CENTCOM details targets hit during Iran military campaign | Trending News |,NewsX World

[00:00:00]Watching the World Report on NewsX World, let's take a look at some of the top headlines of this hour.

[00:00:06]The US State Department is urging Americans worldwide to exercise increased caution amid escalating Middle East tensions. Officials warned citizens in the region brace for travel disruptions and airspace closures while advising everyone else to reconsider travel to the area over potential threats from Iran and its proxies.

[00:00:28]President Donald Trump on Monday said Iran would pay for killing US soldiers after multiple service members were killed over the weekend in the war against Iran, marking one of the deadliest periods of the US forces since the war started in February.

[00:00:46]Yemen's Iran aligned Houthis have said they have would impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the United States in its war with Iran and raising the threat of a global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

[00:01:05]US President Donald Trump has said the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be arrested when he visits the US after New York City Mayor Zoran Mandani said he was still considering the move.

[00:01:20]Andy Bernham became Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade on Monday, pledging to reshape its politics to deliver an economic model and revive a nation fed up with revolving doors of leaders.

[00:01:37]Britain's new prime minister Andy Burnham named former defense secretary John Healey as finance minister on Monday just weeks after he resigned from the previous government with a stinging rebuke over how the treasury had fallen short of defense spending.

[00:01:56]Lionel Messi said Argentina's World Cup final defeat by Spain had immense pain, but praised his team for reaching a second successive final and thanks supporters for uniting behind the national side.

[00:02:15]And a federal judge in San Francisco on Monday signed off an artificial intelligence company, Anthropics landmark $1.5 billion settlement of a class A action lawsuit bought by a group of authors who accused it of misusing their books to train its AI chatbot Claude.

[00:02:38]And for your top stories this hour, the United States says that its latest wave of military strikes on Iran has now concluded. According to US Central Command, American forces targeted Iranian military command centers, missiles, and drone launch sites, maritime capabilities, and air defense systems during the operation. Sentcom says the strikes were aimed at reducing Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the straight of her. The US also says nearly 900 commercial vessels carrying around 450 million barrels of crude oil have safely transited the strategic waterway with support from American forces since early May.

[00:03:16]Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpse claims it has launched three waves of missiles and drone attacks on US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. The IRGC says it struck drone facilities at the Alshakir air base, naval infrastructure at Salman port in Bahrain, and support facilities in the camp Arafan in Kuwait. Despite the continuing military confrontation, both sides say diplomacy remains possible. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington remains open to a diplomatic solution and has received signals from Iran indicating a willingness to talk. Iran's foreign ministry also says immediation efforts are continuing but insist Iran will keep carrying out defensive military operations as long as US attacks continue.

[00:04:03]We are now being joined by Boru Darai who's an Iranian American journalist founder of Badlands newsletter joining us from um Chicago. Thank you so much for joining us here today on NewsX World. It's a pleasure as always to have you on the channel. Now, the US says its military operations has concluded yet Iran continues to launch retaliatory strikes. Does this indicate the conflict is entering a new phase or is there still a significant risk um of further escalation, do you think, given the fact that Marco Rubio said Iran are sending signals? What signals do you think they could also be?

[00:04:43]Well, I think there is still a danger of the conflict escalating considerably.

[00:04:48]We're not even near the tempo of the attacks and counterattacks that we saw in March and early April uh in which the world was on the verge of a real crisis at that point with the threats and counter threats to target regional energy infrastructure causing a yearslong recession. There does appear to be some kind of diplomatic initiative going on. It there are hints that the Qataris are leading this effort trying to get this conflict to stop. Uh and there are uh rumors and reports about a possible 10-day ceasefire that could lead to a longer ceasefire. Now, this could just also be two things.

[00:05:33]the Americans trying to uh manipulate the markets and soo the markets and keep the uh stock markets from plummeting. Uh and you saw some reaction some positive reaction to that uh on the part of equity markets and it could also be on the Iranian part just an attempt to look good in the international community. No one wants uh a country and no one likes a country that is recalcitrant and doesn't want to negotiate. So even if you don't want to negotiate and you have no intention of negotiating, it's good to give out signals that you are willing to negotiate. So you're the good guy and they're the bad guy.

