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      Trump reposts 2018 all-caps anti-Iran threat in response to Israel strike

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      Donald Trump responded to Iran’s Saturday attack on Israel by reposting a 2018 all-caps tweet in which he threatened the president of Iran and said the US would not stand for “DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH.”“To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” read the 2018 tweet.Trump posted a screenshot on his social media platform, Truth Social, of the Florida senator Rick Scott praising the message.While US president, Trump’s foreign policy was often chaotic and upended many traditional norms of US and international diplomacy. He was frequently criticized for his closeness to authoritarian figures such as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and for undermining traditional pillars of western power such as Nato.Trump originally tweeted the message in 2018 amid escalating tensions with Iran. It came after the then Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, warned the US that a war with Iran would be the “mother of all wars”.Trump’s message underscores how quickly he is willing to escalate tensions with foreign leaders during moments of conflict.Joe Biden had warned Iran not to attack Israel following a 1 April airstrike in which Israel killed a top Iranian military commander in Syria. Biden is reportedly urging Israel not to respond to Saturday’s attack with force and has said the US will not participate in a counterstrike against Iran.Trump also addressed Iran’s attack on Israel during a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.“They’re under attack right now. That’s because we show great weakness,” he said during a rally in Schnecksville, in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. “The weakness that we’ve shown is unbelievable, and it would not have happened if we were in office.”As conflict has roiled Israel for months, Trump has said little publicly about how he would handle the issue if he gets a second term in the White House. Trump has previously said the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, “let us down” before the US killed a top Iranian commander in 2020. Trump has also praised Hezbollah, the Iranian-aligned group in Lebanon designated terrorists by the US, as “very smart”. More

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      Iran Attacks Israel: What We Know

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      Tehran fired hundreds of drones and missiles in what was believed to be its first direct assault on Israel after years of a shadow war.Iran launched a large aerial attack on Israel and the territory it controls starting late on Saturday, firing at least 300 drones and missiles. It is the first such direct attack launched from Iranian territory after decades of shadow warfare between the two countries. The assault was in response to a recent strike on a building in the Iranian Embassy complex in Syria that killed several of Iran’s top commanders.Here’s a look at what we know about the Iranian attack this weekend and its implications:What happened during the attack?Air raid sirens sounded in Israel and the West Bank overnight, signaling the start of an attack that had been anticipated for days. In the event, almost all of the missiles and drones were intercepted, the Israeli military said on Sunday.Israel had used two primary defensive weapons systems, the Iron Dome and the Arrow 3, to thwart the attack. The United States participated in the defensive actions, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said that U.S. forces had intercepted missiles and attack drones launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.Britain also said its planes had shot down drones. In addition, Jordan, which neighbors Israel, said that its military shot down aircraft and missiles that entered its airspace.What damage did the attack cause?The attack caused no deaths, but 12 people were brought in to the Soroka Medical Center in southern Israel overnight. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesman for Israel’s military, said the Nevatim air force base in the Negev desert in southern Israel suffered light damage from the attack and was functioning. What was the immediate cause of the attack?Iran and Israel have for decades engaged in clandestine warfare, in which they have attacked each other’s interests on land, sea, air and in cyberspace. Iran provides support for proxy forces including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Israel has launched a series of attacks including killing Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in 2021, and assassinating a Revolutionary Guards commander, Col. Sayad Khodayee, in 2022.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Iran Attacks Israel

