrary, President Donald Trump‘s tariffs have yet to show up in any of the traditional data points measuring inflation.
In fact, separate readings this week on consumer and producer prices were downright benign, as indexes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that prices rose just 0.1% in May.
The inflation scare is over, then, right?
To the contrary, the months ahead are still expected to show price increases driven by Trump’s desire to ensure the U.S. gets a fair shake with its global trading partners. So far, though, the duties have not driven prices higher, save for a few areas that are particularly sensitive to higher import costs.
At least three factors have conspired so far to keep inflation in check:
Companies hoarding imported goods ahead of the April 2 tariff announcement.
The time it takes for the charges to make their way into the real economy.
The lack of pricing power companies face as consumers tighten belts.
“We believe the limited impact from tariffs in May is a reflection of pre-tariff stockpiling, as well as a lagged pass-through of tariffs into import prices,” Aichi Amemiya, senior economist at Nomura, said in a note. “We maintain our view that the impact of tariffs will likely materialize in the coming months.”
This week’s data showed isolated evidence of tariff pressures.
Canned fruits and vegetables, which are often imported, saw prices rise 1.9% for the month. Roasted coffee was up 1.2% and tobacco increased 0.8%. Durable goods, or long-lasting items such as major appliances (up 4.3%) and computers and related items (1.1%), also saw increases.
“This gain in appliance prices mirrors what happened during the 2018-20 round of import taxes, when the cost of imported washing machines surged,” Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, said in his daily market note.
One of the biggest tests, though, on whether the price increases will prove durable, as many economists fear, or as temporary, the prism through which they’re typically viewed, could largely depend on consumers, who drive nearly 70% of all economic activity.
The Federal Reserve’s periodic report on economic activity issued earlier this month indicated a likelihood of price increases ahead, while noting that some companies were hesitant to pass through higher costs.
“We have been of the position for a long time that tariffs would not be inflationary and they were more likely to cause economic weakness and ultimately deflation,” said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust. “There’s a lot of consumer weakness.”
Indeed, that’s largely what happened during the damaging Smoot-Hawley tariffs in 1930, which many economists believe helped trigger the Great Depression.
Tilley said he sees signs that consumers already are cutting back on vacations and recreation, a possible indication that companies may not have as much pricing power as they did when inflation started to surge in 2021.
Fed officials, though, remain on the sidelines as they wait over the summer to see how tariffs do impact prices. Markets largely expect the Fed to wait until September to resume lowering interest rates, even though inflation is waning and the employment picture is showing signs of cracks.
“This time around, if inflation proves to be transitory, then the Federal Reserve may cut its policy rate later this year,” Brusuelas said. “But if consumers push their own inflation expectations higher because of short-term dislocations in the price of food at home or other goods, then it’s going to be some time before the Fed cuts rates.”
Specific tactics may change, but the playbook is always the same. All over the world, “color revolutions” have featured graffiti, vandalism, arson, rioting, looting and violent clashes will law enforcement officers. The goal of the rioters is to pressure authorities into giving them what they want so that the chaos will stop. And “color revolutions” always feature a highly visible set of colors that are deeply meaningful to the people that are being encouraged to protest. In this case, the Mexican flag has been specifically chosen to be the primary symbol of the “color revolution” that has erupted in Los Angeles. The following comes from the New York Times…
As images of protests in Southern California have flooded television and social media in recent days, a key question has emerged: Why are so many protesters carrying Mexican flags at an American political protest?
That is a very good question.
We have been bombarded by images of Mexican flags in recent days.
Photos of masked provocateurs waving Mexican flags atop burning Waymo taxis spread instantly across conservative social media this weekend. Republicans pointed to them as a prime example of why President Trump called in the National Guard and how immigration had gone too far in California.
“Look at all the foreign flags,” Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff and the architect of Mr. Trump’s domestic agenda, said Sunday on X. “Los Angeles is occupied territory.”
The mindless rioters in the streets probably have no idea that they are following the “color revolution” playbook very precisely.
The colors of the Mexican flag are being inextricably linked with this “color revolution”, and the goal is to intimidate the other side so that they will agree to back down…
The idea behind this color revolution – it is organized and planned, not spontaneous or genuine – is to intimidate normal people into submitting and embracing the politicians associated with its goals in the hopes that it will stop. This is the work of the Democrat Party; the rioters are its useful idiots, acting to support the party’s goals while its maintaining deniability. But this scheme only succeeds if the target is feckless and weak, which such targets usually are.
