Shots Fired: U.S. and Iran Return to Direct Combat
American jets hit Iranian radar and air defenses near Hormuz; Iran retaliates against U.S. bases across the region - with a nuclear deal supposedly weeks away
The United States and Iran exchanged attacks early Wednesday in the Middle East after the downing on Monday of a U.S. helicopter gunship near the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command later said that Air Force and Navy jets had struck Iranian air defenses, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz. The scale of damage was not immediately clear. Iran’s state television said that explosions and air defense sirens were heard in several cities along Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, including the city of Sirik and the island of Qeshm. Iran then said that it had launched drone strikes against the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, where the government reported that warning sirens had been activated. Iran also said it had launched 21 attacks on U.S. bases in the region, including in Jordan, but U.S. Central Command said that was not the case. A U.S. official said Iran launched multiple missiles and drones at U.S. bases around the Middle East, and nearly all were intercepted, according to initial American assessments. There have been no reports of American casualties, and no reports as yet of damage to U.S. bases in the region from the Iranian attacks, the official said. In a statement, Central Command called the U.S. strikes “self-defense” operations carried out on President Trump’s order, saying that they were “a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.” Central Command said the airstrikes were launched at 5 p.m. Eastern time, or 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Middle East. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had blamed Iran for shooting down the aircraft. “The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,” he said on social media. After the U.S. strikes began, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said in a social media post that his country’s armed forces would “leave no attack or threat unanswered.” Mr. Trump did not offer any more details on the downing of the U.S. Army Apache helicopter. Iran did not take responsibility for the attack, and its state broadcaster, IRIB, quoted an unnamed military official who said the country had conducted no military operation over the strait in the prior 24 hours. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said the United States and Iran were nearing an agreement to end the war, resolve the fate of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for oil and gas shipments - NYT
Israel has carried out strikes across southern Lebanon, despite a warning from Iran not to continue attacks in the country. The Lebanese health ministry said eight people were killed in Tyre, where the Israeli military issued a new order for residents to leave the southern city, including its Christian quarter for the first time. Israel and Iran paused hostilities on Monday, after an Israeli strike on Beirut targeting the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah triggered their first exchange of fire since a truce in April. Iran warned that it could hit Israel again if it did not stop attacks in Lebanon. But Israel vowed to continue its campaign against Hezbollah.
An unidentified man, reported to be a senior general, was killed on Tuesday morning when his car exploded in a satellite town of Moscow. The incident occurred at around 5:30 a.m. in Balashikha, just outside the Russian capital. The identity of the victim has not been made public, but channels on the Telegram app reported that the fatality was a 62-year-old lieutenant general. Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, previously said security had been tightened around high-ranking military officers. Investigators said an “explosive device was detonated while a BMW X3 car was driving near a residential apartment building.” Security camera footage circulated online showed the vehicle bursting into flames from the rear. Social media users reported that several bystanders rushed to the burning car to assist the driver, but Russia’s top investigative body, the Investigative Committee, said the victim died of multiple injuries at the scene. The incident occurred close to where Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was assassinated in a car bomb attack in April last year. Moskalik, the deputy chief of the main operations directorate of Russia’s armed forces, was killed instantly when a device was remotely detonated as he approached his vehicle. The latest deadly explosion comes amid a string of high-profile assassinations in Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s intelligence services have claimed responsibility for some of the killings, which have included senior military officials, politicians, pro-war and pro-Putin propagandists, and Ukrainian defectors - TVP World
Russia’s State Duma has passed legislation requiring all mobile devices used in the country to be registered in a state database, part of the Kremlin’s second anti-cyberfraud package (“Antifraud 2.0”). Under the new rules, telecom operators and government-designated bodies must log the unique 15-digit IMEI number of every device imported into Russia. Crucially, devices will be tied to specific SIM cards at the point of registration — meaning a SIM cannot be issued for a phone already assigned to another number, and blacklisted or stolen devices will be rendered inoperable on Russian networks. Officials say the measure targets fraud, phone theft, and electronics smuggling. The Ministry of Digital Development added a notably different rationale: the registry will also help identify SIM cards used in drones — potentially reducing the need for blanket internet shutdowns. The legislation was submitted by the Russian government in December 2025 and cleared its final reading Tuesday.