[00:06:09]>> Absolutely. And also both Washington and um Tran say diplomacy remains possible despite um despite um these um ongoing military exchanges. How realistic are these negotiations? Do you think? Do you think we are anywhere near or do you think we are so far from it that there's no point really talking about it just yet?

[00:06:31]>> There's a very real possibility that there'll be negotiations and war at the same time. The negotiations will go on for a few days, then the war will resume and the war will go on for a few weeks and then the negotiations and this could go on in this cycle for years. That is generally how wars go. Even World War I uh there was fits and starts and ceasefires and truses and various attempts at diplomatic maneuvering and that war went on for six years. So, you know, I mean, especi Ukraine, there's always diplomatic initiatives going on and this is happening in Switzerland or this is happening in Istanbul and they're trying to talk at the same time as they're fighting and I have a feeling that this is going to slide into that kind of conflict of just a long long drawn out affair uh and never any conclusion uh because you have two sides that are very still remain very far apart on fundamental issues and red lines. M absolutely and um the United States says it it protected hundreds of commercial vessels transiting the straight of us. Has this operation achieved its objective of securing global shipping or do the continuing Iranian attack suggest the threat remains?

[00:07:46]>> I don't remember if you said 89 or 189 ships have passed since uh the beginning of May. But if that number is accurate, that's pretty pathetic. If either of those numbers are accurate, that's pretty pathetic. Uh because if you you're talking about three ships a day maximum over the course of three months, two and a half months actually. And that it might sound good if you just give a big number. I don't remember it was 189 or 89. Uh but if you uh divide it by the number of days that was since early May and you compare it to the normals normal uh transit volumes during normal times of 130 ships a day. That's pretty pathetic. I got to say it's not impressive at all. And it shows just how much of a crisis there is. Strategic oil reserves around the world are being depleted. Uh there is reports out today that the Americans have like 43 days of reserves left before they start really suffering and there is some kind of bedum as Donald Trump put it with regard to energy prices and fuel prices and so on. So I think that uh even by their own measures by the US measures that's not such a great and impressive number.

[00:08:55]Absolutely. And um lastly um with regional states such as Bahrain and Kuwait now directly affected by Iranian strikes, how concerned should Gulf allies um be about being drawn deeper into a broader US Iran confrontation, deeper than what they already are in?

[00:09:15]>> Well, I think that they are very concerned. Um Bahrain and Kuwait are providing their land for American strikes on Iran. uh they say they have no choice or they try to downplay what they're doing, but they put themselves in this position at this point. I'm not sure if there's a lot of sympathy for them. On the other hand, it's interesting that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are not being targeted by the Iranians, at least not very much. And that could be because the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates have the wherewithal and the diplomatic muscle to tell the Americans simply no.

[00:09:48]Whereas perhaps Kuwait and Bahrain being smaller, weaker, in the case of Kuwait very dependent on the United States, historically it was the Americans that freed Kuwait from the uh occupation of Saddam Hussein in 1990 1991 and they they have a debt of gratitude to the Americans for that. They're no position perhaps to say no to the Americans when the Americans want to fire short-range missiles or launch aircraft from their from their territory.

[00:10:17]>> Absolutely. Boo. Stay with us please as I'll be joining back with you in just a moment.

[00:10:23]Tensions in the Middle East have escalated after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpse launched missile attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Formuz, striking three crude oil tankers. The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Defense confirmed that Iranian cruise missiles hit two UAE flagged super tankers, the MT Moasa and the MT Albahaya while they were transiting Omani territorial waters. A Maltese flagged Greek operated tanker was also struck eight nautil miles of Kumzar, Oman, forcing its crew to abandon ship before they were rescued by Omani authorities. Tran claimed responsibility, saying the vessels were targeted for using an authorized transit lane under US naval coercion.

