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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to hold a press conference with international media, his first since rumours of his death emerged on social media.
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00:00News just coming in at the top of the India Today global show.
00:04Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a press conference with the international media at 12 a.m.
00:12That's in about an hour and a half from now that Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to hold his first
00:19press conference since rumors of his death emerged.
00:23Those are latest developments. Social media still not convinced and are calling it AI videos, the videos that were put
00:32out by Prime Minister Netanyahu's office, the PMO of the Israeli Prime Minister.
00:37But right now what we're given to understand is that the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi himself, is going to
00:45hold a press conference and take questions from international media,
00:50putting all the rumors to rest and taking all the questions that are being asked of Israel.
00:56Be it the war, how long is it going to last?
00:59Is there a rift between Tel Aviv and Washington with the attack that took place or was carried out by
01:06Israel on the past gas field and the retaliation thereafter by Iran on Qatar and Saudi Arabia?
01:16So these are tough questions he will have to answer to the questions that will be posed to him by
01:22international media.
01:23But this is again the first press conference by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after rumors of his death emerged.
01:31There were a few videos that were put out, but again, the social media was completely taken over by the
01:42conversation of whether if the videos were AI created
01:47or were they actually videos of the Israeli Prime Minister to put those rumors to rest at around 12 a
01:55.m. in their time.
01:56Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to address the international media.
02:15And some more news that's coming in.
02:18This is from Iran.
02:19Iran has now claimed to have struck an American F-35 jet.
02:23Iran media has shown a video of Iranian forces targeting F-35 jet.
02:30And the report suggests that the fifth generation stealth jet was conducting a combat mission over Iran at the time
02:37it was forced to make an emergency landing.
02:40Aircraft landed safely and that matter is now being investigated.
02:43But a very big incident, a huge one at that with the Iranian forces having damaged an F-35.
02:53This is a fifth generation stealth jet we are talking about in Iranian space.
02:59But as reports are suggesting, the combat mission was over Iran.
03:04But then the aircraft made an emergency landing and certainly it landed safely, which means far away from Iranian soil.
03:12In all probability, either in one of the bases or one of the aircraft carriers.
03:18For now, those are reports that are coming in.
03:29And another news that's emerging is from India.
03:32Prime Minister Modi has spoken to the emir of Qatar.
03:35He's condemned Iran's attack on Ras Lafahan.
03:39That's the gas field in Qatar.
03:43And I quote Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the post.
03:47He's put out, spoke with my brother, His Excellency Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar,
03:54and conveyed warm Eid greetings to him and the people of Qatar,
03:58reiterated that we stand in solidarity with Qatar and strongly condemned the attacks on the region's energy infrastructure,
04:05expressed gratitude for the care and support provided to Indian community,
04:10and hoped for peace and stability to prevail in the region.
04:14We stand for safe and free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
04:18The Strait of Hormuz has become the biggest news point in this entire war cycle that continues on day 20.
04:25We are looking at an escalation with Israel having attacked the past gas field.
04:31And in retaliation, Iran conducted its strikes on Qatar, massive attack on Ras Lafahan gas field.
04:40And then later, there were reports of Saudi Arabia also having been attacked.
04:46This after Trump came out and very clearly said that Washington was not in the know of this attack and
04:54Qatar was not involved.
04:56Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up the phone, called up the emir of Qatar, expressed solidarity.
05:02But this comes a day before the entire Arab world and the Persian Gulf are going to celebrate Eid.
05:09It is going to be a very somber day for the entire region,
05:12since this is in a rare, rare occasion we are seeing a war that began during Ramzan,
05:21when people normally call for ceasefire,
05:24and a war that in all probability will see its peak on the day of Eid,
05:30with Pete Hegseth saying that there is going to be a massive, massive action tonight.
05:35So that's the call that took place between Prime Minister Modi and the emir of Qatar,
05:41expressing solidarity and pushing for safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
05:49A West Asia conflict has escalated with strikes on key energy infrastructure,
05:53including the South Pass gas field and Qatar's Ras Lafahan hub.
