Iran leader Khamenei sees his inner circle hollowed out by Israel
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Trump says he wants Iran to give up entirely on nuclear weapons
U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted a “real end” to the nuclear problem with Iran. Trump said Iran “giving up entirely” on nuclear weapons, in comments he made to reporters on Air Force One on his way back from the Group of Seven summit in Canada. Trump also said he had not seen any signs yet of North Korea or Russia getting involved to help Iran. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has said it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel, the U.S., and other Western nations have long sought to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear weapons development.. Iran is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
Item 1 of 3 U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One after departing early from the the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Summary Trump says he wants ‘real end’ to nuclear problems with Iran
Trump says Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon
Trump says he may send Witkoff or JD Vance to meet with Iranians
WASHINGTON, June 17 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted a “real end” to the nuclear problem with Iran, with Iran “giving up entirely” on nuclear weapons, in comments he made to reporters on Air Force One on his way back from the Group of Seven summit in Canada.
“Giving up entirely,” Trump told reporters early on Tuesday. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple.”
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The air war between Iran and U.S. ally Israel – which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with airstrikes – has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel’s military assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Trump said he may send U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff or Vice President JD Vance to meet with Iran. However, he added that “it depends on what happens when I get back”.
When asked if Israel would slow down its attacks on Iran, Trump said: “You’re going to find out over the next two days. You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far.”
Trump also said he had not seen any signs yet of North Korea or Russia getting involved to help Iran.
The president added Washington was working on helping Americans who were trying to flee the region amid the Israel-Iran war. “We’re working on that, we’re doing the best we can,” he said.
Since the Israeli strikes on Friday, the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting more than 220 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians were killed.
Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations have long sought to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear weapons development.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has said it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
Washington said Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran. However, Trump also said he was not looking at a ceasefire between Iran and Israel and that he had not reached out to Iran for any peace talks.
“If they want to talk, they know how to reach me. They should have taken the deal that was on the table – Would have saved a lot of lives,” Trump wrote on Truth Social about Iran.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Alex Richardson
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Trump says his G7 summit departure not linked to any Israel-Iran ceasefire offer
U.S. President Donald Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early to return to Washington due to the Middle East situation. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Trump called Macron a “publicity seeking” leader and added: “Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong” The air war between Iran and Israel began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes – has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel’s military assault on Gaza in October 2023. Washington said Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran. The French embassy in Washington had no immediate comment outside work hours.
Macron said U.S. made Israel-Iran ceasefire proposal
Trump says Macron ‘always gets it wrong’
Trump administration says it is still seeking nuclear deal with Iran
WASHINGTON, June 16 (Reuters) – Donald Trump said late on Monday his early departure from the Group of Seven nations summit has “nothing to do with” working on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran , denying comments by French President Emmanuel Macron who said the U.S. president made a ceasefire proposal
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 on his Truth Social platform as he left the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington.
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“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,” Trump added in the post.
Macron said earlier on Monday Trump had made an offer for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. “There is indeed an offer to meet and exchange. An offer was made especially to get a ceasefire and to then kick-start broader discussions,” Macron told reporters at the G7.
Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early to return to Washington due to the Middle East situation.
In his Truth Social post, the U.S. president called Macron a “publicity seeking” leader and added: “Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong.” The French embassy in Washington had no immediate comment outside work hours.
U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) speak to the media, at the G7 summit, in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab
The air war between Iran and U.S. ally Israel – which began on Friday when Israel attacked Iran with air strikes – has raised alarms in a region that had already been on edge since the start of Israel’s military assault on Gaza in October 2023.
Since the Israeli strikes on Friday, the two Middle Eastern rivals have exchanged blows, with Iranian officials reporting over 220 deaths, mostly civilians, while Israel said 24 civilians were killed.
Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations have long sought to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear weapons development.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and has said it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Israel, which is not a party to the NPT, is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
Washington said Trump was still aiming for a nuclear deal with Iran.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Lincoln Feast.