[00:11:11]The IRGC has also um warned that the strategic waterway would remain unsafe for energy shipments as long as Washington continues military operations in the region. Could this come after nine consecutive nights of US Central Command air strikes on Iranian coastal defense networks and drone launch sites with tanker traffic through the choke point down nearly 90% around 20 20% of world's daily oil supply is now severely heavily disrupted keeping global commodity markets severely on edge.

[00:11:52]We are now being joined once again by Bouru. Thank you Bouru for staying with us and joining us back K to discuss this further. Now Iran is now directly targeted commercial oil tankers in the straight of Amaz. Um does this represent a major escalation the strategy for military retaliation to economic warfare with nearly 20% of the world's oil supply passing through the strategic waterway. How quickly could these attacks translate into higher global energy prices and wider economic disruption?

[00:12:23]>> Very quickly. They could translate very quickly into higher uh prices. Uh but because just of this the signaling and the uh message to the Americans and to uh energy traders that this route is definitely closed. Look, uh, from the Iranian point of view, the memorandum of understanding, uh, said that, uh, the Americans will give a certain measure of control over the, uh, straight of Hormuz to the Iranians. And in exchange, the Iranians will not charge any transit fees for 60 days. And so, the Iranians took that to mean that they have control over the straight of Hormuz. They just can't charge fees for that transiting.

[00:12:59]Um, this was their leverage. and the Americans, it appeared to the Iranians, were trying to undermine that agreement.

[00:13:06]We're trying to take away their leverage and try to create this uh alternative way for ships to pass through the state of Oman without getting uh Iranian authorization. And so they are blocking it because they feel like this is their one little place where they can exercise some control over this massive nuclear superpower. So if they give that up, they feel like they give up everything and the Americans will just be able to walk all over them, resume the war and have their cake and eat it too. Attack Iran, launch a regime change war while not affecting energy prices. So that's the Iranian logic and that's why they will continue to attack those ships as they use that Omani passageway.

[00:13:47]>> Absolutely. And also um with um nearly the IRGC says these vessels were using an unauthorized transit lane under US protection. Could the commercial shipping increasingly become caught in the middle now of this crossfire? And what options do shipping companies have as we've just heard that the Houthies are also um now um trying to block off um their parts. So it what is going to happen now? What is physically going to happen do you think?

[00:14:20]>> Well, the Houthis have said that they will close the Babal Mandibra to Saudi shipping in response to Saudi attacks on uh Yemen Houthi controlled infrastructure. So I think that that's a that's an issue there as well. But if the Yemen Houthis were to exercise their control over the straight of Babel Mandib and close that transit route, yeah, that would have a really huge impact because the Saudis are getting about I think 5 to 7 million barrels of oil out of the Babel Mandib every day now. And if that were to be taken offline, that would mean that uh you would have basically 20 million barrels of day that used to come out of the Persian Gulf region completely not be able to come out then. And that would have a huge impact as you can imagine on the global economy on replenishing oil supplies. There would be what is called demand destruction. People would start changing their habits as prices started going up. They would perhaps permanently change their habits. That would mean there would be more electric cars. That would be mean that people would stop going on vacation, stop taking road trips and so on. And that would uh create habits that would further uh just shrink the global economy, shrink global GDP and that would be probably very bad for equity markets and it would be bad for ordinary people trying to live their lives.

[00:15:38]>> Absolutely. Boo, thank you so much for joining us here today on News X. It's a pleasure as always having you on. Next, Israel has carried out a large-scale demolition operation in southern Lebanon as military activity continues despite a US mediated framework agreement between the two sides. Lebanese state media says a powerful explosion was heard in the town of Kafid where the Israeli military conducted a controlled demolition. Thick plumes of smoke was seen rising from the area. At the same time, Israeli drones are reported flying over Beirut and its suburbs, while warplanes carried out mock raids along the country's northern border. In southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army also carried out controlled explosions to destroy unexloded shells and rockets left behind by previous fighting. Lebanese media further reported that an Israeli drone dropped a stun grenade over the town of Mansori in the Thai district. The deal invasions have phased Israeli withdrawal from the occupied areas with security responsibilities to be handed over to the Lebanese army. However, no timeline has been set for the withdrawal and Israeli military operations have continued. Lebanese officials say more than 4,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks since March.

