Tel Aviv, June 17 -- US President Donald Trump on Monday posted on his social media site an ominous message calling for the immediate evacuation of the Iranian capital of Tehran while he's in Canada attending the G7 summit. Trump had said more than once during the day that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. He emphasized that again in his social media post, writing "IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON." He said Iran should have signed the deal' he told them to sign to prevent what he said was "a shame, and waste of human life," referring to Israel's attack last week. Trump ended the post with, "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"
Tehran is home to around 9.5 million people. Earlier Monday, Israel's military earlier issued an evacuation warning affected up to 330,000 people in a part of central Tehran that includes the country's state TV and police headquarters, as well as three large hospitals, including one owned by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Israel struck Iran's state-run television station Monday during a live broadcast, forcing a reporter to run off camera following an explosion, after Iran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel that killed at least eight people. In other developments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes have set Iran's nuclear program back a "very, very long time." He added that Israel is not attempting to topple the Iranian government, but he said he would not be surprised if that happened as a result of the strikes. "The regime is very weak," Netanyahu told a news conference. He also said he is in daily touch with U.S. President Donald Trump. As he spoke, large numbers of explosions were heard in Tehran. Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people in the middle of the Iranian capital to evacuate ahead of the strike against the TV station, which the military said provided a cover for Iranian military operations. The warning came on the fourth day of the conflict, when the Israeli military claimed it had achieved air superiority above the Iranian capital and could fly over the city without facing major threats. The warning affected up to 330,000 people in a part of central Tehran that includes the country's state TV and police headquarters. The military has issued similar evacuation warnings for civilians in parts of Gaza and Lebanon ahead of strikes. State-run television abruptly stopped a live broadcast after the station was hit, according to Iran's state-run news agency. While on the air, an Iranian state television reporter said the studio was filling with dust after "the sound of aggression against the homeland." Suddenly, an explosion occurred, cutting the screen behind her as she hurried off camera. The broadcast quickly switched to prerecorded programs. The station later said its building was hit by four bombs. An anchor said on air that a few colleagues had been hurt, but their families should not be worried. The network said its live programs were transferred to another studio.
Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said his country's forces had "achieved full aerial superiority over Tehran's skies." The military said it destroyed more than 120 surface-to-surface missile launchers in central Iran, a third of Iran's total, as well as two F-14 planes that Iran used to target Israeli aircraft and multiple launchers just before they launched ballistic missiles towards Israel. Israeli military officials also said fighter jets had struck 10 command centers in Tehran belonging to Iran's Quds Force, an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran. The Israeli strikes "amount to a deep and comprehensive blow to the Iranian threat," Defrin said. Elsewhere, three drones struck South Pars, Iran's main gas production center, according to Iranian state news. The report did not specify the extent of the damage.
Iran, meanwhile, announced it had launched some 100 missiles and vowed further retaliation for the sweeping attacks on its military and nuclear infrastructure that have killed at least 224 people in the country since Friday. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 injured, Israeli officials said, after Iran launched more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones. One missile fell near the American consulate in Tel Aviv, with its blast waves causing minor damage, US. Ambassador Mike Huckabee said on X. He added that no American personnel were injured. The latest conflict began when Israel launched an assault on Iran's top military leaders, uranium enrichment sites and nuclear scientists that it said was necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not pursued a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs if it chooses to do so. Iran has retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel. The back-and-forth has raised concerns about all-out war between the countries and propelled the region, already on edge, into even greater upheaval.
US President Donald Trump is departing the Group of Seven summit in Canada on Monday night, leaving a day early due to the intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran. "President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on social media. "Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State."
World leaders at the Group of Seven summit in Canada scrambled Monday to find a way to contain the conflict between Israel and Iran, with US President Donald Trump warning that Tehran needs to curb its nuclear program before it's "too late." The US president said Iranian leaders would "like to talk" but they had already had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before an Israeli aerial assault began four days ago. "They have to make a deal," he said. By Monday afternoon, Trump warned ominously on social media: "Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"
The summit's host at the Rocky Mountain retreat, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the world was looking to the G7 for leadership at a "hinge" moment in time. "We're gathering at one of those turning points in history," Carney said. "The world's more divided and dangerous." British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz held an hourlong informal meeting soon after arriving at the summit late Sunday to discuss the widening conflict in the Mideast, Starmer's office said. And Merz told reporters that Germany is planning to draw up a final communique proposal on the Israel-Iran conflict that will stress that "Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons-capable material." Trump, for his part, said Iran "is not winning this war. And they should talk and they should talk immediately before it's too late." Asked what it would take for the US to get involved in the conflict militarily, Trump said, "I don't want to talk about that."
It's unclear how much Trump values the perspective of other members of the G7, a group he immediately criticized while meeting with Carney. The US president said it was a mistake to remove Russia from the summit's membership in 2014 and that doing so had destabilized the world. He also suggested he was open to adding China to the G7. Trump also seemed to put a greater priority on addressing his grievances with other nations' trade policies. He announced with Starmer that they had signed a trade framework on Monday that was previously announced in May, with Trump saying that British trade was "very well protected' because "I like them, that's why. That's their ultimate protection."
High tension
This year's G7 summit is full of combustible tensions. Trump already has hit several dozen nations with severe tariffs that risk a global economic slowdown. There is little progress on settling the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and now the new conflict between Israel and Iran. Add to all of that the problems of climate change, immigration, drug trafficking, new technologies such as artificial intelligence and China's continued manufacturing superiority and chokehold on key supply chains. As the news media was escorted from the summit's opening session, Carney could be heard as he turned to Trump and referenced how the U.S. leader's remarks about the Middle East, Russia and China had already drawn attention to the summit. "Mr. President, I think you've answered a lot of questions already," Carney said. Trump wants to focus on trade, though he may have to balance those issues with the broader need by the G7 countries - which also include Japan - to project a united front to calm down a world increasingly engulfed in chaos. The German, UK, Japanese and Italian governments have each signaled a belief that a friendly relationship with Trump this year can help to keep any public drama at a minimum, after the US president in 2018 opposed a joint communique when the G7 summit was last held in Canada.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.