Iran - Israel

NBC News -  Iran's military said it targeted America's Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar with a "devastating and powerful" missile attack today in retaliation for the U.S. attack on three of Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a statement from the IRGC published by Iranian-state media Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. "The recent attack on the American airbase targeted the headquarters of U.S. Air Force Command," a strategic military asset belonging to the U.S., the outlet reported. 

The Guardian -  Israel’s strike – and the US’s – on Iran cannot be justified under international law’s self-defence doctrine. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, rightly warns of catastrophe in the Middle East, urging diplomacy as the only solution. Yet Mr Trump walked away from the Obama-overseen deal that slowed Iran’s programme, and now has struck Iran when it sought negotiation despite Israel’s attacks. Sir Keir Starmer, too, called for de-escalation and negotiation, though he backed the US strike. The US did not request British assistance – but the fear remains that European powers may be drawn into another criminal and disastrous war in the Middle East.

In rejecting diplomacy and choosing war, not only in breach of international law but at the behest of a country pursuing annihilation in Gaza, the US has delivered a resounding blow to the architecture of global affairs. It has signalled that countries that negotiate (Iran) face stark consequences, which those which rush to own the bomb (North Korea) can avoid. Its embrace of pre-emptive strikes is handy for Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and any leader who might want to carry out their own. Even if the immediate crisis in the Middle East can be contained, the cost of this reckless act may not be fully felt or comprehended for decades.

 Axios -  Senior Trump administration officials are conceding that "they did not know the fate of Iran's stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium," The New York Times' David E. Sanger writes. "That stockpile of fuel is now one of the few nuclear bargaining chips in Iranian hands."

There's growing evidence, Sanger writes, that "the Iranians, attuned to Mr. Trump's repeated threats to take military action, had removed 400 kilograms, or roughly 880 pounds, of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity. That is just below the 90 percent that is usually used in nuclear weapons."

U.S. historian Timothy Snyder:

1. Many things reported with confidence in the first hours and days will turn out not to be true.

2. Whatever they say, the people who start wars are often thinking chiefly about domestic politics.

3. The rationale given for a war will change over time, such that actual success or failure in achieving a named objective is less relevant than one might think.

4. Wars are unpredictable.

5. Wars are easy to start and hard to stop.