Two UAVs were intercepted by the IAF after sirens sounded in the area of Arava

TEL AVIV, June 15. The #Israeli Air Force (IAF) intercepted two unmanned aerial vehicles in the south of the country, the Israel Defense Forces said.

"Two UAVs that were launched toward Israeli territory were intercepted by the IAF" after sirens sounded in the area of Arava," the statement reads.

#OTTAWA, June 15. Leaders of the member-countries of the Group of Seven (G7), which comprise the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, France and Japan will gather for their 51st summit.

Their meeting will take place this year from June 15 to 17 in Kananaskis, Alberta. Guests are expected to gather on June 15. According to Canadian mass media, only informal meetings of leaders are expected on that day and the official part will start on Monday, June 16.

Main topics of the meeting are expected to be the conflict in Ukraine, the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region and the tariff policy of US President Donald Trump, sources in the Canadian government said before. Western leaders will maximize the use of bilateral meetings to solve economic problems in the first instance.

The situation in the Gaza Strip is outside the official agenda but may go to the forefront, considering the latest aggravation of the situation between Iran and Israel.

#Iran will not notify IAEA about its nuclear activities anymore — Foreign Ministry
Iran will not be able to cooperate with #IAEA as before, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said

June 15. Iran will not notify the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its activities for nuclear program implementation after Israel’s attacks, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said.

"New and special measures for protection of nuclear materials and equipment will not be communicated to the International Atomic Energy Agency since now on. Iran will not be able to cooperate with IAEA as before," the diplomat said on the air with the Iranian television.

Overnight into June 13, Israel kicked off Operation Rising Lion aimed against Iran’s nuclear program. The Israel Defense Forces said that 200 fighter jets attacked more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities.

On the evening of June 13, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that Iran retaliated by attacking dozens of targets in Israel with missiles, including military facilities and air bases, striking, in particular, the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. Israel said some targets were hit but most of the missiles were intercepted.

#Israel's mission hinges on destroying Iran's hardest nuclear target, One factor that could determine whether Israel's audacious attack on Iran proves a daring success or a dangerous mistake is the fate of Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment site.

Israel will require unforeseen tactical ingenuity or U.S. assistance to destroy Fordow, which is built into a mountain and deep underground. But if the facility remains intact and accessible, a nuclear program Israel is determined to "eliminate" could actually accelerate.

"The entire operation... really has to be completed with the elimination of Fordow," Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told Fox News on Friday.
That's why the Israeli government hopes the Trump administration ultimately decides to join Israel's operation.

Breaking it down: Israel lacks the huge bunker busters needed to destroy this facility and the strategic bombers to carry them. The U.S. has both within flying distance of Iran.

An Israeli official claimed to Axios that the U.S. could still join the operation, and that President Trump even suggested he'd do so if necessary in a conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the days leading up to launch.
But a White House official denied that, telling Axios Trump said exactly the opposite. The U.S. currently has no intention of getting directly involved, the official said.

Yes, but: Some experts think Israel could try to replicate the effect of a massive bunker buster by repeatedly bombing the same location.

A much riskier approach would be sending special forces to raid the facility.
Israeli special forces conducted such a raid last September, albeit on a smaller scale, when they destroyed an underground missile factory in Syria by planting and detonating explosives. The entire operation took two hours.

Driving the news: Netanyahu argued Israel was compelled to act because of Iran's growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and because intelligence suggested Iran was resuming R&D on nuclear weaponization.

Israel targeted nuclear enrichment facilities, centrifuge production lines and nuclear scientists in hopes of decimating the program.

Israel urges U.S. to join war with Iran to eliminate nuclear program

Israel has asked the Trump administration over the past 48 hours to join the war with Iran in order to eliminate its nuclear program, according to two Israeli officials.

The big picture: Israel lacks the bunker buster bombs and large bomber aircraft needed to destroy Iran's Fordow uranium enrichment site, which is built into a mountain and deep underground. The U.S. has both within flying distance of Iran.

