International
Iran launches missile attacks on US bases in Qatar and Iraq
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched missile attacks Monday on U.S. military bases in Qatar and Iraq, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites and escalating tensions in the volatile region.
Qatar condemned the attack on Al Udeid Air Base attack, but said it successfully intercepted the missiles and no casualties were reported. It said its airspace was now safe.
Iran said the attack in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the United States on its nuclear sites this weekend, signaling its likely desire to de-escalate.
Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside of populated areas.
Iran announced the attack on state television as martial music played. A caption on screen called it “a mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression.”
In this photo released on Monday, June 23, 2025, by Iranian army press service, Iran’s army commander-in-chief Gen. Amir Hatami, center, accompanied by high ranked army commanders, speaks in a video call with top commanders of the army, in Zolfaghar central headquarters, Iran, as portraits of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hang on the wall. [Photo: Iranian Army Press Service via AP]
It wasn’t immediately clear if there was damage to the Iraq base or any injuries.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the attack by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards was “a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, its airspace, and international law.”
Al Udeid is also home to the Combined Air Operations Center, which provides command and control of air power across the region as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest expeditionary wing in the world.
The retaliation came a day after the U.S. launched a surprise attack Sunday morning on three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Just before the explosions, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on the social platform X: “We neither initiated the war nor seeking it. But we will not leave invasion to the great Iran without answer.”
Earlier in the day, Israel expanded its war against Iran to include targets associated with the country’s struggling theocracy, striking the gate of a Tehran prison notorious for holding political activists and hitting the headquarters of the military force that suppressed recent protests.
As plumes of thick smoke rose over Tehran, Israel was attacked with yet another barrage of Iranian missiles and drones. The persistent fire has become a reality for civilians in both countries since Israel started the war to target Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
On the 11th day of the conflict, Israel said it attacked “regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran,” but Israeli officials insisted they did not seek the overthrow of Iran’s government, their archenemy since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Israeli military warned Iranians that it would continue to attack military sites around Tehran over “the coming days” as its focuses has shifted to symbolic targets as well. The military issued the warning on the social platform X, though Iranians are struggling to access the outside world as an internet shutdown has crippled the country.
AP correspondent Joe Federman reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes U.S. support in the Israel-Iran war.
The latest strikes unfolded only hours after President Donald Trump openly raised the possibility himself after just a day earlier inserting America into the war with its unprecedented stealth-bomber strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.
“If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” he asked on his Truth Social website.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later described Trump as “simply raising a question.” However, suggestions of overthrowing the Iranian government drew new anger from Tehran, which insists it will not negotiate at this time and is threatening to retaliate directly against either American troops or interests in a Mideast already inflamed by the still-raging Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Tehran strikes open new chapter of war
In the Tehran strikes, Israel blew open a gate at Evin prison. Iranian state television shared black-and-white surveillance footage of the strike at the facility known for holding dual nationals and Westerners often used by Iran as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West.
Evin also has specialized units for political prisoners run by the paramilitary, all-volunteer Revolutionary Guard, which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The facility is the target of both U.S. and European Union sanctions.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Iran or significant damage, though the semiofficial Tasnim news agency said there had been a power cut reported outside of Tehran following the Israeli strikes.
Iranian state television also aired footage it described as being shot inside Evin, with prisoners under control inside the facility. However, the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran expressed worry about the condition of prisoners there.
“Many families of current detainees have expressed deep concern about the safety and condition of their loved ones held inside the prison,” it said.
Earlier Monday, Iranian Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of joint staff of armed forces, warned Washington that its strikes had given Iranian forces a “free hand “ to “act against U.S. interests and its army.”
Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East, many in locations within range of short-range Iranian missiles.
The Israeli military also confirmed it struck roads around Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility to obstruct access to the site. The underground site was one of those hit in Sunday’s attack by the United States on three nuclear facilities. The Israeli military did not elaborate.
“The Iranian dictator will be punished with full force for attacking the Israeli home front,” Israel’s Defense Ministry said.
According to an Israeli official familiar with the government’s strategy, Israel is targeting these sites to put pressure on the Iranian administration but is not actively seeking to topple it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal government deliberations.
Nuclear fears mount after US strikes
In Vienna, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said he expected there to be heavy damage at the Fordo facility following Sunday’s U.S. airstrike there with sophisticated bunker-buster bombs.
With the strikes Sunday on Iranian nuclear sites, the United States inserted itself into Israel’s war, prompting fears of a wider regional conflict. Iran said the U.S. had crossed “a very big red line” with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, have claimed Iran removed nuclear material from targeted sites ahead of time.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the agency’s board of governors Monday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi informed him on June 13 that Iran would “adopt special measures to protect nuclear equipment and materials.”