A World Briefing audit of Airbnb listings across Greater Vancouver — including the downtown core — finds that the vast majority of short-term rental hosts have slashed their nightly rates, in many cases cutting asking prices nearly in half. For this weekend’s kick off group stage match between Australia vs. Türkiye, properties that were listed at around C$1,500 a night are now going for roughly C$700 — a stark reversal from the windfall hosts were promised when FIFA came calling. They The discounting reflects what is becoming an embarrassing demand story for the host city. The BC Hotel Association confirms that June hotel occupancy across the Lower Mainland is running nine per cent behind the same period last year — and in Downtown Vancouver, the gap widens to 15 per cent. FIFA, the BCHA concedes bluntly, has not generated the broad hotel demand many expected. With less than 10 days to kickoff, average daily hotel rates in Vancouver are falling by roughly 15 per cent daily, according to Expedia data. The early matches — arguably the least glamorous fixtures on the schedule — appear to be drawing the weakest interest, and locals on the ground confirm what the data suggests: almost nobody in British Columbia seems to actually hold a ticket. The city’s reputation is not helping. Vancouver’s homelessness and public disorder crisis has become impossible to paper over. A 2025 count put the city’s homeless population at 2,715, many concentrated in the Downtown Eastside — just steps from BC Place — and accusations are flying that the city is “sweeping the homeless people under the carpet for FIFA.” A sweeping new FIFA bylaw gives the city expanded powers over advertising, vending, noise, graffiti removal and public space management through July 20. For hosts who sank renovation money into premium Airbnb upgrades banking on extortionate World Cup fees, the math is turning ugly — fast.
A World Cup referee from Somalia has been denied entry to the U.S., forcing him out of the global sporting event just days before the first match. Omar Artan had landed in Miami on a flight from Istanbul over the weekend when he was turned away, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Monday. CBP did not say why the referee was barred from entry, though Somalia is among about 40 countries designated for additional scrutiny or subject to travel bans under President Donald Trump. “Following inspection, the traveler, a referee for the FIFA World Cup, was determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns and was denied entry,” CBP said.The decision to bar his entry comes amid widespread concern that Trump administration policies will hamper World Cup preparation as the U.S. prepares to host matches in 11 cities. FIFA confirmed it had been informed about the U.S. decision to bar Artan from entry and said his “status will not be changed at present.” This is the first known case of a World Cup referee being barred from entry by U.S. immigration authorities, though several players and coaching staff, as well as numerous fans, have had trouble entering the country- Politico
China is looking to spend nearly $300 billion over the next five years to build more data centers across the country, as Beijing strives to gain ground on the US in the AI race. The government wants to construct a network of “computing hubs,” Bloomberg reported. “The primary beneficiary of the plan is the economy as a whole,” an analyst wrote, given Beijing’s push to integrate AI across sectors to boost productivity. The country’s buildout, though, serves as a cautionary tale for the US, where public backlash to expanding AI infrastructure is growing, a China tech expert argued in Project Syndicate: There is a “growing mismatch between supply and demand” in China, with some data centers under-utilized and hundreds of projects reportedly canceled - Semafor
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For the first time in 20 years, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a new sunscreen ingredient — bemotrizinol, or BEMT — that experts say is a safer option than many chemical ingredients currently in use in the United States. “Bemotrizinol has been used safely in Europe for decades, and FDA’s action will increase competition and consumer confidence in sunscreen products,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said in a statement announcing the change. Adding BEMT is welcome news to many because there are few choices on US store shelves that are both safe and effective, according to an annual report by the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a nonprofit health and environmental advocacy organization. Sunscreens on US store shelves today excel at blocking the radiation that causes visible sunburns, called ultraviolet B rays. However, critics say they routinely fail to shield against deep-penetrating ultraviolet A, or UVA rays, which drive premature aging, suppress the immune system and are the primary contributor to skin cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Peer-reviewed research by EWG has found US sunscreens deliver on average just 24% of the UVA protection implied by their sun protection factor, or SPF, labels - CNN
Prince Harry seeks to mend his fractured relationship with his brother and return to the royals, according to the former editor-in-chief of People and Us Weekly. Appearing on The Royalist podcast on Tuesday, Dan Wakeford, the cultural commentator and founder of the Celebrity Intelligence newsletter, argued that Prince Harry is regretful of his fraught relationship with his brother, Prince William, and wants to come back to royal life. Host Tom Sykes asked the pop culture expert about a June 4 story from his newsletter, which discusses Harry’s estrangement from William and alleges that the Duke of Sussex doesn’t even have his brother’s phone number anymore. “There is a sense of loss with his family that is profound, and he misses the infrastructure, misses the ability to do the work,” Wakeford, 51, told Sykes about Harry’s relinquishing of his royal duties and separation from the family. “And he misses his home. He misses his friends. He misses that safety and that security…. And the devastating part of this is the quote where the sources have said that he secretly hoped William would struggle so he would pick up the phone and call him back and ask him for help,” he continued. “Because, remember, William and Harry were supposed to do this together with the Fab Foursome... splitting this work and this pressure.” Prince Harry, along with his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from their royal duties in 2020, moving to California to be financially independent from Buckingham Palace - The Daily Beast
The journals….
