
Monday Briefing: Iran-Israel Conflict Continues
Jun 16, 2025
Plus, the Dalai Lama’s succession.
The Israel-Iran conflict entered its fourth day
Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran early this morning as fighting between the two countries continued. Hours later, Iran launched a salvo of missiles. At least three people in Israel were killed and 67 others were injured, according to the national emergency service.
Here’s the latest, and these maps show where Israel and Iran have struck.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran, according to the country’s health ministry. Six top Iranian security chiefs were among the dead, and more than 1,400 people have been injured. In Israel, at least 16 people, identified as civilians, have been killed in Iran’s retaliatory barrages since Friday.
President Trump said yesterday on Truth Social that he wanted Israel and Iran to strike a deal. Later, while speaking to reporters, he said that “sometimes they have to fight it out.” He added, “We’re going to see what happens.”
Unprepared: Interviews with half a dozen senior Iranian officials show that they were not expecting Israel to strike before another round of talks. They made an enormous miscalculation, my colleague Farnaz Fassihi writes.
My colleague Katrin Bennhold spoke to Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief, about Israel’s goals in attacking Iran. Watch the video.
Police detained a suspect in shootings of U.S. lawmakers
A man suspected of assassinating a Minnesota state lawmaker and wounding another was taken into custody yesterday, ending a two-day manhunt. He was charged with second-degree murder, according to the criminal complaint. Here’s the latest.
Officials said the suspect, identified as Vance Boelter, 57, was wearing a rubber mask and impersonating a police officer during the Saturday shootings, which left one lawmaker’s spouse dead and another wounded. They said he had a notebook that mentioned the names of about 70 potential targets, including both lawmakers. Here’s what else we know about him.
Context: The attack was a shock in Minnesota, which is known for political civility even as political violence in the U.S. has grown more commonplace.
Other politics news: On Saturday, protests were held around the country against the Trump administration, just as Trump spent more than three hours at a military parade commemorating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
Relatives of Air India crash victims wait for bodies
Three days after the crash of Air India Flight 171, the bodies of only 35 of the 270 victims have been handed over to relatives. Anguished family members have been waiting outside a mortuary, waiting for news.
Medical officials said that the intensity of the flames from the crash had made identifying the bodies difficult. The plane, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner en route to London, was carrying a full load of fuel when it crashed, soon after takeoff in Ahmedabad.
Investigators, who have recovered the aircraft’s flight data recorder, learned that the pilots had barely enough time to call “Mayday” before the plane slammed into a medical college.
Sole survivor: Viswash Kumar Ramesh, the man in seat 11A, somehow walked away from the crash. Read his story.
MORE TOP NEWS
G7 Summit
Canada: Leaders of the Group of 7 nations and allies are holding a summit today in a mountain resort in Alberta. Here’s a look at the issues on the agenda.
Tension: When the leaders came together in 2018 for a summit with Trump, it didn’t go so well. This time, avoiding drama is a top priority.
U.S. allies: Trump will face leaders of America’s closest allies, who are all on the receiving end of hostility from his administration through tariffs or threats.
Other News
Ukraine: Russia’s summer offensive in the east is leading to battlefield gains. Here are the areas where the front is moving.
Middle East: A U.N. conference to explore the creation of a Palestinian state has been postponed because of the Israel-Iran conflict.
U.K.: Reversing his position, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a full inquiry into grooming gangs who sexually exploited girls.
Climate: More than 20 new marine protected areas were announced at a U.N. ocean conference. Experts said thousands more were needed.
Syria: A former general has told U.S. investigators that the American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing since 2012, was dead and provided the possible site of his grave.
Jeff Bezos: The star-studded wedding that the Amazon founder and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, are planning in Venice has some residents fuming.
Canada: The backlash to Trump’s expansionist broadsides has reverberated all along the U.S.-Canada border. In the small town of Point Roberts, Wash., the crisis has left locals dazed.
Europe: Squirt guns returned to the streets of Barcelona yesterday during protests against mass tourism. Other protests were held in Italy and Portugal.
Business
Steel: Details surrounding Nippon Steel’s deal with U.S. Steel remain murky.
SPORTS NEWS
Soccer: Bayern Munich made Club World Cup history by scoring an incredible 10 times against part-time Auckland City.
Golf: Sam Burns was leading in the final round of the U.S. Open. Here’s the latest.
Formula 1: George Russell charged to victory at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
MORNING READ
The Dalai Lama, who is about to turn 90, is growing frail, leaving Tibetan Buddhists anxious. His goal of returning his people to their homeland remains distant, with China working to finish the task of crushing the Tibetan movement for autonomy.
One of Tibet’s greatest concerns is that China could hijack the process of choosing the Dalai Lama’s successor. But the Dalai Lama has promised to reveal a plan for finding Tibet’s next spiritual leader on his birthday, July 6. Read more about the succession.
Lives lived: Leonard Lauder, known for the beauty company Estée Lauder that he built with his mother, and his art patronage, is dead at 92.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
The Ah Ma Flippa Ball team: In Singapore, where life expectancy has surged, these grandmothers are playing rough at a kids’ sport.
Political royal marriage: The worlds of big-money politics and Clinton-era insiders came together this weekend for a wedding in the Hamptons.
Hallucinations of grandeur: Artificial intelligence chatbots are deeply distorting reality, sending some users down rabbit holes.
Sabrina Carpenter: When the pop star dropped the cover art for her album “Man’s Best Friend,” it became an instant conversation piece.
ARTS AND IDEAS
How to turn rural England into art: hard work
Along a trail in a valley in England, Andy Goldsworthy has restored nine farm buildings, built a new one, and then turned them all into artworks. In one of the buildings in his “Hanging Stones” project, visitors squeeze between tree trunks stretching from floor to ceiling; in another, straightened barbed wire lines the walls.
Goldsworthy, 68, is among the world’s most prominent land artists, yet in Britain he is often overlooked. Over the past decade, he has been toiling in conditions few would see as bucolic. Goldsworthy has described the project as “the most important of my life,” because it might be the last labor-intensive work he can complete without help. Take a look.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Cook: These chile-crisp chickpea rice bowls are both a comfort and a thrill to eat.
Watch: “Families Like Ours” is the first mini-series from the Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg.
Read: Want to start weight lifting? These books can help.
Travel: Spend 36 hours in East London.
Discover: Here’s what’s coming in Apple’s new software for iPhones.
Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.
That’s it for today’s briefing. Natasha will be back tomorrow. — Justin
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