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Iran declared on Friday that it would not engage in nuclear discussions with the United States while Israeli military actions against it continue, responding to President Trump’s recent remarks suggesting a two-week window to allow diplomacy to resume.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi firmly rejected any possibility of talks while hostilities persist, stating there would be no engagement “until Israeli aggression stops.”

“Americans want to negotiate and have sent messages several times, but we clearly said that as long as this aggression doesn’t stop, there’s no place for talk of dialogue,” Araqchi said in a televised speech aired on Iranian state TV.

He also leveled accusations against the United States, claiming Washington is complicit in the military attacks. He described America as a “partner to Israeli crime against Iran.”

General Jack Keane, a retired four-star U.S. Army commander, expressed skepticism that Iran’s highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would ever fully commit to ceasing uranium enrichment activities.

“The Ayatollah going into this, and the reason why he has never made a deal, is because he had built an enterprise to survive an attack — and he believes they can absorb the attack, survive it, recover it, and then rebuild,” Gen. Keane said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“That is where this guy is. And I don’t see him, in the near term, making the deal here whatsoever,” he said, emphasizing his doubts about any imminent breakthrough.

At the same time, Israeli defense forces were instructed on Friday to ramp up their offensive operations against Iran, part of an effort to completely undermine the Islamic Republic’s leadership, following a wave of missile strikes launched the previous week.

These developments unfolded just a day after President Trump said he was weighing military action, while still holding out hope that Tehran might come back to the negotiating table.

“Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump stated.

In a parallel diplomatic effort, Iran’s foreign minister traveled to Geneva on Friday for meetings with several European diplomats, with discussions expected to include the state of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s designated envoy overseeing U.S. engagement with Iran, was not expected to participate in those Geneva meetings.

{Matzav.com}

YWN UPDATE: ISRAEL AT WAR – THE NUMBERS AS OF FRIDAY AT 3:00PM • Over 520 ballistic missiles launched. • About 400 Drones. • More than 50 impact sites. INJURIES: • 24 people were murdered. • 1,217 people injured: 12 in serious condition, 49 in moderate condition, 1,156 with light injuries. DAMAGES: 30,735 damage claims received by Israel Tax Authority: • 25,040 related to buildings. • 2,623 related to vehicles. • 3,006 related to other property. • 8,190 people were evacuated from their homes.

Iran has yet to formally decide to pursue the construction of a nuclear weapon, but intelligence sources believe such a move could follow swiftly if the United States were to strike the Fordow uranium enrichment facility or eliminate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a report from The New York Times published Thursday.

While the article references anonymous American intelligence officials suggesting Iran is not currently aiming to build a bomb, this view is not shared by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. According to CBS News, Ratcliffe has privately cautioned that Iran is on the verge of possessing nuclear weapons capability and is not merely debating it. “Claiming Iran isn’t close to a bomb,” he reportedly said, “would be similar to saying football players who have fought their way to the 1-yard line don’t want to score a touchdown.”

The Biden administration stated Thursday that Iran could finalize a nuclear weapon in “a couple of weeks,” underscoring how little time remains should Tehran choose to move forward.

That same two-week period is also the window during which President Donald Trump is weighing whether to authorize a military strike on the Fordow facility, located near Qom and buried about 300 feet underground. Israel lacks the kind of deep-penetration bombs required to destroy a site fortified to that extent.

The Times report also contradicts Israel’s assessment, which prompted it to initiate an offensive a week ago, based on information suggesting Iran had already enriched sufficient uranium for nine nuclear devices.

“All they had to do was weaponize them. We stopped that by attacking their nuclear scientists,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

Israel’s actions have continued beyond that initial strike.

“We control the skies over Tehran. We are striking with tremendous force at the Ayatollah regime. We are hitting the nuclear program, the missiles, the headquarters, the symbols of power,” Netanyahu declared in a video message on Wednesday.

