The strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs were the heaviest Israeli attacks since a 2024 war with the militia. Israeli air defenses were battling new missile launches from Iran.
The opening days of the conflict are challenging the idea that President Trump can project force abroad while safeguarding American lives and the economy.
Iranian drones landed in Azerbaijan, a day after NATO shot down a missile headed to Turkish airspace. Italy pledged air defense weapons to help Gulf nations.
Some weeks I head out of the office on a Friday afternoon with an uneasy feeling that our best-laid plans for next week’s Guardian Weekly might not look quite the same by Monday. This was one of those weeks.
While the scope and power of the US-Israel attack on Iran – not least the successful targeting of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior leaders – took many by surprise, the drums of war had been building for a while. With hindsight, last week’s failed nuclear talks may simply have been cover for what was to come.
As war unfurled dramatically across the Middle East, it was impossible to predict the consequences on a range of fronts, from the likelihood of regime change in Iran to the impact on America’s regional allies under attack, or the ripple effect on global energy prices and disruption to international travel.
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One-fifth of the global oil supply and substantial amounts of natural gas travel through the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a no-go zone for many tankers as fighting continues.
Iran and allied militias, including Hezbollah, attacked Israel and U.S. targets in retaliation for Ayatollah Khamenei’s death, and Israel struck in Lebanon. Top American officials suggested an extended campaign.
3 U.S. Planes Are Shot Down in ‘Friendly Fire’ in Kuwait, U.S. Military Says
Separately, a drone attack hit the U.S. Embassy compound in the Persian Gulf state, as Iran continues to target American assets across the Middle East.
The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came after close intelligence sharing between the U.S. and Israel, according to people familiar with the operation.
Decades of investigations yielded charges against only two people. A combination of missed chances, narrow laws and prosecutors’ limited focus helps explain why.
Israel joined the major U.S.-led assault as President Trump pledged to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program and devastate its military. Iran vowed retaliation and several Arab states that host U.S. military bases said they had been attacked.
The deal came hours after President Trump had ordered federal agencies to stop using artificial intelligence technology made by Anthropic, an OpenAI rival.
The arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor last week, after allegations he had shared confidential information with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, sent shock waves around the world.
What happens next is unclear, but the ramifications will go far beyond the former prince, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing related to Epstein. It was one of the most consequential days for Britain’s monarchy in generations, shattering the traditional aura of royal mystique and raising questions of accountability, deference and whether the royal family should have acted sooner.
In a powerful essay for our big story this week, Stephen Bates asks whether the royal family can survive the unfolding scandal.
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