RSS
Iran Won’t Retaliate for Israeli Strikes, Open Season on Nuclear Sites Unlikely, Analyst Says
Unidentified men carrying a model of Iran’s first-ever hypersonic missile, Fattah, past a mosque during a gathering to celebrate a failed Iranian attack on Israel, in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2024. Photo: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
Iran is not expected to retaliate for Israel’s precision airstrikes on its military and air defense sites, an Israeli weapons systems and intelligence expert told The Algemeiner on Sunday, adding that the Islamist regime’s ballistic missile program will need at least a year to recover from the strikes.
Dr. Eyal Pinko, who served in the Israeli navy and intelligence for more than three decades, said that while Saturday’s operation demonstrated Israel’s “amazing intelligence capabilities,” it was unlikely to appease the Israeli public, which was hoping for a more expansive retaliation targeting Iran’s nuclear program.
Israel’s strike on Saturday involved over 100 aircraft targeting Iranian missile production sites and air defenses, leaving Tehran vulnerable and disabling its key defensive capabilities. However, with US President Joe Biden pressing for restraint to avoid a broader regional conflict, Israeli officials have refrained from escalating the strike to include nuclear facilities and oil refineries.
The attack unfolded in a coordinated, three-wave strike. First, Israeli forces targeted radar systems in Syria and Iraq to clear the path for the main assault, followed by strikes on key Iranian air defense systems, including several S-300 and S-400 batteries around Tehran and Isfahan, effectively dismantling much of Iran’s aerial defense network. The third wave focused on Iran’s ballistic missile production facilities, aiming to disrupt missile manufacturing rather than existing stockpiles. According to Israeli defense sources, the operation significantly hindered Iran’s missile capabilities and production capacity, reducing its ability to launch large-scale attacks in the near future.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the “precise and powerful” air attack was in response to Iran firing more than 180 missiles at Israel earlier in the month, as well as ongoing attacks from its terror proxies in the region.
“Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles and this attack failed. We kept our promise. The air force attacked Iran and hit Iran’s defense capabilities and missile production,” Netanyahu said, adding that the attack “achieved all its objectives.”
According to Pinko, all evidence points to Iran being a threshold nuclear state, but nonetheless Israel was unlikely to target Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, especially so close to the US elections on Nov. 5.
“In the short term I don’t believe that Israel will re-attack Iran. In the next few months, I believe we have a window of opportunity for both sides to [deescalate],” he said in a call with reporters.
Iran has effectively crossed into nuclear threshold territory, Pinko argued, citing its advanced uranium enrichment, missile capabilities, and a history of weaponization efforts. According to intelligence reports from the CIA, US Congress, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has already reached uranium enrichment levels close to 90 percent — near weapons-grade. He further pointed to Iran’s proven ballistic and cruise missile range, capable of striking Israel, and recalled the stolen document trove revealed by Netanyahu in 2018 that outlined a comprehensive weaponization system.
“If we take those three elements — of weapons, the system that enables the nuclear reaction, and the enrichment of uranium,” Iran has possessed the critical components for a nuclear weapon “for at least three years,” Pinko said, adding that the regime has kept its capabilities under wraps in a bid to bolster its bargaining position on getting sanctions lifted.
“They have operational nuclear capabilities and are now stalling and playing with the narrative that they don’t, or that they are delaying, because this allows them a lot of political maneuvering,” he told The Algemeiner.
By downplaying the impact of Israel’s recent strikes domestically, Tehran is aiming to avoid escalation while hoping that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will secure the US presidency in the upcoming election, he said. Harris’s opponent, Republican nominee Donald Trump, had imposed crippling sanctions on Iran after he withdrew the US from a comprehensive but temporary nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 while serving as president.
With Iran’s options for rebuilding limited by Russia’s military commitments in Ukraine, Pinko expects Tehran will turn to China for assistance in replenishing its S-300 air defenses and other critical military infrastructure. China has been a strategic partner for Iran in defense and technology since the 1990s, providing support across areas such as missile development and cyber capabilities. Pinko’s assessment underscores a shifting dynamic where Iran’s defense strategy may increasingly rely on its Sino-Iranian partnership to reinforce its position amid Israeli and Western scrutiny. China’s S-300 air defense system is based on Russian technology, but it has likely incorporated upgrades to enhance performance, he said.
Pinko also pointed to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s declining health as a factor in Iran’s restraint. With the 85-year-old revealed to have terminal cancer, internal power struggles over his succession have intensified, creating additional uncertainty in Tehran’s strategic decisions.
In his first remarks since the attack, Khamenei on Sunday said an Iranian “response would be determined by senior officials, in a way that best serves the interest of the people and also takes the state into account.”
“Israel made a mistake. They exaggerated, of course. To exaggerate about this is a mistake,” the Iranian leader continued. “But downplaying this [attack] is also a mistake. To say, ‘nothing happened; it wasn’t important,’ is also a mistake.”
He added, “The incorrect assessment by the Zionist regime must be corrected. They have a mistaken assessment about Iran.”
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the regime will “use all available tools” to respond to Israel’s strikes on military targets in Iran over the weekend.
