• Military
• United States
• Iran

June 12, 2025, 5:40 PM View Comments ()

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at concerns that Israel might be preparing to attack Iran, a deadly plane crash in India, and legal efforts to restrict U.S. federal troops in Los Angeles.

Mass Casualty Event

Israel appears to be preparing to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities in the near future, U.S. and European officials warned on Thursday. It is unclear how extensive such an operation might be, but experts fear that any military action could trigger a catastrophic Iranian response and derail ongoing nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that an Israeli strike “could very well happen.” He has previously warned that Israel or the United States could target Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations fail. However, Trump said on Thursday that he would prefer to make a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program and believes that such a deal is close. “As long as I think there is an agreement, I don’t want [the Israelis] going in because I think that would blow it,” he said. Last month, Trump similarly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to conduct a military operation while U.S. nuclear negotiations are underway. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are expected to lead another round of nuclear talks in Oman on Sunday.

Witkoff reportedly told top Senate Republicans last week that if Israel bombs Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran could retaliate with a ballistic missile attack on Israel that has the potential to be a mass casualty event. Araghchi has suggested that any military action against Iran would produce severe consequences, potentially including strikes on U.S. military bases in Iraq or Syria.

The United States withdrew its diplomats and other nonmilitary personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Iraq on Wednesday and has since authorized the voluntary departure of military families across the Middle East. On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Israel ordered government employees to remain in the Tel Aviv area for their security.

“The safety and security of our service members and their families remains our highest priority and U.S. Central Command is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East,” a defense official told FP’s John Haltiwanger.

Fear of a looming Israeli military strike comes the same day that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) formally censured Iran—for the first time in 20 years—for failing to uphold its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). A draft resolution detailed evidence of uranium traces at several locations in Iran that were not previously disclosed as nuclear sites.

Tehran slammed the vote as political and said the resolution “completely called into question the credibility and prestige” of the IAEA. France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States proposed the resolution, and 19 countries voted in favor. Russia, China, and Burkina Faso voted against it while 11 nations abstained and two did not vote.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has no choice but to respond to this political resolution,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said in a joint statement. AEOI spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi said Tehran will establish a new nuclear enrichment facility “in a secure location” and replace old centrifuges for advanced ones at one site.

Thursday’s vote could also inflame tensions ahead of Sunday’s nuclear talks. The Trump administration has proposed a deal that would provide Iran with fuel for its reactors but prevent it from enriching uranium to build a nuclear weapon. Iran, though, remains opposed to such a concession, insisting that it has the right to enrich uranium under the NPT. “We will continue down our own path; we will have enrichment,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said.

Today’s Most Read

• Congress Must Constrain Trump by Kori Schake
• Why the West Embraced Syria and Ditched Afghanistan by Adam Weinstein
• What Washington Doesn’t Understand About CCP Membership by James Palmer

What We’re Following

Deadly plane crash. An Air India passenger plane bound for London crashed shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing all but one of the 242 people on board as well as several more individuals on the ground.

Video of the incident shows the plane colliding with residential buildings in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, injuring dozens of people on the ground. The plane was carrying 169 Indians, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani; 53 Brits; seven Portuguese; and one Canadian national. “My thoughts are with the passengers and their families at this deeply distressing time,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X.

It is unclear what caused the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, departing from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, to crash. Boeing has been involved in several plane incidents and faulty engineering in recent months, though this is the first time that a Dreamliner has crashed, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

Los Angeles’s legal battle. A U.S. federal court is set to hear an emergency motion on Thursday afternoon to determine whether the Trump administration can use the 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines it deployed to Los Angeles to assist with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed the order on Tuesday, accusing Trump of overreaching his executive powers and asking the court to restrict the federal troops to protection of just federal property.

On Wednesday, U.S. officials told Reuters that incoming Marines will be authorized to detain protesters, as well as anyone who interferes with ICE raids. The orders have triggered heavy backlash across the United States, with marches growing against Trump’s immigration policies and military actions in Los Angeles.

“Both the White House and the military leadership are willfully blurring the line between restrictions on active-duty forces and the greater latitude the law allows for National Guard use,” Kori Schake, the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, argued for Foreign Policy.

Attack on aid workers. The Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) accused Hamas of attacking a bus on Wednesday night that was carrying some of its Palestinian aid workers. The team was en route to an aid distribution site in southern Gaza when it was targeted, the GHF said. At least eight people were killed and 21 others injured, and the foundation said it fears that some of its members were taken hostage.

“This attack did not happen in a vacuum,” GHF said in a statement. “For days, Hamas has openly threatened our team, our aid workers, and the civilians who receive aid from us. These threats were met with silence.” The GHF has repeatedly accused Hamas of “openly” threatening its staff members and endangering Palestinian civilians in need of assistance. Hamas has denied these claims, though it has not responded yet to the bus attack allegation.

The United Nations maintains that the GHF’s limited and controversial distribution system has enabled Israel to weaponize humanitarian aid, forcing displacement and dangerous overcrowding.

Odds and Ends

Two taverns in Spain are vying for the coveted title of the world’s oldest restaurant. For decades, Madrid’s Sobrino de Botín has claimed the Guinness World Record; it opened in 1725 and has served a litany of literary icons, including authors such as Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway. But Casa Pedro, a small, family-owned restaurant on the outskirts of the capital, is challenging that title, claiming that it first opened in 1702. The family has hired a historian to help prove its case, and it has already found documentation going as far back as 1750.