But the Trump administration has so far distanced itself from Israel's operation, and argued that it would be illegitimate for Iran to retaliate by striking U.S. targets.
Directly attacking Iran, even if the U.S. involvement is limited to bombing a single site, would pull the U.S. directly into the war.
However, if Fordow remains operational after the operation ends, Israel will have failed in its goal to "eliminate" Iran's nuclear program.

Behind the scenes: An Israeli official claimed to Axios that the U.S. might join the operation, and that President Trump even suggested he'd do so if necessary in a recent conversation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A White House official denied that on Friday. A second U.S. official confirmed on Saturday that Israel has urged the Trump administration to join the war, but said currently the administration is not considering it.
A senior White House official told Axios Saturday that "whatever happens today cannot be prevented," referring to Israel's attacks.

"But we have the ability to negotiate a successful peaceful resolution to this conflict if Iran is willing. The fastest way for Iran to accomplish peace is to give up its nuclear weapons program," the senior official added.

#Zelenskyy warns oil price surge could help Russia’s war effort. A sharp rise in global oil prices following Israeli strikes on Iran will benefit Russia and bolster its military capabilities in the war in #Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in comments that were under embargo until Saturday afternoon.

Speaking to journalists in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said the surge in oil prices threatens Ukraine’s position on the battlefield, especially because Western allies have not enforced effective price caps on Russian oil exports.

“The strikes led to a sharp increase in the price of oil, which is negative for us,” Zelenskyy said. “The Russians are getting stronger due to greater income from oil exports.”

Global oil prices rose as much as 7% after Israel and Iran exchanged attacks over the past 48 hours, raising concerns that further escalation in the region could disrupt oil exports from the Middle East.
Zelenskyy to address concerns with the U.S.

Zelenskyy said he planned to raise the issue in an upcoming conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“In the near future, I will be in contact with the American side, I think with the president, and we will raise this issue,” he said.

Zelenskyy also expressed concern that U.S. military aid could be diverted away from Ukraine toward Israel during renewed tensions in the Middle East.

“We would like aid to Ukraine not to decrease because of this,” he said. “Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s military needs have been sidelined by the United States in favor of supporting Israel, Zelenskyy said, citing a shipment of 20,000 interceptor missiles, designed to counter Iran-made Shahed drones, that had been intended for Ukraine but were redirected to Israel.

“And for us it was a blow,” he said. “When you face 300 to 400 drones a day, most are shot down or go off course, but some get through. We were counting on those missiles.”

An air defense system, Barak-8, promised to Ukraine by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu was sent to the U.S. for repairs but never delivered to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president conceded that momentum for the Coalition of the Willing, a group of 31 countries which have pledged to strengthen support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, has slowed because of U.S. ambivalence over providing a backstop.

The Armed Forces of Iran attacked dozens of targets in Israel, military facilities and airbases in response to Israeli attacks on Iran’s territory, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps said in their statement.

"In response to the aggressive actions of the terrorist, bloodthirsty and child-killing Zionist regime (referring to Israel - TASS), committed this morning in Iran and leading to the death of a group of high-ranking military commanders, outstanding scientists and innocent citizens, especially defenseless children, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - as the defensive and offensive fist of the Iranian people - relying on the divine power, the wise leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and the unanimous support of the noble people of Iran, launched a crushing and precise retaliatory strike on dozens of military facilities and air bases of the #Zionist regime in the occupied territories during Operation True Promise - 3," the #IRGC press service said in a statement.

#Russia has handed another 1,200 bodies of Ukrainian servicemen to Ukraine on Friday, while #Kiev has not handed over a single body to the Russian side, a TASS source reported.

"Today, Russia handed over 1,200 bodies of deceased soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces to Ukraine. Not a single one was handed over to us," the source noted.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, who heads the country’s delegation to talks with Ukraine, said that Moscow has handed the bodies of 1,212 Ukrainian service members over to Kiev and received the bodies of 27 Russian soldiers.