05:58The attacks have heightened global concerns over energy supply,
06:01pushing markets lower and raising fears of rising oil prices and inflation.
06:07Mahashwetha Lala with this detailed report.
06:23As the war in West Asia enters Day 20,
06:26it seems only to intensify with Israel having targeted the South Pass field.
06:32This prompted Iran to strike Qatar's Ras Lafahan industrial city,
06:37twice that caused extensive damage to the critical energy hub of the Gulf state.
06:44From striking civilians to energy infrastructures,
06:47the war now has its ripple effects felt across global markets and households.
06:53US President Donald Trump, who said he knew nothing about the Israeli strike on South Pass,
06:59assured in a post on Truth Social that no more attacks will be made by Israel,
07:04pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pass field.
07:09He further added that if Iran attacked Qatar,
07:12the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel,
07:16will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pass gas field
07:20at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.
07:28South Pass is part of the world's largest natural gas reserve.
07:32The gas field, which is located offshore in the Persian Gulf,
07:35is shared by Iran and Qatar.
07:37Qatar calls it part of the gas field in North Doom.
07:41The gas field contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of usable gas
07:46and can meet the world's needs for 13 years.
07:50Speaker of Iran's parliament in a remark said, and I quote,
07:53Iran was asleep.
07:55You have awakened it.
07:57A storm will rise.
08:00Markets opened weaker as energy facilities were struck,
08:04fueling fears of surging oil prices and rising inflation.
08:10In the best-case scenario, the Strait of Hormuz would reopen this afternoon.
08:14The markets would calm down and oil prices would plummet.
08:18In worst-case scenario, we could face a very protracted energy price shock
08:22and then the central banks would have to step in.
08:26Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the summit of European leaders in Brussels,
08:31the Austrian chancellor said Europe would not be blackmailed into joining the Iran war.
08:38The United States' course of action is difficult to predict.
08:41You can see from current development in the Middle East that their strategy is hard to discern.
08:46I don't know how they will react, but Europe and Austria, as well,
08:50will not allow itself to be blackmailed.
08:55French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke to Emir of Qatar and President Trump,
09:00stressed on the need to implement a moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure,
09:05particularly energy and water supply facilities.
09:10Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it reserves the right to act militarily against Iran
09:15and any trust with Iran has been shattered.
09:19And I think that's the clearest signal of how Iran feels about diplomacy.
09:24It doesn't believe in talking to its neighbors.
09:27It tries to pressure its neighbors.
09:30And what I can say categorically, that's not going to work.
09:34The kingdom is not going to succumb to pressure.
09:37On the contrary, this pressure will backfire.
09:42Will backfire politically, will backfire, I believe, morally.
09:48And certainly, as we have stated quite clearly,
09:52we have reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary.
09:59And if the time comes, the leadership of the kingdom will take the necessary decision.
10:07Experts warn that attack on energy infrastructures and soaring oil prices
10:11will not only impact Europe and Asia, but the U.S. could also see mild recession.
10:18Those consumers are negatively impacted by high prices.
10:21So that will put a drag on consumer pocketbooks, consumer spending.
10:26It will actually delay certain expenditures for segments of industry that are very energy intensive
10:31and have a ramification that is negative for GDP.
10:34So those two things kind of offset.
10:36And so what that means, the U.S. could see a recession.
10:40It would likely be a relatively mild recession if it does happen.
10:43But certainly, you won't see a boom as a result of what's going on in the United States.
10:49China, which is home to world's biggest oil refining sector,
10:52said it was ready to work with Southeast Asia in addressing energy problems resulting from the war.
10:58China's willingness to work with the region of more than 700 million people
11:02would be welcome relief to Southeast Asian oil importers after an order by Beijing earlier this month
11:09to ban Chinese exports of diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.
11:16The situation in the Middle East has disrupted global energy security.
