US President Donald Trump said Friday he had saved Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from assassination and lashed out at the supreme leader for ingratitude, declaring he would order more bombing if the country tried to pursue nuclear weapons.
In an extraordinary outburst on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted Tehran for claiming to have won its war with Israel and said he was halting work on possible sanctions relief.
US President Donald Trump said Friday he had saved Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khameni from assassination and lashed out at the supreme leader for ingratitude, declaring he would order more bombing if the country tried to pursue nuclear weapons.
In an extraordinary outburst on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted Tehran for claiming to have won its war with Israel and said he was halting work on possible sanctions relief.
US President Donald Trump voiced optimism Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza, as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory.
Asked by reporters how close a ceasefire was between Israel and Hamas, Trump said: "We think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire."
The United States brokered a ceasefire in the devastating conflict in the waning days of former president Joe Biden's administration, with support from Trump's incoming team.
Desperate relatives of two French detainees in Iran demanded "proof of life" Friday after Israel struck their Tehran prison and a lawyer denounced their "forced disappearance".
French national Cecile Kohler, 40, and her 72-year-old partner Jacques Paris have been held in Iran since May 2022 on espionage charges their families reject.
Their fate has been unknown since Israel targeted Tehran's Evin prison in an air strike on Monday, before a US-proposed ceasefire between the Middle East foes came into force.
One week after the US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, there is no consensus as to how effective they were.
With those strikes, Washington joined Israel's bombardments of Iran's nuclear programme in the 12-day conflict launched on June 13.
Israel said its campaign was aimed at ending Iran's nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is for civilian purposes but which Washington and other powers insist is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.
Here is an overview of the different positions on the strikes.
- US hails 'historic success' -
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has re-emerged after the war with Israel but faces a struggle to maintain the authority he has wielded over the Islamic republic in over three-and-a-half decades of rule, analysts say.
After days of silence, Khamenei appeared on Thursday in a video address to proclaim "victory" and prove he is still alive following the 12-day conflict with Israel which ended with a truce earlier this week.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday branded a controversial Israel- and US-backed food distribution effort in Gaza as "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid", calling for it to be ended.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operating last month and has largely replaced established humanitarian organisations, "is degrading Palestinians by design, forcing them to choose between starvation or risking their lives for minimal supplies", MSF said in a statement.
Nemcha, Zina and Zouina, three North African Sloughi hounds, play on the beach in Tunisia where their ancestors have long roamed desert plains, seemingly unaware of the existential threat to their dwindling breed.
The Sloughis, known for their speed and slender physique, have for many centuries accompanied nomadic societies across North Africa, and have been featured in art and lore dating back at least to the Roman era.
Rival Syrian and Kurdish producers are scrambling for shrinking wheat harvests as the worst drought in decades follows a devastating war, pushing more than 16 million people toward food insecurity.
"The country has not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years," said Haya Abu Assaf, assistant to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative in Syria.
Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent press restrictions.
Such regulations are nothing new in Israel, where any written or visual publication deemed potentially harmful to the loosely defined concept of "national security" can be banned by law.
Censorship predates the creation of Israel in 1948, when the territory was under a British mandate.
