Iran's Seyed Mohammad Marandi:
"If Trump attacks tonight, Iran's overwhelming response will begin immediately. All people should prepare to leave the criminal family dictatorships in the Persian Gulf at once."
Trump:
"It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger."
Overnight, Ukrainian attack drones successfully penetrated over 2000 km of Russian airspace to hit the Tyumen Oil Refinery, setting multiple parts of the facility ablaze.
Dr. Oz: "Today, we are calling on two states... California and Minnesota. We want them to come alongside us, federal partners, to ensure that Medicaid dollars go to the services that are required by real people, with real problems, getting real care."
Axios' Barak Ravid, citing sources familiar with the discussions, reports that President Donald J. Trump convened a Situation Room meeting yesterday to review plans for a broader military campaign against Iran, extending beyond the ongoing strikes around the Strait of Hormuz.
The meeting took place after three consecutive days of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) strikes targeting Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping and before the fourth round of strikes began today, as the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports was set to take effect.
In an interview with Fox News ahead of the meeting, Trump said the U.S. would hit Iran "hard" over the coming days, warning that if Tehran does not negotiate, "next week comes the power plants... next week comes the bridges." He also confirmed the U.S. is monitoring activity at Pickaxe Mountain, an underground site suspected of supporting Iran's nuclear program, and warned it could be targeted if necessary.
DEFENSE: WITHDRAWAL OF LOPEZ, BELLO AS WITNESSES UNEXPECTED
WATCH: Defense spokesperson Michael Poa admitted on Tuesday, July 14, that the defense did not expect the prosecution to withdraw OVP chief of staff Zuleika Lopez and House Legislative Security Bureau Executive Director Capt. Belinda Bello as witnesses in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Poa added that the defense may also consider dropping some of its witnesses to avoid presenting repetitive testimony.
Counsel for the prosecution Lorna Kapunan said Lopez and Bello were removed from the witness list because their testimonies would have been redundant.
Iran's Speaker of Parliament, Ghalibaf:
1- We seize concessions not through dialogue, but with missiles; in negotiations, we merely make them understand.
2- We have no trust in guarantees or words, only actions are the measure. No action will be taken before the other side acts.
3- The winner of any agreement is the one who is better prepared for war from the day after.
Karim Abu Zaid and Uthman Ibn Farooq, speaking at a conference in Texas:
"Islam will rule the world. Our goal is for America to become a Muslim country."
A Hezbollah operative who launched rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon overnight was killed in an airstrike while trying to hide the launcher in a building, the military says.
The IDF publishes footage showing the rocket fire and the Hezbollah operative then moving the launcher into a "civilian building" in the town of Jouaiyya.
The Israeli Air Force then bombed the building, killing the rocket-launching operative, the military says.
In another incident today, the IDF says it struck a Hezbollah rocket launcher that had been used to fire at troops in southern Lebanon.
No injuries were caused by the rocket attacks, according to the military.
Nice diplomatic wording by Trump here
Fact is:
- Would U.S. military power have dominated, like in 1991 against Iraq, no sneak surprise-attack would be necessary. All ships could have evacuated the region
- Would U.S. military power be sufficient, the USN could have militarily opened the Strait of Hormuz or escort flotillas through it
➡️ Trump is very conveniently ignoring these responsibilities, expecting the world to play along
Iran under conditions of war and inability to control all movement at over-horizon distances has plausibly put a general blockade on a waterway strategically vital for its defense against aggression
➡️ Trump blinked first in his 'Economic Fury' campaign.
He needs the SoH to open quickly
Trump: "The second rescue mission involved 155 aircraft... We were bringing them all over, and a lot of it was subterfuge. We wanted to have them think he was in a different location because they had a vast military force out there. Thousands of people were looking."
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that he has ordered Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch, be granted full and immediate access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, after the Cardinal and Rev. Francesco Ielpo, the church’s official guardian, were stopped early Sunday by Israeli Police from entering Jerusalem’s Old City to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass.
Iranian state media is reporting that natural gas facilities associated with offshore South Pars field have been attacked.
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/0DjOjDgH3U
An image reportedly shows one of the USAF KC-135 tankers involved in the mid-air collision over Iraq today back on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel, missing nearly half of its vertical stabilizer. - OSINTTechnical
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the main objective of the continued US-Israeli airstrikes is to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, adding that the world will be a safer place once the mission is accomplished.
Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo reports from Washington, DC.
Satellite images and videos show the extent of the damage at multiple US military facilities in the Middle East from Iranian attacks.
CNN's Tamara Qiblawi reports.
Follow live updates: https://t.co/HuGSmcoXAi
Iranian state media confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, was killed in a joint US-Israeli air strike. Here’s what we know about him and the key moments that defined his rule.