- 2 months ago
US President Donald Trump said that the United States knows the exact location of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei but has chosen not to target him, "at least not for now" and demanded Iran's "unconditional surrender".
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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest edition of World Today. I'm Akshita Nandakopa. Lots happening
00:21globally. There seem to be multiple conflict zones now, but this evening our focus of course
00:27is on the West Asia war. Five days now of the conflict between Iran and Israel and no signs
00:34of betting right now. American President Donald Trump left G7 summit in Canada a day early,
00:41rather surprisingly, to monitor the Iran-Israel war as he put it. And within hours of his return
00:47to the White House, the US President is busy putting out one post after another on Truth
00:52Social, on his social media page, where he's gone ahead and directly targeted Iran's Supreme
00:58Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Now in his Truth Social post, Trump says he knows exactly where
01:05the Iranian Supreme Leader is hiding, as he puts it. He says this is an easy target and
01:12that he is not going to kill him for now. I'm reading verbatim from what Trump has said.
01:17You can go ahead and decipher it whichever way you want. But for now, Trump says he's not
01:22going to kill him for now. Before that, Trump posted, and I quote, we now have complete and
01:28total control of the skies over Iran. And finally, in the last post that he's put out, he's put in
01:34full caps saying unconditional surrender. A clear message again to Iran that there will be no conditions
01:40that they can lay out. Surrender by Iran has to be completely unconditional. Earlier, Donald Trump said
01:47that Iran should have signed the deal and then didn't speak of a ceasefire, but said very clearly
01:53that there will be an end to this. Exactly in what manner that will be, we don't know. Iran and U.S.
01:59were supposed to have another round of talks on 15 June, got derailed, of course, when Israel started
02:04to rain missiles on Iran on 13 June. And since then, U.S. has resolutely stood with Israel. Now,
02:12President Trump, importantly, has also warned residents of Tehran, saying evacuate, suggesting
02:18the United States was working on something, as he put it, better than a ceasefire. U.S. President,
02:24Vice President, in fact, J.D. Vance posted on Egg saying that President Trump has been consistent
02:30over 10 years that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. J.D. Vance then elaborated exactly what
02:36America's stand is, saying over the last few months, Trump encouraged his foreign policy team
02:40to reach a deal with the Iranians, and he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways,
02:45the easy way or the other way, as Vance has put it in a social media post. Vance also has repeatedly
02:52pointed out that there's not been a single good argument for why Iran needed to enrich uranium
02:57well above the threshold for civilian use, violating its non-proliferation obligations,
03:02which is what Israel has been maintaining, that they believe Iran is building up nuclear weapons,
03:07which they feel is a threat to them. Now, J.D. Vance, therefore, has clearly stated out
03:12America's position, concluding that President Trump is only interested in using the American
03:17military to accomplish American people's goals. Now, as far as Iran and Israel goes,
03:24they're trading blow after blow in what's fast becoming the region's most dangerous conflict
03:28in decades. With Israel eliminating Iran's top military commanders, the stakes are higher than ever
03:35for Iran.
03:36Israel and Iran are on the brink of a big escalation.
03:52Two loud explosions were heard in Tehran on Tuesday morning. Israel has warned that it will attack
04:09most significant targets in Tehran today. Latest images released by Israel showed strikes on F-14
04:19fighter jets in a Tehran airport, apart from strikes on trucks containing weapons and launchers on the
04:26way to Tehran. Israel has also asserted that its decision not to target Iran's nuclear facility
04:34in Fardo so far does not mean it won't in the future. Israel has dealt another deadly blow to Iran
04:42after laying majority of Iranian military top brass to waste just days ago.
04:47The Israeli Defense Forces eliminated Ali Shadmani, Iran's newly appointed wartime chief of staff.
04:55Shadmani was the most senior military commander and the closest figure to Iranian Supreme Leader
05:00Ali Khamenei. His predecessor, Hossein Salami, was killed just days ago by Israel in a similar strike.
05:09Tonight, following accurate intelligence received by the intelligence branch, we eliminated Ali Shadmani,
05:18the war chief of staff, the most senior military commander of the Iranian regime. Shadmani only managed to hold the position for four days and we also eliminated him.