11:20The countries involved should immediately cease military operations to prevent regional stability
11:25from having a greater impact on global economic development.
11:29China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries
11:33to jointly address energy security issues.
11:37Meanwhile, Trump administration is considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to the Middle East
11:43in preparation for its next steps in the Iran war.
11:47If the administration moves with the deployment plan,
11:50it would follow Pentagon's move last week to send a Marine Expeditionary Unit
11:55of around 2,500 Marines and sailors to the region.
11:59With Mahashweta Lala, Bureau Report, India Today.
12:08Shail Ben-Ephraim, a geopolitical analyst, joins me from Los Angeles.
12:12Shail, thank you so much for joining us.
12:14A few important things have happened right now.
12:17Donald Trump just got off a press conference and he's made a few very important statements.
12:22The first one being that there is going to be no ground troop deployment in the region.
12:29Despite all the rumors and the messaging that was coming out with regards to what America is going to do,
12:38they're not going to deploy.
12:39And he's also said that the war will end soon.
12:42What's your big takeaway from that press conference?
12:47So the most important thing is to completely disregard what Trump just said.
12:52There's two reasons for that.
12:53At first, Trump constantly changes his mind on what he's going to do.
12:58And the other is he is a known advocate of strategic surprise in military confrontations.
13:06And I should say, even though I'm not a big fan of Donald Trump, rightfully so,
13:10where you constantly keep the enemy on their toes and guessing what you're going to do.
13:15And that's certainly what he is doing here.
13:18I would imagine that he's going to release conflicting statements, threatening an intervention,
13:26saying that he's not going to intervene, keeping people guessing.
13:30That's just what he does.
13:33Most likely, he has not yet decided whether he's going to deploy ground troops in Iran.
13:41But most people believe, most analysts, including myself, believe that we're probably going to be looking at a limited operation
13:49involving the Marines
13:51to try to open the Straits of Hormuz very soon.
13:55This statement does very little to dissuade me from that inclination.
14:00I think that that's coming any day now.
14:02OK. The other big story that we were discussing before we got onto the show, Shail,
14:08was the joint statement that has been released by UK, France, Japan and some other countries,
14:15where they have very clearly said that they're going to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.
14:20How so? Because I'm seeing a moratorium on the attacks.
14:24I see that they're talking about efforts, but they have not explicitly said military involvement.
14:29Are we looking at diplomacy or are we looking at naval assets here?
14:35Yeah, so we're definitely not looking at any of these countries spearheading the military effort to open up the Straits
14:42of Hormuz.
14:43But if an effort is underway and has some success, we can expect the naval assets of some of these
14:52countries,
14:53especially the British, to come through.
14:56The British have, in particular, been opportunistic and trying to see where the winds are flowing,
15:05preventing the United States from using their facilities one minute, allowing it the next.
15:11So I believe that if they feel that what's geopolitically most advantageous for them is to participate, then they will.
15:19But none of this will come at the forefront of the operation.
15:24We're probably going to see the United States launch some kind of attack, like I said in my last answer,
15:30probably involving the Marines, involving the U.S. Navy.
15:33And then if and when there's some security, we're going to see other ships from these nations try to transit
15:40the Straits of Hormuz
15:43and hopefully, from their perspective, not get attacked.
15:47So I think it's more moral support and an attempt to show the Iranians that they are getting economically hit
15:56by the closing of the Straits
15:57and they also want Iran to open.
16:00So there's diplomatic pressure here to show Iran that they're isolated on this matter because it could cause real economic
16:09pain for the countries involved, possibly recession.
16:12So they have a real interest in an opening, but not high enough of an interest to actually be at
16:17the forefront of a military operation
16:19or the capabilities to be at the forefront of a military operation in most of those cases.
16:23Right. Very interesting point there.
16:26Ashai, stay on with us because there's another story that's developing and that's in Washington.
16:31And I'd like you to weigh in on that as well.