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      What we know about the assault — and what it means.Iran’s missile attack on Israel has ended, for now, and virtually none of the missiles reached their targets.Iran last night launched more than 300 drones and missiles in retaliation for an apparent Israeli strike on an Iranian embassy two weeks ago. Iran’s attacks caused minor damage at one military base, and shrapnel seriously injured a 7-year-old girl from an Arab Bedouin community in southern Israel. But Israel intercepted most of the drones and missiles. The U.S. and Jordan also shot some down.The big question this morning is whether the conflict between the two countries will now return to its previous situation — a long-running shadow war — or enter a more dangerous new stage.Last night did represent something new: Experts believe it was the first time Iran attacked Israel from Iranian territory. But Iran telegraphed the attack days in advance, and it did not cause extensive casualties — which increases the likelihood that both countries will be willing to de-escalate.Today’s newsletter tells you what else we know. You can follow the developments all day on The Times’s website and app.What happened last nightAir-raid sirens sounded across Israel around 2 a.m. Loud booms rang out in Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Explosions illuminated the night sky as Israel, the U.S. and Jordan intercepted the missiles. (See video of the attack.)The weapons that Iran used were more sophisticated than those that Hamas (which Iran finances) and other groups have recently fired at Israel. Last night’s weapons “can travel much farther, and some of them can travel much faster,” our colleague Jin Yu Young explained.Some Iranians gathered in Tehran to celebrate the attack. Others stockpiled fuel.How leaders respondedBenjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, wrote on social media: “We intercepted. We blocked. Together we will win.” Hamas expressed support for the attack.The attacks prompted emergency diplomacy. President Biden expressed “ironclad” support for Israel and planned a meeting with the Group of 7 leaders today. The United Nations Security Council is also expected to convene. Israel’s war cabinet is set to meet today.Israel’s defense minister said that the confrontation with Iran was “not over.” A top Iranian official wrote on social media: “The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran’s response will be considerably more severe.”What the attacks meanSome analysts said that the attack was mostly performative. Michael Singh, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, told The Wall Street Journal, that it was “a slow-moving, thoroughly telegraphed, and ultimately unsuccessful retaliation.”Other experts called the attack more significant. Ahron Bregman, an expert at King’s College in London, called it an “historic event.” It brought Iran’s long shadow war against Israel into the open. The two rivals have no direct channels of communication, which can lead to dangerous military miscalculations.One reason to believe Israel may respond: “Any normalization of direct strikes by Iran is intolerable to the Israeli public and leadership,” The Economist magazine wrote. Dana Stroul, the former top Middle East policy official at the Pentagon, said, “Given how significant this attack was, it is difficult to see how Israel cannot respond.”Understand the shadow war: We recommend this article by Alissa Rubin and Lazaro Gamio. Iran largely fights through its proxies, like Hamas and Hezbollah. Iran provides arms, training, and financial aid to more than 20 groups in the Middle East. Israel conducts much of its fighting through espionage and assassinations.Other Middle East newsHezbollah — an Iranian ally — fired rockets at an Israeli military site yesterday. In response, Israel said its fighter jets had struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.Clashes across the West Bank wounded dozens of Israelis and Palestinians after a missing Israeli teenage boy was found dead. Israel’s military said that he had been killed in a terrorist attack.Several nations including Belgium and Canada have halted arms deals with Israel.THE LATEST NEWS2024 ElectionIn the latest Times/Siena Poll, Biden’s popularity improved slightly. Donald Trump now holds only a slight advantage — 46 percent to 45 percent.Trump is considering which potential running mates might help him raise money.More on PoliticsIn Phoenix.Caitlin O’Hara for The New York TimesArizona’s Supreme Court reinstated an 1864 law that bans almost all abortions. Patients at an Arizona clinic described their anxiety.Four Native American tribes in South Dakota barred Gov. Kristi Noem from their reservations after she said that Mexican drug cartels had a foothold there.InternationalIn Bogotá. Nathalia Angarita for The New York TimesCycling is an integral part of Colombia’s identity. This year, a number of robberies and assaults on cyclists have left many riders in Bogotá on edge.A decade ago, the terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria. Read the story of one woman who was captured.Drones keep Russian and Ukrainian troops from moving on the battlefield, The Washington Post reports.Thousands of protesters in Niger called for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces there. Russia has been supporting the country.A stabbing attack that killed six in an upscale mall in Sydney, Australia, has shocked the country.Other Big StoriesThe Vessel, a 150-foot-tall sculpture in Manhattan, will reopen this year with new safety measures. It was closed in 2021 after a series of suicides.Pittsburgh reopened a bridge that it closed as a precaution after barges broke loose on the Ohio River.O.J. Simpson owed millions to the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson at the time of his death.THE SUNDAY DEBATEA senior NPR editor accused his outlet of having a liberal bias. Is he right?The claim: NPR’s coverage of multiple issues — Covid, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the war in Gaza — shows that “people at every level of NPR have comfortably coalesced around the progressive worldview,” Uri Berliner, the NPR editor, writes for The Free Press. “An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Tensions Flare in West Bank After Israeli Teenager Is Found Dead