“I indicated that any transfer of nuclear material from a safeguarded facility to another location in Iran must be declared,” Grossi said, without saying whether Iran had responded.
Iran presses on attacking Israel
Iran described its Monday attack on Israel as a new wave of its “Operation True Promise 3,” saying it was targeting the Israeli cities of Haifa and Tel Aviv, according to Iranian state television.
Explosions were also heard in Jerusalem, possibly from air defense systems in action, and Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said there had been no reports of injuries.
In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 950 people and wounded 3,450 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding the death of Masha Amini in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 380 civilians and 253 security force personnel.
AP
Seventeen people were killed when eight gunmen stormed a bar close to Johannesburg on Saturday evening, with 15 more injured.
In a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town and a further 11 were injured.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and has struggled to contain gang-related gun violence in recent years. Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.
In Johannesburg, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside and torching two vehicles before fleeing.
Police said thirteen men and four women were killed.
Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another wounded, according to AFP news agency.
Speaking at the scene, he said police had clear pictures and in some cases names for the suspects.
In Cape Town, five victims died at the scene and a further five people died in hospital.
No arrests had been made in either case on Sunday morning.
The two mass shootings came days after 11 people were killed in the city of Duban when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
Illegal weapons are prevalent in South Africa and gun violence has been a persistent problem for decades, with about 60 murders recorded every day in the country of 62 million.
But a recent spate of mass shootings has raised fears that the problem is deepening, with violence often linked to turf wars between gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates in an effort to reduce armed violence.
On Saturday a tenth woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, to the east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they were unable to rule out a serial killer operating in the area with similarities between the deaths. (BBC)
The United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations, according to an investigation published Monday.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to UN agencies to facilitate the returns.
At least 25,447 people had already been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026, according to data compiled by Forbidden Stories with a consortium of international journalists.
The vast majority — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalised with seven more.
The deals vary, including over which nationalities can be deported and whether people with criminal records can be accepted.
An AFP investigation earlier this year found Washington is using visa bans and restrictions on African countries to strongarm them into accepting deportees.
Lawyers told AFP that deportees were being thrown into a “legal black hole”, held without charge in countries where they have no ties and few if any rights.
Forbidden Stories said 49 of Africa’s 54 countries had been approached about accepting third-country deportees.
A little-known State Department division called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025, has handled most of the negotiations and payments, according to Forbidden Stories.
The office is headed by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat who previously worked as a security officer.
The report details his visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in December on accepting deportees. A week later, it also signed a five-year health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The following month, the State Department said it would provide a further $30 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon to “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first plane carrying deportees arrived in Cameroon on January 14.
– Payments –
Other agreements have involved direct payments to governments.
Palau, a small Pacific island nation with a population of under 18,000, signed an agreement in December 2025 to accept up to 75 third-country nationals in return for $7.5 million.
However, only three people have so far been sent under the agreement.
In Eswatini, 32 people have arrived since July 2025 out of a possible 160 under an agreement worth more than $5 million. It has accepted deportees with criminal records, the investigation found.
Of the $410 million planned for the agreements, internal State Department records showed that $81 million was earmarked for signatory governments.
The rest was intended for aid organisations, including more than $178 million for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and $123 million for UNHCR.
The agencies have faced criticism over their involvement, although UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that US funding was being used in line with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
An IOM spokesperson told Forbidden Stories that the agency’s decisions to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
The mother of a black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in Jackson, Mississippi, has told the BBC she is still waiting for answers from officials more than a month later.
Her demands have been echoed by a community in the southern US state that has been left shocked and angry.
After weeks of silence, police on Tuesday confirmed for the first time that they were investigating the death of Tasia Fortune, 29, as a potential homicide – while clarifying that her official cause of death has yet to be confirmed.
Authorities discovered Fortune’s body on 3 August, hanging from a tree in the lot of an abandoned home.
Local concern over her death has been heightened by the fact that the state has a dark history of racial violence and lynchings.
The majority-black city has been left on edge. As the question lingers as to how Fortune died, petitions online signed by tens of thousands of people have called for more transparency, and members of US Congress have asked for federal intervention.
“It’s making me angry,” Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said. “What is the hold up?”
Spivey described desperate attempts to understand the status of the investigation and how multiple enquiries to police had gone unanswered.