16:34In Washington, a quiet but explosive contradiction is unfolding as top U.S. intelligence officials appear
16:40to undercut the very justification for the Iran war.
16:48With carefully chosen words,
16:51now not just Iran, even Benjamin Netanyahu is at the centre of conspiracy theories.
16:57A viral six-finger video sparked claims of AI and even rumours of his death.
17:02So the question still lingers, is it Netanyahu or AI?
17:12The war rages on, and so do the viral memes.
17:17Rumours swirled that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had died.
17:24The world wanted proof and Netanyahu responded, putting an end to the speculation.
17:36In his first video, addressing the rumours, viewers joked he looked like AI.
17:42Some even claimed they spotted six fingers during his speech.
17:57A second video showing Netanyahu in a coffee shop fueled more memes.
18:01People noted his untouched coffee and subtle differences in appearance.
18:11Internet users did not stop there.
18:13They created videos making him hop between places and adding different fingers.
18:22The incredible finger magician.
18:24Swap the hands, add more fingers, and unlock endless magic.
18:28Seven fingers, eight fingers, more fingers, more magic.
18:32Finger magician, from Mocking Eye, available now at toy stores everywhere.
18:37In a third video, Netanyahu appeared on vacation with his family.
18:41But skepticism persists.
18:44Mr. Prime Minister, I want you to know the President asked me to come and make sure you are okay.
18:48Is it really him, or is it AI?
18:51The world is still asking, and only time may reveal the truth.
18:55With Simran Saroaa, Bureau Report, India Today.
19:03Well, child, Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to hold a press conference.
19:08President Donald Trump just held a press conference.
19:10It seems like there were a lot of rumors about whether he's alive or not.
19:15But he is going to come out.
19:17He is going to make a few statements at a time when the United States of America and President Trump
19:22himself has said that this war will end soon.
19:25Will it end soon?
19:26Because it doesn't seem like Israel and the U.S. are on the same trajectory and on the same path
19:34when it comes to Iran.
19:36Yeah, so first of all, let's make it very clear that Netanyahu is not dead and was not dead at
19:43any point.
19:45There's going to be a lot of misinformation coming out from Iran about who they've killed and what's happened.
19:51And you can expect that.
19:53I was dealing with questions about whether Ben Gavir is alive or not, whether Netanyahu is alive or not for
19:57days.
19:58Don't believe any of that.
20:00But regarding the length of the war, the war is going to last for a very long time.
20:07By a very long time, I mean at least a month.
20:10And that seems optimistic to me.
20:13Unless, of course, Trump panics for political reasons, pulls the plug, and is willing to admit defeat.
20:21On a strategic level, if they want to open the Straits of Hormuz and they want to neuter the regime,
20:29it's going to take at least a month, maybe two, maybe three, and maybe impossible to do altogether.
20:37Israel is also doing its part, as you sort of hinted, to make sure that this war cannot end.
20:43The assassination of moderates is part of that.
20:47The escalation by taking out oil targets is part of that, which then launches retaliation on the fields in the
20:55Gulf and so on.
20:57And there's just this Israeli attempt to lock Trump into escalation on several levels.
21:05And we've already seen that Trump is unable to block them and fight back for whatever reason.
21:13He keeps going along with Israel on issue after issue, whether it's in Gaza, whether it's in Iran.
21:20So I'm very pessimistic that Trump will be able or want to stop this war despite what he's saying.
21:28Like I said, a lot of this is his wishful thinking, and a lot of this is his attempt to
21:32keep strategic surprise.
21:34I don't trust anything that he's saying about ending the war soon.
21:37Right. Right, Shail, that's important analysis on what's really happening on the ground.
21:44We'll keep coming back to you to break down what's happening in the course of this war.
21:48Thank you so much for joining us for now.
21:50Always a pleasure. Thank you.
21:53With that, we'll slip into a short break, and news and updates will follow on the other side.
21:58Stay tuned to a day today. Goodbye.
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