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      The killing, which Israel called a “terrorist attack,” prompted rioting by Israeli settlers that killed one Palestinian and raised fears of a broader escalation.The disappearance and death of an Israeli teenager, whose body was found on Saturday in the West Bank, spurred deadly rioting by Israeli settlers in Palestinian villages, ratcheting up tensions even further in the occupied territory.Settlers unleashed a wave of mob violence in a Palestinian village near Ramallah on Friday and carried out mob assaults in at least two villages on Saturday, after the Israeli authorities announced that the teenager, Binyamin Achimair, had been found dead.The Israeli police said Binyamin, 14, had left a farming settlement in the West Bank to herd sheep on Friday morning but never returned. Israeli forces found his body on Saturday near the settlement, Malachei HaShalom, in the central West Bank.The second day of unrest erupted in the village near Ramallah, Al Mughayir, and another Palestinian village, Duma, an Israeli security official said. Israeli settlers, some of them armed, entered the villages, the official added. There were reports that the settlers had opened fire.The Israeli military said in a statement that dozens of Palestinians and Israelis were wounded during clashes at several locations across the West Bank on Saturday. It described them as “confrontations between Israeli civilians and Palestinians” in which “rocks were hurled and shots were fired.” The statement said the military and police worked to disperse the crowds.In Duma, the attackers “covered the entire village,” some of them armed, said Naser Dawabsheh, a resident. They set several buildings and cars ablaze, sending a cloud of dense smoke over the village, he said. Rather than dispersing the Israeli rioters, the Israeli military protected them, he added.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Iran Seizes Israel-Linked Container Ship

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      Iranian forces seized a container ship with links to Israel in the Persian Gulf on Saturday, as leaders in the Middle East and beyond watched for a retaliatory strike by Iran against Israel.MSC, a major shipping company, said on Saturday that the MSC Aries, which is registered in Portugal, had been boarded by “Iranian authorities” via helicopter as it passed the Strait of Hormuz.A video shared by Iranian state media showed a military helicopter hovering above what appeared to be the stern of the ship, with at least two soldiers descending a rope onto the deck.The soldiers were part of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, according to IRNA, the state news agency. Though it is operated by MSC, the 1,200-foot cargo vessel belongs to an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, which is part of the Zodiac Group, owned by the Israel-born billionaire Eyal Ofer, making it a possible target for Iranian retaliation. Tehran has vowed a retaliatory strike after blaming Israel for an attack on an Iranian embassy building in Syria that killed 12 people, among them top military generals.Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign affairs minister, confirmed the seizure on social media and said Iran’s leadership was “a criminal regime that supports Hamas’ crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law.”Six months after the Hamas attack on Israel that started the war in Gaza, the seizure comes amid fears of a wider conflict involving Iran directly. Iran is a backer of Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but has so far stayed clear of direct involvement. On Friday, President Biden said that he expected Iran to launch a retaliatory attack “sooner than later,” and reiterated that the United States remained committed to the defense of Israel.It was not immediately clear if the seizure of the ship was part of Iran’s promised response to the attack in Syria, but it was not the first time Iran had directly seized a commercial vessel. In January, Iran’s navy seized a tanker loaded with oil off the coast of Oman. In that seizure, soldiers also descended from a hovering helicopter.Before the war in Gaza, the United States said that Iran had “harassed, attacked or interfered” with more than a dozen internationally flagged merchant ships in recent years.For their part, the Houthis have disrupted a significant part of the world’s shipping by attacking dozens of vessels heading to or from the Suez Canal.The MSC Aries had 25 crew members on board, according to its operator. More

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      U.S. Official Heads to Israel Amid Fears of Iranian Attack