05:28We will pursue our enemies again and again using advanced intelligence capabilities, exploiting opportunities, air superiority and complex operational planning.
05:40Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, has issued an open warning to Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei, claiming he could end up like Saddam Hussein.
05:49I warned the Iranian dictator from continuing to commit war crimes and fire missiles at Israeli citizens.
05:58He should remember what happened to the dictator in the country neighbouring Iran, who took this path against the state of Israel.
06:04We will continue today as well to operate against regime targets and military targets in Tehran,
06:10as we did against the propaganda and incitement broadcasting authority.
06:14Israeli fighter jets also launched a wave of targeted airstrikes deep into Iranian territory,
06:23including a shocking strike on Iran's state broadcaster headquarters in Tehran during a live transmission.
06:34The anchor on air was seen scrambling for cover as fire engulfed the studio.
06:39Flames consumed the building and the aftermath was nothing short of catastrophic.
06:52A senior reporter for Iran's IRIB news agency stood outside the burning headquarters with hands stained with blood.
07:00This appalling attack constitute a blatant war crime and a direct assault on press freedom.
07:14The Israeli regime has once again demonstrated that it is the foremost enemy of truth.
07:20It holds the disgraceful record of being the world's leading perpetrator of violence against journalists and media professionals.
07:32Iran too is hitting back with a wave of ballistic missile strikes on Israel.
07:36An Iranian defense ministry spokesman has claimed that Israel will be defeated in the coming days.
07:42The Zionist enemy does not have the possibility of resisting and enduring a long war.
07:50And therefore, this regime will be defeated in this imposed war.
08:03Are Israel and Iran now at a point of no return?
08:08Bureau Report, India Today.
08:12So, Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cuts an increasingly lonely figure.
08:21Very few allies in the world.
08:23Khamenei has seen his main military security advisors all killed by Israeli airstrikes,
08:29leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors.
08:34There is a threat of regime change that looms larger over Iran.
08:37And both Israel and now the U.S. have been very, very vocal about getting rid of, in some cases, eliminating Khamenei,
08:45that would lead to a race for succession in Iran and a vacuum of leadership.
08:49The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
09:09would end the conflict between Israel and Iran.
09:12We had the peace talks.
09:22We gave it a chance.
09:23We've, you know, clenched our teeth.
09:26We did everything we could to enable President Trump to negotiate the desired result.
09:32And that would have been preferable for us, and I think for everyone.
09:35But we saw in the course of the negotiations, while they were negotiating with the United States,
09:41the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, tweeted almost every day, death to Israel.
09:48The talks were merely a facade.
09:50So are you going to target the supreme leader?
09:53Look, we're doing what we need to do.
09:54I'm not going to get into the details.
09:56But then, news reports suggested the U.S. President Donald Trump has shot down Israel's solution
10:04to escalating tension with Iran.
10:07U.S. officials tell us that the president flatly rejected a plan,
10:13an opportunity that you, the Israelis, had to take out the supreme leader.
10:20Do you understand his concern?
10:21My understanding is his concern is that this would escalate the conflict beyond where it is already.
10:28It's not going to escalate the conflict.
10:29It's going to end the conflict.
10:31The man in question, the supreme leader of Iran, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
10:38came to power succeeding Ayatollah Ruhallah Khamenei in 1989.
10:44For more than two and a half decades, Iran has been ruled with iron fist by him.
10:49Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the ultimate authority over Iran's judiciary,
10:55armed forces, state media, and key institutions like the Guardian Council
11:00and Expediency Discernment Council.
11:03His words are law for Iran.
11:06And he doesn't trust the West, especially the United States of America.
11:12Khamenei has accused the U.S. of seeking regime change.
11:15In negotiations, one must be certain that the other party will honour their commitments.
11:21When we know they won't follow through, what is the point of negotiating?
11:26Therefore, the invitation to negotiate and the expression of willingness to do so
11:30is merely a deception of public opinion.
11:33June 2025 has brought the focus back on his survival and the broader question of his successor
11:41in case he is eliminated like his other close-aids in five days of war with Israel.