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WHO receiving reports of another mass casualty event in Gaza near food site
Initial reports point to at least 20 fatalities, World Health Organization says. Half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation, a global hunger monitor said last month. Israel has lifted an 11-week-long total blockade on supplies but aid groups say it is not nearly enough to meet the needs. Earlier, the territory’s health ministry said that Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians.
“This is again the result of another food distribution initiative,” said Thanos Gargavanis, WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer, without giving further details.
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Earlier, the territory’s health ministry said that Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The incident was the latest in nearly daily mass deaths of Palestinians who were seeking aid in past weeks, including near sites operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“There’s a constant correlation with the positions of the four announced food distribution sites and the mass casualty incidents,” Gargavanis added, saying the trauma injuries in recent days were mostly from gunshot wounds.
Half a million people in the Gaza Strip face starvation , a global hunger monitor said last month. Since then Israel, which controls supplies into the enclave, has lifted an 11-week-long total blockade on supplies but aid groups say it is not nearly enough to meet the needs.
In the same briefing, Gargavanis said that the WHO was running short of therapeutic supplies to treat malnutrition. “We are running excessively low in therapeutic feeding formulas, and we’re trying to rationalize its use,” he said.
Reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Rachel More
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Iran leader Khamenei sees his inner circle hollowed out by Israel
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes. The strikes have left holes in his inner circle and raised the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process. Khamenei, who was imprisoned before the 1979 revolution and maimed by a bomb attack before becoming leader in 1989, is profoundly committed to maintaining Iran’s Islamic system of government and deeply mistrustful of the West. The stakes could barely be higher for Khamenei who faces an escalating war with Israel, which has targeted nuclear and military sites and personnel with air attacks and missile fire. The Iranian leader’s son Mojtaba has grown more central to this process over the past 20 years, the sources said, building a role that cuts between personalities on specific issues to coordinate groups and factions. He is seen by some insiders as a potential potential successor to his father, who is now in his late 80s and early 90s, but is still very much in touch with his family.
Summary Supreme leader’s military advisers killed by strikes
Raises risk of strategic miscalculations, sources say
Khamenei’s son said to be increasingly central figure
DUBAI/LONDON, June 17 (Reuters) – Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cuts an increasingly lonely figure.
Khamenei has seen his main military and security advisers killed by Israeli air strikes, leaving major holes in his inner circle and raising the risk of strategic errors, according to five people familiar with his decision-making process.
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One of those sources, who regularly attends meetings with Khamenei, described the risk of miscalculation to Iran on issues of defence and internal stability as “extremely dangerous”.
Several senior military commanders have been killed since Friday including Khamenei’s main advisers from the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s elite military force: the Guards’ overall commander Hossein Salami, its aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajizadeh who headed Iran’s ballistic missile program and spymaster Mohammad Kazemi.
These men were part of the supreme leader’s inner circle of roughly 15-20 advisers comprising Guards commanders, clerics, and politicians, according to the sources who include three people who attend or have attended meetings with the leader on major issues and two close to officials who regularly attend.
The loose group meets on an ad-hoc basis, when Khamenei’s office reaches out to relevant advisers to gather at his compound in Tehran to discuss an important decision, all the people said. Members are characterised by unwavering loyalty to him and the ideology of the Islamic Republic, they added.
Khamenei, who was imprisoned before the 1979 revolution and maimed by a bomb attack before becoming leader in 1989, is profoundly committed to maintaining Iran’s Islamic system of government and deeply mistrustful of the West.
Under Iran’s system of government he has supreme command of the armed forces, the power to declare war, and can appoint or dismiss senior figures including military commanders and judges.
Khamenei makes the final decision on important matters, though he values advice, listens attentively to diverse viewpoints, and often seeks additional information from his counsellors, according to one source who attends meetings.
“Two things you can say about Khamenei: he is extremely stubborn but also extremely cautious. He is very cautious. That is why he has been in power for as long as he has,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute think-tank in Washington.
“Khamenei is pretty well placed to do the basic cost-benefit analysis which really fundamentally gets to one issue more important than anything else: regime survival.”