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      A senior U.S. military commander was traveling to Israel on Thursday, officials said, as fears ran high that Iran would soon launch a strike to avenge the killings of several senior commanders.Iran’s leaders have repeatedly vowed to punish Israel for an April 1 strike in Syria that killed several senior Iranian commanders. U.S. officials have said they are bracing for a possible Iranian response, and Israel has put its military on alert.A day after President Biden warned that Iran was threatening a “significant” attack, Defense Department officials said that the top American military commander for the Middle East, Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, was traveling to Israel. He will coordinate with Israel on what is expected to be imminent retaliatory action by Iran, as well as discuss the war in Gaza, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Israel’s military declined to comment on the general’s visit.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that Israel was facing “challenging times” on Thursday, noting that “in the midst of the war in Gaza” his country was “also prepared for scenarios involving challenges in other sectors.”“We have determined a simple rule: Whoever harms us, we will harm them,” he said while visiting an air base, using language that in recent days has been used to refer to threats from Iran and its proxies.While President Biden has become increasingly critical of Mr. Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza — threatening to withhold U.S. assistance unless Israel does more to protect civilians — he emphasized on Wednesday that American support for Israel in the face of an Iranian threat was unconditional.“As I told Prime Minister Netanyahu, our commitment to Israel’s security against these threats from Iran and its proxies is ironclad,” he said at a news conference.Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken also “made clear that the U.S. will stand with Israel against any threats by Iran and its proxies” when he spoke by phone on Wednesday with Israel’s defense minister, the State Department said.As Iran and Israel have traded fresh threats in recent days, diplomats have been trying to reduce tensions and avert a wider regional war.The foreign minister of Germany, Annalena Baerbock, spoke to her Iranian counterpart “about the tense situation” in the Middle East on Thursday, according to her office.“Avoiding further regional escalation must be in everyone’s interest,” it said in a statement. “We urge all actors in the region to act responsibly and exercise maximum restraint.” More

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      Another Israeli Hostage’s Body Recovered, the Death Angering His Family

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      Like the families of other hostages, they are outraged that the Israeli government has yet to reach a deal to halt the fighting and bring home loved ones held in Gaza.The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage who was abducted during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, almost six months after he was taken hostage.The man, identified as Elad Katzir, 47, was a farmer in Nir Oz, a kibbutz near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip that was one of the areas hardest hit in the attack on Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis died and about 250 people were taken hostage, according to the Israeli authorities. His body was recovered by troops in Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where the Israeli army has been operating since December, and returned to Israel overnight, the military said.After the announcement of the recovery and return of Mr. Katzir’s body, Mr. Katzir’s sister, Carmit, bitterly denounced the Israeli government in a social media post for failing to secure her brother’s release.“He could have been saved if there had been a deal in time,” she wrote. “But our leadership are cowards, motivated by political considerations, and thus it did not happen.“Your story shouldn’t have ended like this,” she wrote to her brother. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save you. I love you forever.”Mr. Katzir was killed in mid-January, an Israeli military official told a press briefing on Saturday, while being held in Gaza by a militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Around 8 p.m. on Friday night, the official said, Israeli forces arrived in southern Khan Younis, isolated the area and excavated his body from where he was buried underground.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Iran and U.S. Held Secret Talks on Proxy Attacks and Cease-Fire

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      Diplomats gathered in Oman in January, with the U.S. side seeking to stop attacks on Red Sea shipping and American bases, and Iran looking for a Gaza cease-fire.Iran and the United States held secret, indirect talks in Oman in January, addressing the escalating threat posed to Red Sea shipping by the Houthis in Yemen, as well as the attacks on American bases by Iran-backed militias in Iraq, according to Iranian and U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.The secret talks were held on Jan. 10 in Muscat, the capital of Oman, with Omani officials shuffling messages back and forth between delegations of Iranians and Americans sitting in separate rooms. The delegations were led by Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator, and Brett McGurk, President Biden’s coordinator for the Middle East.The meeting, first reported by The Financial Times this week, was the first time Iranian and American officials had held in-person negotiations — albeit indirectly — in nearly eight months. American officials said Iran requested the meeting in January and the Omanis strongly recommended that the United States accept.Since the beginning of the war in Gaza after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the United States and Iran have reassured each other that neither was seeking a direct confrontation, a stance conveyed in messages they passed through intermediaries.But in Oman, each side had a clear request of the other, according to U.S. and Iranian officials.Washington wanted Iran to rein in its proxies to stop the Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the targeting of American bases in Iraq and Syria. Tehran, in turn, wanted the Biden administration to deliver a cease-fire in Gaza.President Biden at Dover Air Force Base last month, watching as one of the three American soldiers killed in a drone strike by an Iran-backed militia was brought home. Kenny Holston/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More