[00:16:54]Robert Fentina, who's an author and journalist joining us from Canada, is joining us here now to discuss this further. Robert, thank you so much for joining us here today on News Expert.

[00:17:04]It's a pleasure as always to be able to have you on the channel. Now, uh, Israel continues to carry out military operations despite this US mediated framework agreements. Does this indicate that the um agreement is failing or is Israel creating conditions it believes are necessary before any withdrawal or is this straight up um out of order and unnecessary?

[00:17:27]The Israeli military, the Israeli government have no respect for any agreement, ceasefires or uh uh frameworks for ceasefires. We see that certainly in Gaza where there's been a a so-called ceasefire in effect since October. Over a thousand people have been killed. Uh food is still not getting into the strip. Uh desperately needed medical supplies aren't getting in. uh people are still still dying by the hundreds despite a so-called ceasefire. So it's the same with Lebanon. Uh the United States broken an agreement between the Lebanese government and Israel which is meaningless to Israel and it's meaningless on its face because Hezbollah was not involved. Hisbala is a major force in Lebanon and it's it's absurd for any kind of agreement to be made between waring parties that include Lebanon that does not include Hezbollah.

[00:18:22]It is too powerful to be ignored. And this these ceasefire violations that uh that Israel is committing aren't a direct result of of Hezbollah's involvement uh in Lebanon, but they are simply a result of Israel's inability or lack of desire to maintain any agreement that it makes. Israel wants to uh control uh much of Lebanon, if not all of it. And it doesn't matter what agreement it signs, what uh the United States says, it will continue to do it unless and until the US cuts off the money.

[00:19:00]>> Absolutely. And also, Robert, um the framework calls for the phase of Israeli withdrawal from the Lebanese army taking over security. Given Hezbollah's continued presence in southern Lebanon, too, is this transition realistically achievable? as Israeli drones over Beirut, mock air raids, and continued demol demolition suggest that tensions are remaining extremely high um across this border.

[00:19:24]>> Yes, certainly they will uh remain extremely high and and probably continue to to rise at this point. And the fact that there is this the agreement calls for the phase withdrawal of Israeli forces is one thing. But the fact that no timeline has been established for that means that it is it is it has no meaning. It has no relevancy. So Israel has agreed to eventually at some point at in in the future at an undetermined date withdraw its its forces. That means nothing to the people of Lebanon.

[00:19:57]They're still dealing with uh Lebanese Israeli occupation forces, drones, bombs, uh bombing uh schools, uh civil many civilian sites. So this this phase withdrawal is meaningless and the tensions in uh throughout the Middle East, but especially perhaps in Israel and Lebanon, also the United States and and Iran. These tensions will continue to increase. that will cause continued instability and much more suffering uh for the innocent people in the Middle East.

[00:20:30]>> Absolutely. And also, Robert, um with Lebanese officials reporting thousands of deaths unfortunately since March um and military activity continuing without uh a withdrawal timeline with constant talks, but nowhere seems to really be going anywhere. What role should the United States and other international actors now play to prevent the ceasefire framework from collapsing completely? As we heard, Germany last week also mention that he thinks an EUled um coalition should come in and and help this uh phrase withdrawal.

[00:21:05]>> Well, first of all, the United States should not be involved in any way. The United States is not an honest broker.