Russia and Ukraine reached a humanitarian agreement during talks in Istanbul on June 2, which particularly provides for an exchange of wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war and soldiers under the age of 25, as well as for the transfer of the bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian troops to Kiev. On June 7, Ukraine suddenly moved to postpone accepting the bodies and exchanging prisoners, Medinsky said.

The first group of Russian service members under the age of 25 returned to Russia on Monday, June 9. An aircraft carrying the second group of troops arrived in Russia on June 10. All of them will now undergo treatment and rehabilitation. Each time, Russia handed the same number of prisoners of war over to Ukraine.

Israel has already destroyed a large portion of the Iranian army's ballistic missile stockpile during the operation against Iran that began on the night of June 13, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address to the Iranian people, which was distributed by his office.

"In the past 24 hours, we have taken out top military commanders, senior nuclear scientists, the Islamic regime's most significant enrichment facility and a large portion of its ballistic missile arsenal. More is on the way," he said.

According to Netanyahu, the Iranian authorities are disoriented after the attack carried out by Israel, do not know what has befallen them and what awaits them in the near future, and they are "never been weaker." In this regard, he appealed to Iranians to begin the struggle to overthrow the government.

On the night of June 13, Israel launched Operation ‘Rising Lion,’ aimed against Iran's nuclear program. The Israel Defense Forces reported that 200 fighter jets attacked more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities.

On the evening of June 13, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that Iran retaliated by attacking dozens of targets in Israel with missiles, including military facilities and air bases, striking, in particular, the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv. The Jewish state's authorities admitted that a number of targets was hit, but assured that most of the missiles were intercepted.

VATICAN CITY — When Pope Leo XIV stepped out on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to greet the crowd for the first time after his May 8 election, liturgical fashion aficionados around the globe took note: Gone was the simple white cassock and silver cross favoured by Pope Francis. Back was the red satin mozzetta shoulder cape, the burgundy stola with gold embroidery and a gold cross held by a double-stranded silken gold cord.

Over Leo’s first few weeks, the excitement grew among liturgical fashion-conscious Catholics as they noticed new additions to the wardrobe, or rather a return to the old additions of the papal wardrobe: cufflinks, white pants, lace.

After Francis’ revolutionary papacy, Vatican watchers are now wondering if Leo’s return to the past sartorial look means a return to the past on other things too, including more substantial policy issues. But for tailors at the elite handful of liturgical tailoring shops in Rome, there is hope that Leo’s return to the fancier garb of popes past will mean a boon to business if Leo’s traditional look has a trickle-down effect from the pope to priests and all those in between.

The style is a return to form

According to the Rev. John Wauck, professor of church communication at the Pontifical Holy Cross University in Rome, Leo’s clothing choices are a “return to form,” and his attire similar to that worn by Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II and other popes going back to the middle ages.

They show “a respect for tradition,” he said.

Such respect for the papal office is important for many conservative Catholics. Many conservatives and traditionalists soured on Francis’ informal style and disdain for tradition, which reached its pinnacle with his his crackdown on the old Latin Mass. The old liturgy was celebrated before the modernizing reforms of the 1960s Second Vatican Council; Francis greatly restricted access to the old liturgy, saying it had become a source of division in parishes.

Leo has shown strong familiarity with Latin, and has taken to singing the Sunday noontime prayer in Latin. Some traditionalist Catholics are hoping Leo will take the pro-Latin path even further and reverse Francis to allow greater use of the traditional Latin Mass.

Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University, where Leo went to college, said it’s too early to tell if Leo will reverse Francis’ reform.

“It remains to be seen if Leo’s more traditional attire and liturgical style means that he will change Francis’ strong decisions limiting the so-called ‘Latin Mass,’” he said.

That said, Faggioli said U.S. conservatives seems particularly happy with Leo’s traditional attire, given Francis’ disdain for the fashion pomp of the papacy.

“In this sense, Francis might have been a parenthesis or an interlude, more than a changer of the tradition in ‘papal style,’” he said in an email.