The first update she had received from authorities in weeks came in a public city meeting on Tuesday evening as Jackson Police Chief RaShall Brackney discussed the case and said the department “has been investigating this case from day one as a homicide”.
Brackney, in a statement to the BBC, elaborated and said the department always treats any pending death case as a “potential homicide” so that crucial evidence is not lost as police wait on autopsy results.
The department, though, had only previously described the case as a death investigation.
Tuesday’s statement from Brackney said “we are conducting the investigation at the highest appropriate level while we await the medical examiner’s findings”, which would include an official cause and manner of death.
The medical examiner’s office said it would not comment on the pending case.
Christy Spivey Tasia Fortune holds a finger to her lips and smiles in a family handout photoChristy Spivey
Spivey last saw her daughter alive on 26 July, when Fortune had travelled from Mississippi, where she had lived for roughly the last decade, to Kentucky, where Spivey lives, for a family reunion.
The next time she saw her daughter – in a funeral home, days before her burial – she could barely look at her body.
“I didn’t look straight at her. Her daddy did,” she said. “I kind of looked from the side.”
Spivey remembered their last conversation. “She was talking about, you know, maybe even coming home,” she explained.
Fortune’s death has left the community concerned that racial violence in Mississippi could be on the rise again. And in the absence of concrete details about the case, their suspicions are left to fester.
Fortune’s death was the third incident in Mississippi in less than a year where police found someone dead and hanged from a tree.
The other two bodies – one black male, one white – were discovered in September 2025, on the exact same day.
Both were ruled a suicide, though the mother of one of the deceased – Trey Reed – contests those findings.
Fed-up residents have launched an online petition, which has gathered more than 50,000 signatures, for an independent investigation into the state’s chief medical examiner, Dr Staci Turner, over the handling of a recent spate of cases involving people of colour. Another petition asks for the FBI to launch an investigation into Fortune’s death
The BBC has asked Turner for comment.
Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes has also expressed concerns about the police investigation, saying he’d been outside the home where Fortune was thought to have lived multiple times and has never seen officers.
“All cases are important, but this one – a hanging in Mississippi – should rise to the top of the food chain,” Stokes said.
He told the BBC he sent letters to both federal prosecutors at the Mississippi US attorney’s office and the FBI weeks ago, urging that the investigation was “in dire need of assistance”. He has yet to hear back from either.
“Nothing from nobody,” Stokes said. “It’s like nobody cares.”
The BBC has reached out to the Mississippi US attorney’s office and the local FBI office for comment.
US Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has similarly requested federal intervention. In a letter to the US Department of Justice, she asked for an investigation into recent deaths in Mississippi – including that of Tasia Fortune – calling them “possible cases of modern-day lynchings”. She cited the state’s “appalling historical reputation of violent terrorism against black Americans”.
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to Mississippi, there have been multiple other cases nationally of black Americans found hanged from trees, including four in North Carolina this year alone. Three were ruled a suicide. An autopsy is pending for the fourth death.
The BBC has reached out to the justice department for comment.
Stokes is clear that he does not know whether Fortune’s death was a lynching, or whether race played a part at all. Nor does he care. He just wants answers.
Brandon King, president of the student National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter at nearby Jackson State University, said the mystery of Fortune’s death, combined with minimal updates from police, has led him and others to be “extra cautious” around campus.
The feeling, King said, was that “hey, you could be next. This is in Jackson. This is in your backyard”.
The thought is extra worrying, he continued, because “this is supposed to be the capital. This is where I’m supposed to feel the most safe”.
As for Spivey, she cried before heading to a funeral home for her daughter, dreading having to fill out a death certificate and decide whether to cremate or bury her firstborn child.
She wanted to cremate her daughter but decided, in the end, for a burial. She said she was holding out hope there would be updates in the investigation, which might mean needing to exhume her corpse. BBC
-
News3 days agoOjukwu Property Dispute: OTL petitions IGP over demolition, construction at Macpherson Avenue Property
-
News1 day ago
Fuel Price Hike: Workers to begin strike in October
-
News2 days ago
‘I’m strong, ready to work’ – Tinubu speaks after return from vacation
-
News1 day ago
We can’t erase decades-long problems in 4 years, says Tinubu
-
News2 days ago
Xenophobia: Nigerian Consulate condemns killing of three Nigerians in South Africa
-
News9 hours ago
Police confirm NYSC members among abducted passengers on Owerri-Onitsha Road, rescue 10
-
News2 days ago
Military records 367 attacks, kills 52 terrorists in September
-
News9 hours ago
NYSC members, other travellers ‘abducted’ along Owerri-Onitsha Expressway