Of course President Trump has not shown any indication that he plans to back down any time soon, and so it appears that the left plans to take things to another level.
On Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered an ominous address in which he stated that “Democracy is under assault” and “the moment we’ve feared has arrived”…
The California governor urged Americans to stand up to Mr. Trump, calling it a “perilous moment” for democracy and the country’s long-held legal norms.
“California may be first, but it clearly won’t end here,” Mr. Newsom said, speaking to cameras from a studio in Los Angeles. “Other states are next. Democracy is next.”
“Democracy is under assault right before our eyes — the moment we’ve feared has arrived,” he added.
This was a signal.
For a very long time, leftists have been holding discussions about what they will do once Trump “becomes a dictator”, and when Newsom used the phrase “the moment we’ve feared” he knew exactly what he was doing.
Newsom is actively trying to make the protests even worse.
But Newsom isn’t going to go out into the streets himself.
He is counting on “useful idiots” to do the heavy lifting for him.
We all know that the Mexican flag evokes very powerful emotions for Mexicans living in the United States.
But is there another reason why it was specifically chosen as the primary symbol of this “color revolution”?
You may have noticed that the Palestinian flag also features the colors red, green and white, and it has been showing up alongside the Mexican flag at anti-ICE protests all over the country. For example, the following photo was taken in Chicago by Gateway Pundit contributor Terry Newsome…
The radical left would love to merge the anti-ICE movement with the pro-Palestinian movement.
If both groups work side by side to cause chaos all over the country in the months ahead, it will be one long, hot summer.
And there are certainly a lot of radical Islamic groups in this country that are in a revolutionary mood. For example, an imam in Michigan is calling for “a revival of jihad”…
In a provocative sermon sure to spark controversy and heighten security concerns, Michigan Imam Dr. Sherif Gindy (also spelled Sharif), linked to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), urged a revival of jihad. He attributed the decline of hijab-wearing among girls and the global closure of mosques to the abandonment of jihad.
Speaking at the Islamic Organization of North America (IONA) on May 23, and reported by MEMRI (The Middle East Media Research Institute), Gindy mourned the shuttering of mosques in Europe and the destruction of places of worship in India. He claimed the only way to turn things around is to revive jihad – not just the spiritual struggle, but the kind involving force, power, and strength.
Once war with Iran starts, I think that we will see vast numbers of Muslims out in the streets, and of course they will be joining the vast numbers of anti-ICE protesters that are already there.
But President Trump is not going to back down.
Just hours ago, he posted a message on his Truth Social account that made it clear that he is not going to let the rioters win…
Generations of Army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our Country be destroyed by invasion and Third World lawlessness here at home, like is happening in California. As Commander in Chief, I will not let that happen…
“Somebody’s financing it, and we’re going to find out through Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice who it is,” he said. “Under the Trump administration, this anarchy will not stand. We will not allow federal agents to be attacked, and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.”
That is good to hear.
Those that are funding the riots need to be held accountable.
And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is telling us that the National Guard could soon be deployed in more cities…
The federal government’s deployment of National Guard troops could expand beyond Los Angeles, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a congressional hearing Wednesday in Washington.
“Part of it is getting ahead of a problem, so that if in other places, if there are other riots in places where law enforcement officers are threatened, we would have the capability to surge the national guard there if necessary,” Hegseth said.
The Trump administration is fully committed to law and order.
Of course the other side is fully committed to their cause as well.
According to NBC News, a total of 1,800 anti-Trump protests are scheduled for Saturday…
“The goal here is to deprive Trump of what he wants in this moment, which is a story about him being the all-powerful political figure of our time, and instead create a contrast with normal, everyday people demonstrating that power in this country still resides with the people,” said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, who is helping organize what participants have dubbed a nationwide “No Kings” demonstration.
If past protests are a guide, the participants could number in the millions, he said. A total of 1,800 rallies are expected, with events in each congressional district, he added.
I wrote quite a bit about the “No Kings” protests yesterday.
I can’t recall ever seeing 1,800 simultaneous protests on the same day.
On top of everything else, now there is a tremendous amount of speculation that a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities could be coming soon.
Global events are starting to happen at a speed that is absolutely breathtaking, and I have a feeling that we have a very “interesting” summer ahead of us.