[00:21:11]It wants to give Israel whatever it wants. It will overlook any Israeli violations of the ceasefire and as it overlooks the shocking and horrific violations of the Israeli so-called ceasefire in Gaza. So the United States should should not be involved if if peace is going to to occur. Uh the European Union members could certainly take a stronger role in negotiations. Uh they have a a vested interest in this because the the unrest in the Middle East is only going to spread. it's going to cause more dissension throughout the world. Uh so the European Union countries, European Union itself could certainly pressure Israel to adhere to a reasonable framework, one that that uh ends that that is a genuine ceasefire and one that that actually names dates for Israeli troop withdrawal. And then assuming those uh will be violated by Israel which is a a reasonable assumption based on Israel's history then there need to be uh diplomatic u means taken to punish Israel sanctions uh severance of trade uh whatever diplomatic tools are available by uh EU countries to coers Israel to maintain the agreements that it signs. Whether the EU will stand up will step up and do this remains to be seen. I'm not hopeful, but it's certainly a possibility.

[00:22:42]>> Absolutely. Robert, stay with us, please, as I'll be joining back with you in just a moment's time. Now, we have some breaking news coming in. Iranian state media is reporting that US military projectiles have struck a civilian location on the outskirts of Abadanan, located in western Iran's Ilam province. According to the governor of Abdanan, cited by the official RA IRA news agency, the strike hit open territory outside city limits, causing material damage to local civilian facilities, but resulting in no casualties. The incident comes amidst a broader series of longrange strikes carried out by US Central Command targeting defensive radar and launch infrastructure across Iran. While Washington maintains its air operations strictly calibrated to dismantle launch sites threatening international shipping lanes in the straight of form, Iranian authorities accused the US of indiscriminate targeting of non-military zones.

[00:23:41]Emergency and civil defense crews in Ilan province have reportedly stabilized the impact area. We will bring you the further updates as official damage assessments are released. Now, Robert is joining us back here once again to discuss this breaking news further.

[00:23:55]Robert, thank you so much for joining us back here. Now, Iran says US is strict uh struck, sorry, at this um civilian facility in western Iran. Well, the US insists it's only targeting military infrastructure. How can such competing claims be independently verified during such an active conflict?

[00:24:15]Well, it's very difficult to do so for the reasons you you state Ellie because uh the there's no safe place to to uh from which to surveil what's happening.

[00:24:27]However, there are some things that can be done. One, we can look at US's history, it's even its recent history, it started this war by bombing a girl's school, killing 120 school children. So the United States cannot say that it carefully calibrates uh its uh its attacks to uh only attack military bases. That that was a lie from from day one. Uh the fact that the Iranian government is is saying that the US is attacking civilian infrastructure would be in keeping with uh US behavior. US has previously bombed major bridges and other civilian uh serving infrastructures. These of course are war crimes, but the United States doesn't care about that. So as to get back to your initial question about how they can be independently verified, it's very difficult right now because of the situation there. There might be aerial photographs that can be taken uh by drones but even that is uh is not likely because anything will be shot out of the sky by one side or the other. So this is something where we have to look at what the the each country has said in the past what their record has been in the past and determine from that who is probably telling the truth. And as I look at the information, I'm far more likely to believe what the Iranian government is saying than what the US government is saying.

[00:25:54]>> Robert, thank you so much for joining us here today on NewsX World. It's a pleasure to have you on. Now, dramatic air rescues are underway in Chile, where military helicopters are lifting stranded families to safety following deadly severe storm systems. Torrential rains and swelling rivers across central and northern regions have swept away roads, cut off isolated communities, and flooded dozens of neighborhoods. With ground transport rendered impossible, the Chilean Air Force deployed emergency helicopter fleets to reach citizens trapped on rooftops and isolated high ground. Air crews have been hoisting children, adults, and household pets as danger zones. At least three deaths have been confirmed with thousands remaining without power as critical infrastructure, including regional hospital facilities, faces severe storm damage. Emergency teams remain on high alert as additional rainfall threatens the impacted zones. Authorities continue to urge residents in the affected regions to stay off flooded roadways while fire and ground crews work around the clock.

[00:26:58]And that is all we have time for for this hour. Keep watching NewsX World for more news updates from around the world.