KHAMENEI’S SON AT THE FORE
The focus on survival has repeatedly been put to the test. Khamenei has deployed the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated Basij militia to quell national protests in 1999, 2009 and 2022.
While the security forces have always been able to outlast demonstrators and restore state rule, years of Western sanctions have caused widespread economic misery that analysts say could ultimately threaten internal unrest.
The stakes could barely be higher for Khamenei who faces an escalating war with Israel, which has targeted nuclear and military sites and personnel with air attacks, drawing retaliatory Iranian missile fire.
The five people familiar with Khamenei’s decision-making process stressed that other insiders who have not been targeted by Israel’s strikes remain important and influential, including top advisers on political, economic and diplomatic issues.
Khamenei designates such advisers to handle issues as they arise, extending his reach directly into a wide array of institutions spanning military, security, cultural, political and economic domains, two of the sources said.
Operating this way, including in bodies nominally under the elected president, means Khamenei’s office is often involved not only in the biggest questions of state but in executing even minor initiatives, according to the people with knowledge.
His son Mojtaba has grown ever more central to this process over the past 20 years, the sources said, building a role that cuts between the personalities, factions and organisations involved to coordinate on specific issues, the sources said.
A mid-ranking cleric seen by some insiders as a potential successor to his ageing father, Mojtaba has built close ties with the Guards, giving him added leverage across Iran’s political and security apparatus, the people added.
Ali Asghar Hejazi, the deputy of political security affairs at Khamenei’s office, has been involved in sensitive security decisions and is often described as the most powerful intelligence official in Iran, according to the sources said.
Meanwhile, the head of Khamenei’s office, Mohammad Golpayegani, as well as former foreign ministers Ali Akbar Velayati and Kamal Kharazi, and ex-parliament speaker Ali Larijani, remain trusted confidants on diplomatic and domestic policies issues such as the nuclear dispute, the people said.
The loss of the Revolutionary Guards commanders nonetheless decimates the top ranks of a military organisation that Khamenei has put at the centre of power since becoming supreme leader in 1989, relying on it for both internal security and regional strategy.
While the regular army chain of command runs through the defence ministry under the elected president, the Guards answer personally to Khamenei, securing the best military equipment for their land, air and sea branches and giving their commanders a major state role.
As he faces one of the most dangerous moments in the Islamic Republic’s history, Khamenei finds himself further isolated by the recent losses other key advisers in the region as Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” coalition has been hammered by Israel.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was personally close to the Iranian leader, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in September last year and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels in December.
(This story has been corrected to fix a typo in paragraph 5)
By Parisa Hafezi and Angus McDowall; Editing by Pravin Char
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Iranian supreme leader Khamenei has been implacable opponent of US and Israel
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spent almost four decades as Shi’ite Iran’s supreme leader. He has built a regional power to rival the Sunni states across the Gulf. But ever since the Tehran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Khamenei’s regional influence has been weakening. He is deeply sceptical of the West, particularly the U.S., which he accuses of seeking regime change. Yet he has shown a willingness to bend when the survival of the Islamic Republic is at stake. The 86-year-old has ruled since 1989 and holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary. He was first dismissed as weak and an unlikely successor to the charismatic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but has steadily tightened his grip to become Iran’s unquestioned decision-maker. His power owes much to the parastatal empire known as Setad, which is under his direct control and is worth tens of billions of dollars, according to analysts.
Summary Lifelong adversary of both US and Israel
Supreme leader wove web of regional alliances to challenge US
Khamenei has sidelined rivals and crushed popular opposition
Guile and Revolutionary Guards cemented his rise
June 16 (Reuters) – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spent almost four decades as Shi’ite Iran’s supreme leader building a regional power to rival the Sunni states across the Gulf and implacably hostile to the U.S. and Israel – while crushing repeated unrest at home.
At first dismissed as weak and an unlikely successor to the Islamic Republic’s late founder, the charismatic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Khamenei has steadily tightened his grip to become Iran’s unquestioned decision-maker.