The post Iran Won’t Retaliate for Israeli Strikes, Open Season on Nuclear Sites Unlikely, Analyst Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Syrian Leader al-Sharaa Holds Talks With Erdogan on Surprise Istanbul Visit
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, met during al-Sharaa’s first diplomatic trip since the fall of the al-Assad regime. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, local media reported. No further details were available.
This comes one day after the US administration of President Donald Trump issued orders that it said would effectively lift sanctions on Syria in order to help the country rebuild after a devastating civil war.
The Treasury Department issued a general license that authorizes transactions involving the interim Syrian government led by Al-Sharaa, as well as the central bank and state-owned enterprises.
The general license, known as GL25, “authorizes transactions prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, effectively lifting sanctions on Syria,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Syria welcomed the sanctions waiver early on Saturday, which the Foreign Ministry called a “positive step in the right direction to alleviate the country’s humanitarian and economic suffering.”
Syria is keen on cooperating with other countries “on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. It believes that dialogue and diplomacy are the best path to building balanced relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
The post Syrian Leader al-Sharaa Holds Talks With Erdogan on Surprise Istanbul Visit first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
‘It Was Just An Accident’ by Iran’s Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes’ Top Prize
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner for the film “Un simple accident” (It Was Just an Accident), reacts, during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Revenge thriller “It Was Just An Accident” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was last at the Cannes Film Festival in person more than 20 years ago, won the Palme d’Or top prize on Saturday.
Panahi, who has been arrested several times for his filmmaking and was under a travel ban until recently, last attended the festival in person in 2003, when “Crimson Gold” was screened in the Un Certain Regard category.
“Art mobilizes the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
“It Was Just An Accident” follows Vahid, played by Vahid Mobasseri, who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer – and then decide what to do with him.
An emotional Panahi, wearing sunglasses on stage, thanked his cast and film crew during his acceptance speech.
The Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d’Or, was awarded to “Sentimental Value” from acclaimed director Joachim Trier.
The jury prize was split between the intergenerational family drama “Sound of Falling” from German director Mascha Schilinski and “Sirat,” about a father and son who head into the Moroccan desert, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.
Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” won two awards, one for best actor for Wagner Moura, as well as best director for Kleber Mendonca Filho.
“I was having Champagne,” said Mendonca Filho after he ran up to the stage to collect his award after celebrating Moura, who previously made a name for himself in hit TV series “Narcos.”
Newcomer Nadia Melliti took home best actress for “The Little Sister,” a queer coming-of-age story centered around the daughter of Algerian immigrants in Paris.
Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, who have the rare honor of already having won two Palme d’Or prizes, took home the award for best screenplay for their film “Young Mothers.”
Twenty-two films in total were competing for the prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, with entries from well-known directors Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and Ari Aster.
Saturday’s closing ceremony officially ends the glamour-filled festival that began on May 13.
The post ‘It Was Just An Accident’ by Iran’s Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes’ Top Prize first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin From Revoking Harvard Enrollment of Foreign Students
US President Trump speaks to the media at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Washington, DC, April 21, 2025. Photo: Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the Ivy League school called part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to “surrender its academic independence.”
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university called a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and said would have an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the 389-year-old school said in its lawsuit filed earlier on Friday in Boston federal court. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore nearly $3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or canceled. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws.
Leo Gerden, a Swedish student set to graduate Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, called the judge’s ruling a “great first step” but said international students were bracing for a long legal fight that would keep them in limbo.
“There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing,” Gerden said.
In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard’s “perceived viewpoint,” which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The Trump administration may appeal US District Judge Allison Burroughs’ ruling. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, his administration has accused several universities of indifference toward the welfare of Jewish students during widespread campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Harvard’s court challenges over the administration’s policies stand in contrast to its New York-based peer Columbia University’s concessions to similar pressure. Columbia agreed to reform disciplinary processes and review curricula for courses on the Middle East, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding over allegations the Ivy League school had not done enough to combat antisemitism.
In announcing on Thursday the termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Harvard says a fifth of its foreign students in 2024 were from China. US lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the influence of the Chinese government on US college campuses, including efforts by Beijing-directed Chinese student associations to monitor political activities and stifle academic speech.
The university says it is committed to combating antisemitism and investigating credible allegations of civil rights violations.
HARVARD DEFENDS ‘REFUSAL TO SURRENDER’
In her brief order blocking the policy for two weeks, Burroughs said Harvard had shown it could be harmed before there was an opportunity to hear the case in full. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, scheduled hearings for May 27 and May 29 to consider next steps in the case. Burroughs is also overseeing Harvard’s lawsuit over the grant funds.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the administration was illegally seeking to assert control over the private university’s curriculum, faculty and student body.
“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence,” Garber wrote in a letter on Friday to the Harvard community.
The revocation could also weigh on Harvard’s finances. At many US universities, international students are more likely to pay full tuition, essentially subsidizing aid for other students.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Harvard’s bonds, part of its $8.2 billion debt pile, have been falling since Trump first warned US universities in March of cuts to federal funding.
International students enrolled at Harvard include Cleo Carney, daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne.
The post Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin From Revoking Harvard Enrollment of Foreign Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.