11:49Top of that list could be his son, Mershtaba Khamenei.
11:52Born in 1969, he is the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
11:58He joined Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, in his youth
12:03and served in the final phase of the Iraq-Iran war.
12:07He himself is a mid-ranking cleric with connections both within the IRGC and the clerical circle.
12:15Ali Reza Arafi is a trusted confidant of Khamenei.
12:18He has held a series of positions in Iran.
12:22Arafi is the second deputy chairman of the Assembly of Experts,
12:26a member of the Guardian Council,
12:29Friday prayer leader of Qaum,
12:31and an influential figure in the seminary.
12:33His position within the power structure enhances his chances of being chosen as the successor.
12:41Ali Asghar Hijazi,
12:42the deputy of political security affairs at Khamenei's office,
12:47could be another contender.
12:49He has been involved in sensitive security decisions
12:52and is often described as the most powerful intelligence official in Iran.
12:58Golem Hossein Mohseni Ajay is referred to by some as an Ayatollah.
13:05He has spent his career in Iran's judiciary and intelligence apparatuses.
13:10Mohseni Ajay has served as a minister of intelligence under President Mahmood,
13:15Ahmadinejad,
13:16and first deputy chief and spokesman for the judiciary.
13:22And there are others as well.
13:24The head of Khamenei's office,
13:26Mohamed Golpe Aghani,
13:28as well as former Iranian foreign ministers,
13:31Ali Akbar Velayati and Kamal Karazi,
13:35and ex-parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
13:37They are all trusted confidants on diplomatic and domestic policies,
13:47issues such as the nuclear dispute.
13:49But their relation with the clerics would weigh heavily to decide succession.
13:54Bureau Report, India Today.
13:58So for now, Donald Trump has maintained that they don't have a plan of killing Khamenei.
14:05But he says, for now.
14:07So we'll have to see what really happens and what his fate will be in the coming days.
14:11What's very clear is that this conflict continues to rage on,
14:14with multiple reports even coming in right now,
14:17of strikes, counter-strikes playing out in both Israel and Iran.
14:22In Iran, internet connectivity is also slowed as a result of these strikes by Israel.
14:29Now remember, as far as the G7 goes,
14:31and the spotlight really was all the Group of Seven,
14:34where you've got these Western powers, these countries,
14:36all coming together essentially at a time of this conflict.
14:40So we thought, and many assumed,
14:42that there would be a big takeaway that emerged from the G7.
14:45And yet you had Donald Trump cutting short his visit to Canada
14:49and his participation in the G7.
14:53So the 50th anniversary of G7 became lacklustre
14:55after Trump left a day early to monitor this conflict.
15:00Before he left, he asserted that it was a very big mistake
15:03to remove Russia from the G7 summit.
15:06A day later, Russia said that G7 has lost its practical significance.
15:10Russia regained its importance and recognition on the world stage
15:17by none other than U.S. President Donald Trump.
15:20At the Group of Seven summit in Kananiscus, Canada,
15:23Trump suggested that Russia should never have been removed from the group.
15:27In 2020, Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau
15:32didn't want to have Russia in.
15:35And I would say that that was a mistake
15:37because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in.
15:39And you wouldn't have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago.
15:44But it didn't work out that way.
15:46But it used to be the G8.
15:48And now it's, I guess, what's that, nine years ago, eight years ago,
15:51it switched over.
15:53They threw Russia out, which I claimed was a very big mistake,
15:57even though I wasn't in politics and I was very loud about it.
15:59It was a mistake in that.
16:02Trump asserted that it was a very big mistake
16:05to remove Russia in 2014 after it annexed Crimea.
16:10Kremlin echoed Trump's views.
16:12This is undoubtedly an important event
16:17and it carries significant informational value.
16:21Of course, we are analyzing the incoming information.
16:25We agree with President Trump
16:26it was a major mistake to exclude Russia from the G8 back then.
16:31However, our position is well known.
16:33Today the G7 has lost its practical relevance for us,
16:37given the shrinking share of G7 countries.
16:40Russia had previously been a member of the elite group
16:47from 1998 to 2014.
16:50It was then called the G8.
