Blast Rocks Tehran After Israeli Threat
US general tells lawmakers military has ‘robust standards’ for reducing civilian harm
A top Pentagon official said Thursday that the U.S. military has “robust standards” to reduce civilian harm, addressing concerns outdated intelligence likely led to a deadly American missile strike on an Iranian school.
Gen. Alexus Grynkewich spoke at a Senate committee hearing on European operations. But Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., pressed the head of European Command on the strike and Trump administration staffing cuts at a Pentagon office focused on reducing civilian casualties.
Grynkewich said the cuts haven’t curtailed his ability to prevent civilian harm.
“We have robust standards that we go through, and look to see and update the imagery, and update our understanding of the target and refresh the intelligence on a recurring basis to determine the chances of civilian harm,” he said. — AP
Cyber threats rise as Iran-linked hackers eye US targets
Pro-Iranian hackers targeting sites in the Middle East are starting to stretch into the United States, raising risks that American defense contractors, power stations and water plants could be swept into the Iran war’s digital chaos.
Hackers supporting Iran claimed responsibility for a significant cyberattack Wednesday against U.S. medical device company Stryker. They’ve also tried to penetrate cameras in Middle Eastern countries to improve Iran’s missile targeting, and hit data centers in the region, industrial facilities in Israel, a school in Saudi Arabia and an airport in Kuwait.
Iran has invested heavily in offensive cyber capabilities. Groups working for Tehran have infiltrated the email system of Trump’s campaign, targeted U.S. water plants and tried to breach U.S. defense networks.
“Something is going to happen because the gloves are off,” said Kevin Mandia, founder of the cybersecurity companies Mandiant and Armadin. — AP
Israeli strike kills two academics at Lebanese university
The Israeli strike that apparently hit in the vicinity of Lebanon’s only public university killed the director of the faculty of sciences Hussein Bazzi and professor Mortada Srour.
The campus is in Hadath, on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel had warned last week should be evacuated. It was not clear whether the campus was directly targeted, but smoke could be seen rising near the building’s courtyard in the aftermath. Israel had no immediate comment.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the bombing, which he said targeted the campus, as a crime and a “violation of international laws and norms that prohibit attacks on educational institutions and civilians.” — AP
Infrastructure that supplies the world with oil and gas is at risk
The Iran war threatens some of the world’s most critical oil and gas infrastructure — the pipelines, refineries, and shipping terminals that keep energy flowing from the Persian Gulf region to the global economy.
Strikes by Iranian drones and missiles have disrupted some operations, while the risk of Iranian strikes has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. Oil fields in the region have cut back output as storage fills up.
All that is raising the cost of everything that needs fuel made from crude: flying, cooking, heating homes, running factories, transporting goods, and farming. — AP
Brazil lifts fuel taxes to ease pain at the pump
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday his government will suspend two fuel taxes through Dec. 31 to offset rising costs linked to the war in Iran, temporarily cutting diesel prices by 0.64 Brazilian real per liter (about $0.12).
Lula, who is up for reelection, put most of the blame squarely on “the irresponsibility of global wars.”
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the priority is preventing diesel price increases, as the fuel underpins Brazil’s supply chain. — AP
US says it continues to destroy Iran’s minelaying capacity as crucial waterway remains closed
The U.S. military said Thursday that American forces have now struck more than 6,000 targets since the operation against Iran began Feb. 28, including 30-plus mine-laying vessels.
The U.S. wants to prevent any attempt by Iran to plant explosive mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped.
The war in Iran has ground tanker traffic through the chokepoint to a halt, and oil prices have been swinging sharply. The Islamic Republic vowed to block the region’s oil exports, saying it would not allow “even a single liter” to be shipped to its enemies. — AP
White House considers waiving Jones Act requirements during Iran war
The 1920s law is often blamed for making gas more expensive. It requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be moved on U.S.-flagged vessels, and is designed to protect the American shipbuilding sector.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that temporarily waiving the requirement could “ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities are flowing freely to U.S. ports.” The action has not been finalized, she said. — AP
UN chief renews call for end to war, return to negotiations
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the U.S.-Israeli military strikes, followed by Iran’s retaliatory attacks, have caused “immense suffering” and pushed the region to a breaking point.
“And as always, the most vulnerable are being hurt first and worst,” Guterres said. “De-escalation and dialogue are the only way out.”
He made the comments in the Turkish capital where he received the country’s peace prize on behalf of global U.N. staff. — AP
Russia and China clash with US and its allies over Iran’s nuclear ambitions
U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz told the U.N. Security Council that Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to produce and accumulate uranium enriched up to 60%, which is near weapons-grade.
The United Kingdom’s acting ambassador, James Kariuki, said there is “no credible civilian justification” for Iran possessing more than 400 kilograms (about 880 pounds) of highly enriched uranium, adding the stockpile erodes confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program and led to the “snapback” of U.N. sanctions last September.
But Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. and its allies of whipping up “hysteria” about Iran seeking a nuclear weapon to justify “yet another military venture against Tehran” and escalate tensions.
China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong said Iran has repeatedly reaffirmed it does not seek nuclear weapons and that its “sincerity should be taken seriously.” — AP
Israel drops indictment of five soldiers in Palestinian detainee abuse case
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said Thursday it had dropped charges against five soldiers accused of abusing a Palestinian detainee at the high-security Sde Teiman prison, a case that had sparked widespread outrage.
"In light of significant developments since the filing of the indictment in the Sde Teiman case, the Military Advocate General decided today to order the cancellation of the indictment against the five defendants," the military said.
In February 2025, the military announced that five reservists had been charged over the alleged abuse of a Palestinian detainee in July 2024 at the Sde Teiman detention centre near the Gaza Strip.
At the time, the army said the soldiers were accused of "acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee's buttocks with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee's rectum".
Explaining the decision to drop the charges, the military said "procedural difficulties regarding the transfer of information" by Israeli police had "undermined the defendants' right to a fair trial".
Another factor cited was that the detainee had been returned to Gaza and was therefore unable to testify in the case.
The military said army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had called on personnel "to draw lessons" from the case to prevent similar occurences in the future.
The case also involved the military advocate general, who resigned following suspicions that a video of the Sde Teiman incident had been leaked.
In her resignation letter, published in November 2025 by the media, the former military advocate general acknowledged that her office had distributed the video to the media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the decision.
"It is unacceptable that it took so long to close a case that was conducted in a criminal manner against IDF fighters who are confronting the worst of our enemies," he said in a statement.
"The State of Israel must pursue its enemies, not its heroic fighters."
The Sde Teiman detention centre was created to hold detainees from Gaza early in Israel's war with Hamas, sparked after the Islamist group's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Rights groups frequently accuse the Israeli prison authorities of mistreating Palestinian detainees. — AFP