{Matzav.com}

Peak sunshine has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere — the summer solstice. Friday is the longest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical summer. It’s the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year and winter will start. The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol” for sun and “stitium” which can mean “pause” or “stop.” The solstice is the end of the sun’s annual march higher in the sky, when it makes its longest, highest arc. The bad news for sun lovers: It then starts retreating and days will get a little shorter every day until late December. People have marked solstices for eons with celebrations and monuments, including Stonehenge, which was designed to align with the sun’s paths at the solstices. But what is happening in the heavens? Here’s what to know about the Earth’s orbit. Solstices are when days and nights are at their most extreme As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle relative to the sun. For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet. The solstices mark the times during the year when this tilt is at its most extreme, and days and nights are at their most unequal. During the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice, the upper half of the earth is tilted toward the sun, creating the longest day and shortest night of the year. This solstice falls between June 20 and 22. Meanwhile, at the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning away from the sun — leading to the shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice falls between December 20 and 23. The equinox is when there is an equal amount of day and night During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. That’s because on the equinox, day and night last almost the same amount of time — though one may get a few extra minutes, depending on where you are on the planet. The Northern Hemisphere’s spring — or vernal — equinox can land between March 19 and 21, depending on the year. Its fall – or autumnal — equinox can land between Sept. 21 and 24. On the equator, the sun will be directly overhead at noon. Equinoxes are the only time when both the north and south poles are lit by sunshine at the same time. What’s the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons? These are just two different ways to carve up the year. While astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun, meteorological seasons are defined by the weather. They break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles. By that calendar, spring starts on March 1, summer on June 1, fall on Sept. 1 and winter on Dec. 1. (AP)

A Hezbollah commander who the IDF says was responsible for numerous rocket attacks on northern Israel was killed in a drone strike earlier today. The strike in Shabriha, near Tyre, eliminated Mohammed Khader al-Husseini, the commander of Hezbollah’s firepower unit in the Litani river area, the IDF says.

Israel was rocked Friday by a fresh barrage of ballistic missiles launched from Iran, triggering a rare nationwide alert and sending millions of civilians scrambling to bomb shelters across the country. The IDF confirmed that approximately 25 ballistic missiles were fired from Iranian territory in the latest attack. Air raid sirens sounded across Israel—including in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Beersheva—as air defense systems engaged incoming threats. Loud explosions were reported in multiple regions, including the south, center, and north of the country. The Home Front Command issued a rare directive instructing civilians across the nation to seek shelter and remain indoors. After the attack subsided, it later announced that citizens could safely exit bomb shelters. While southern and central Israel reported no injuries, Haifa bore the brunt of the assault. According to Magen David Adom (MDA), 17 people were wounded in the northern port city, including a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 40s who were seriously injured by shrapnel. A 54-year-old was moderately wounded, and 14 others sustained light injuries. All were transported to local hospitals for treatment. Medics and emergency responders rushed to impact sites across the country, with confirmed fragment damage reported in Beersheba and several central cities. It remains unclear whether Iran used a cluster bomb warhead—a device designed to disperse smaller munitions over a wide area—in the attack. The IDF continues to assess the extent of the damage and monitor for additional threats. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A prominent Orthodox Jewish advocacy organization has rolled out a bold digital campaign in the heart of Times Square, directly equating the popular anti-Israel phrase “Free Palestine” with incitement to genocide and warning that the ideology behind it poses a growing threat to the United States.

The initiative, launched earlier this week by the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), features a striking 10-second message on one of Times Square’s most heavily trafficked digital billboards. The ad reads: “Free Palestine = Support for Hamas = Calling for Genocide of Jews. America, Wake Up. It Never Ends With the Jews!” It will air dozens of times per day over the course of a month.

CJV, which represents over 2,500 Orthodox rabbis engaged in matters of public policy, explained that the goal of the campaign is to expose what it describes as the true danger of the movement to the broader American public.

This effort comes in response to a surge in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre in Israel. The group notes that antisemitism has jumped by more than 200% nationwide in the months since the attack, with Jews continuing to account for the majority of hate-crime victims in New York City.

According to CJV, the phrase “Free Palestine” has been linked to several violent attacks in recent weeks. Among them were a firebomb attack at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, the murder of two individuals outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C., and an assault involving a homemade flamethrower targeting pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado. Witnesses in each case reported that the attackers shouted “Free Palestine” as they carried out their acts.

At a vigil on Capitol Hill last Tuesday honoring the two Israeli embassy employees who were killed, House Speaker Mike Johnson voiced his alarm. “The ‘Free Palestine’ call has become a violent movement that collaborates with Hamas,” he said, accusing universities of abusing free speech protections to justify support for terrorism and genocide.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Executive Vice President of CJV, issued a sharply worded statement in conjunction with the billboard campaign. “Too many Jewish organizations are afraid to say what Speaker Johnson finds obvious: the cry of ‘Free Palestine’ is the call of domestic terrorists.”

“Israel is the only free country in the Middle East,” Menken said. “The one thing Israel is not free of is Jews, and that is what ‘Free Palestine’ aims to correct, in the model of Hitler’s Final Solution.”