16:52But later, with Russia's suspension,
16:54the group was renamed G7.
16:57Disagreements over trade and climate
16:58have tested the future of the group.
17:02This year's meet marks the 50th anniversary of the group.
17:05The United States, France, Italy, Japan, the UK and West Germany
17:14formed the group of six in 1975.
17:19It was a platform for the non-communist powers
17:22to address economic concerns,
17:24including inflation and a recession
17:26sparked by the organization
17:28of the petroleum exporting country's oil embargo.
17:33Canada joined the following year.
17:36Bureau Report, India Today.
17:37Okay, let me bring in Gaurav Savant.
17:42He's joining us live from the location
17:44where you have had a series of these G7 meetings
17:47happening in Canada.
17:49Gaurav, good evening, or rather good morning.
17:51A day of, of course, a series of bilaterals
17:54planned for Prime Minister Modi.
17:55But I want to put the focus, Gaurav,
17:56on the G7 and the fact that President Trump
17:59rather unexpectedly has left a day early.
18:02Does this mean essentially that for the group of seven,
18:04the G7, they've kind of lost their luster?
18:06Well, there is a crisis that America
18:11is grappling with very directly.
18:13America has come to Israel's aid.
18:16There are issues that President Trump
18:18has to deal with, and there are issues
18:19that G7 countries are dealing with
18:21at a different level.
18:22You're absolutely right in terms of
18:24had President Trump been here,
18:26it would have been altogether different.
18:29But then, you know, there are times
18:30that events overtake what's happening here.
18:33The focus, again, here, there was an attempt
18:37to ensure that all the G7 countries
18:39are able to put together a request,
18:42one, for de-escalation, and two,
18:44put across that point that Israel has a right
18:46to defend itself.
18:47But if you look at the conflict,
18:49it's escalating so much that President Trump
18:51is now asking Iran to surrender.
18:53So from that point, when that statement
18:55was made at G7 to the point
18:57that Trump has reached right out,
18:59now he wants not just de-escalation,
19:01but he wants total surrender by Iran.
19:04He's sending in his B-2 bombers
19:06with the GBU-57 bombs.
19:10Those are already at the Diego Garcia base.
19:13Three aircraft carrier battle groups
19:15already in the Indo-Pacific region.
19:17And all of this is an indication
19:19that the war between Israel and Iran
19:22is only set to escalate
19:25and perhaps also remains the only area
19:28where American assistance should be required
19:30to, in a way, degrade Iran's nuclear capabilities.
19:35Bomb-making apart,
19:37even their civilian nuclear capabilities,
19:39the attempt is to derail it
19:40and set it back by several years.
19:43And their military power
19:44has been degraded very extensively.
19:46They are still striking inside Israel,
19:48but not with the intensity
19:50with which they were able to do so.
19:51But that's one part of the story.
19:53The other part,
19:54which from India's perspective
19:55remains equally important,
19:57is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bilateral
19:59with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney,
20:01with Georgia Meloni of Italy,
20:03with the German Chancellor
20:04and with President Zilinzhii of Ukraine.
20:08So there are four important
20:09India-centric bilaterals
20:10that are also to take place later today.
20:14Four with a lot of effort
20:15that is going on to have
20:17that reset button press
20:18on India-Canada relationship,
20:20which directly impacts, you know,
20:22millions of Indians and Indian-Canadians
20:25and the relationship
20:26between the two countries.
20:27So that remains equally important
20:29from an Indian perspective.
20:31Very true.
20:32And that bilaterals,
20:33the series of them,
20:34as Gaurav tells you,
20:35is expected to kick off
20:37at about 12 a.m. midnight India time.
20:39But we will track
20:40all the latest updates on that.
20:41Gaurav Samanth is reporting
20:42from Ground Zero at the G7 venue.
20:45Thanks very much, Gaurav,
20:46for the moment, for joining us.
20:47That's all we have time for
20:48in this edition of World Today.
20:50I'll continue getting you
20:51the news and updates
20:52and the latest on the Iran-Israel conflict
20:55on the other side
20:55for a very, very short break.
20:56Stay with us.
20:57I'll see you next time.
21:13I'll see you next time.
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