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Not even an ayatollah at the time, Khamenei has since lived in the shadow of his mentor, Khomeini. Struggling to impose his religious authority, he has instead built up a formidable security apparatus to extend his power.
Unchallengeable in the office of Supreme Leader, he has dominated successive elected presidents and promoted nuclear technology that has unnerved the surrounding region.
But ever since the Tehran-backed Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, Khamenei’s regional influence has been weakening as Israel has pounded Iran’s proxies – from Hamas in Gaza to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq. And Iran’s close ally, Syria’s autocratic president Bashar al-Assad, has been ousted.
KHAMENEI’S COMPROMISES HAVE KEPT HIM IN POWER
Khamenei, 86, has ruled since 1989 and holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary. While elected officials manage day-to-day affairs, no major policy – especially one involving the United States – proceeds without his explicit approval.
His leadership style has blended ideological rigidity with strategic pragmatism. He is deeply sceptical of the West, particularly the U.S., which he accuses of seeking regime change. Yet he has shown a willingness to bend when the survival of the Islamic Republic is at stake.
The concept of “heroic flexibility”, first mentioned by Khamenei in 2013, permits tactical compromises to advance his goals, mirroring Khomeini’s choice in 1988 to embrace a ceasefire after eight years of war with Iraq.
Khamenei’s guarded endorsement of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers was another such moment, as he calculated that sanctions relief was necessary to stabilise the economy and cement his grip on power.
He faced the same dilemma in March, when Trump revealed he had sent Khamenei a letter to discuss a new nuclear pact, and warned of military action if diplomacy failed to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Tehran says the programme is purely peaceful, but the West suspects clandestine weapons development and Israel sees it as an existential threat.
Trump had quit the 2015 pact during his first term in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. Tehran reacted by gradually violating all agreed curbs on its nuclear programme.
The supreme leader’s reply was typically scathing:
“The enmity from the U.S. and Israel has always been there. They threaten to attack us, which we don’t think is very probable, but if they commit any mischief they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow,” Khamenei said.
“And if they are thinking of causing sedition inside the country as in past years, the Iranian people themselves will deal with them.”
As the final authority in Iran’s complex system of clerical rule and limited democracy, Khamenei has long sought to ensure that no group, even among his closest allies, musters enough power to challenge him and his anti-U.S. stance.
KHAMENEI HAS CULTIVATED LOYAL SECURITY STRUCTURE
Because he lacked Khomeini’s religious credentials, he has repeatedly turned to his sophisticated security structure, the hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij, a paramilitary-religious force of hundreds of thousands of volunteers, to snuff out dissent.
His power owes much to the parastatal financial empire known as Setad, worth tens of billions of dollars, which is under Khamenei’s direct control and has grown hugely during his rule.
And billions of dollars have been invested in the Guards for decades to help them empower Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen and prop up Assad in Syria.
It was they who crushed the protests that exploded after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2009 re-election as president amid allegations of vote fraud. Khamenei had endorsed him, only then to be affronted by the unruly Ahmadinejad’s ambition.
In 2022, Khamenei was just as ruthless in arresting, imprisoning or sometimes executing protesters enraged by the death of the young Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Scholars outside Iran paint a picture of a secretive ideologue fearful of betrayal — an anxiety fuelled by an assassination attempt in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm.
Khamenei himself underwent severe torture, according to his official biography, in 1963, when at 24 he served the first of many terms in prison for political activities under the rule of the shah.
After the revolution, as deputy defence minister, Khamenei became close to the Guards during the 1980-88 war with Iraq, which claimed a million lives from both sides.
He won the presidency with Khomeini’s support and was a surprise choice as Khomeini’s successor, given that he lacked both Khomeini’s popular appeal and superior clerical credentials.
Karim Sadjadpour at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said “an accident of history” had transformed a “weak president to an initially weak supreme leader to one of the five most powerful Iranians of the last 100 years”.
It is only in the last 18 months that the “Axis of Resistance” that he created to oppose Israeli and U.S. power in the Middle East has begun to unravel
Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Michael Georgy, William Maclean, Janet Lawrence, Olivier Holmey and Kevin Liffey
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