Israel appeared to be expanding its air campaign against Tehran five days after its surprise attack on Iran’s military and nuclear program, as US President Donald Trump posted an ominous message warning residents of the capital to evacuate.
“IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” Trump wrote on Monday night before returning to Washington early from a G7 summit in Canada.
“Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran,” he added.
Photo: AFP / Iranian Red Crescent
Trump later denied he had rushed back to work on a ceasefire, telling reporters on Air Force One during the flight back to Washington: “I’m not looking at a ceasefire. We’re looking at better than a ceasefire.”
Asked why he had urged for the evacuation of Tehran, he said: “I just want people to be safe.”
Earlier, the Israeli military had called for the estimated 330,000 residents of a neighborhood in downtown Tehran to evacuate. Tehran is one of the largest cities in the Middle East, with about 10 million people, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel. People have been fleeing since the hostilities began.
Israel says its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites and ballistic missile program is necessary to prevent its longtime adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. The strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran and wounded 1,277 since Friday.
Iran has retaliated by launching more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded. The Israeli military said a new barrage of missiles was launched yesterday, and explosions could be heard in northern Israel.
Downtown Tehran appeared to be emptying out early yesterday, with many shops closed. On the roads out of Tehran to the west, traffic stood bumper to bumper. Many appeared to be heading to the Caspian Sea area. Long lines also could be seen at gas stations in Tehran, with printed placards and boards calling for a “severe” response to Israel visible across the city.
Authorities canceled leave for doctors and nurses as the attacks continued, but insisted that everything was under control and did not offer any guidance for the public on what to do.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed to have killed someone it described as Iran’s top general in a strike on Tehran. Iran did not immediately comment on the reported killing of General Ali Shadmani, who had just been named as the head of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, part of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Iran has named other generals to replace the top leaders of the Revolutionary Guard and the regular armed forces after they were killed in earlier strikes.
Before leaving the summit in Canada, Trump joined the other leaders in a joint statement saying Iran “can never have a nuclear weapon” and calling for a “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza.”
French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that discussions were under way on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, but Trump appeared to shoot that down in his comments on social media.
Macron “mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran,” Trump wrote. “Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth headed to the White House Situation Room to meet with the president and his national security team.
Hegseth did not provide details on what prompted the meeting, but said on Fox News late on Monday that the movements were to “ensure that our people are safe.”
Trump said he was not ready to give up on diplomatic talks, and could send US Vice President J.D. Vance and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.
“I may,” he said. “It depends on what happens when I get back.”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue
RSS