He went on to say, “They have no interest in building a nation, but destroying one. They do not want to elevate Palestinian Arabs, but to eradicate Jews. This is classic antisemitism, and history proves that there is no greater danger to the continuity of a civilization.”

Rabbi Menken concluded with a call to action for Americans of all political leanings to confront what he called a “bloodthirsty” movement. “When students on college campuses chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free,’ America itself is at risk,” Rabbi Menken warned.

“We call upon all Americans to join us in speaking clearly about who and what the ‘Free Palestine’ movement stands for — and the need to stamp it out,” he added.

 

 

DELUSIONAL: Senior IRGC General, Mohsen Rezaei: “Any ceasefire now will lead to renewed war. We must not allow the enemy, which is currently in a weak position, to revive itself with a ceasefire. We have used less than 30% of our military capabilities. We are gradually escalating the war.”

The Magid HaRav Boruch Rosenblum warns parents not to frighten and traumatize their children while sheltering and instead sing with them, and do not drag them down 5 flights of stairs in middle of the night, instead go to a safe room.

IDF: For the first time, the Israeli Air Force used the “Barak” air defense system to intercept a hostile UAV that entered Israeli territory. Developed in Israel, the Barak system is designed to neutralize aerial threats.

Tehran experiencing loud celebrations — oh wait, that’s just the IAF throwing a going-away party for Iran’s missile program.

This morning, the IAF completed a series of strikes on military targets belonging to the Iranian regime in the area of Tabriz and Kermanshah in Iran. During the strikes, over 25 fighter jets struck over 35 missile storage and launch infrastructure components in the areas of Tabriz and Kermanshah in Iran.

In light of the continued closure of Israeli airspace, El Al has announced an alternative route home for stranded passengers — by sea. In coordination with Mano Maritime, a cruise ship will sail from Limassol, Cyprus, to the port of Ashdod on Wednesday, June 26. The voyage will be free of charge for El Al and Sun D’Or customers whose flights were cancelled due to the ongoing situation. Other travelers can book a one-way ticket for €550 through the El Al website. The ship, which can accommodate approximately 1,500 passengers, will first depart from Ashdod to Limassol on Monday, June 24, carrying ticketed passengers from Israel to Cyprus.

UPDATE: Rambam Hospital reports they have 12 injured patients. 2 serious, 2 moderate, and 8 lightly injured.

Terroriat Ali Saadi Wasfi al-Agha, was killed Monday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a hideout in central Gaza, the IDF announced. According to the IDF, al-Agha played a key role in the October 7 attacks and was personally involved in the abduction, murder, and burial of Israeli hostages, including Gadi Haggai and Judith Weinstein. The military said the bodies of Haggai and Weinstein were discovered earlier this month in al-Agha’s home in Khan Younis.

In a video message released this week, Rav Yaakov Shapiro, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Merkaz HaRav, offered reflections on Operation “Am K’Lavi,” framing it as a moment of profound elevation for the Jewish people.

“This is an extraordinary time,” Rav Shapiro declared. “Hakadosh Baruch Hu is raising the stature of Am Yisrael—the pride of the nation and the honor of Hakadosh Baruch Hu Himself.”

Citing the verse, “V’ra’u kol amei ha’aretz ki sheim Hashem nikra alecha v’yar’u mimeka,’” Rav Shapiro emphasized that the shame endured by the Jewish people on Simchas Torah is being reversed. “Hakadosh Baruch Hu is turning the wheel and raising the glory of the Torah and of Eretz Yisrael,” he said.

The Rosh Yeshiva pointed to a powerful awakening among Jews around the world toward Eretz Yisroel. “Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are seeking any way to return to Eretz Yisrael. Jews outside the land are yearning for it as well. And in Parshas Shelach, where the meraglim diminished the spirit of emunah, we are now in a time of uplift—hein am k’lavi—we resemble a lion,” he stated.

Quoting the Shulchan Aruch, Rav Shapiro invoked the directive to “rise like a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven,” and explained, citing Rav Kook zt”l, that “a lion’s strength is innate—when the moment arrives, it knows how to harness that strength.”

Rav Shapiro concluded with a call to the entire nation to rise to this spiritual occasion: “All of us—students, the wives of students, soldiers and their families, and every Jew who bears the name Yisroel—are partners in this historic moment. And with Hashem’s help, we will merit to fulfill Moshe Rabbeinu’s final words: ‘Ve’atah al bamoseimo tidroch’—‘And you shall tread upon their high places.’”

{Matzav.com Israel}