Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali has become one of the most sought-after Premier League midfielders with Tottenham the latest team keen on signing him in the summer transfer window

Tottenham have emerged as the latest Premier League team with designs on landing Sandro Tonali, with the midfielder seemingly poised to become the second Newcastle player to be sold for big money in the summer transfer window.

Interest in Tonali from Newcastle’s domestic rivals has been making headlines as far back as the winter transfer window when the Italy international was linked with move to Arsenal out of left field, though the player’s agent initially attempted to play down such talk.

Since then, Manchester United have also been credited with an interest in the 26-year-old, who is one option being considered as part of their plans to revamp their midfield.

Newcastle are vulnerable to losing Tonali and other top stars after a chastening 2025-26 campaign and it would appear that Tottenham are also preparing a move for the playmaker.

Reports in Italy on Monday night claimed that Spurs are now very much in the race for Tonali, who is admired by his compatriot, Roberto De Zerbi.

While it remains to be seen if Tonali would fancy a move to Tottenham after they too endured a disappointing season, the appointment of De Zerbi has been well received as he bids to return them to the upper echelons of the Premier League.

The former Brighton boss saved Tottenham from relegation but their unwanted brush with the Championship has not dampened the club’s ambition — and landing a player of Tonali’s calibre ahead of some of the Premier League’s top clubs would be a real statement of intent.

Spurs have wasted no time in bolstering their squad since the end of the season, adding Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on free transfers from Liverpool and Bournemouth respectively. They are also trying to pull off an ambitious swoop for the Brighton defender, Jan Paul van Hecke.

Any deal for Tonali would likely exceed the £70million package that Newcastle banked when agreeing to sell Anthony Gordon to Barcelona last month.

The England winger wrapped up a dream switch to the Nou Camp before flying off to the World Cup with his country and is unlikely to be the only high-profile star to leave St James’ Park this summer.

As well as speculation over Tonali, the likes of Lewis Hall, Bruno Guimaraes and Tino Livramento have all been linked with moves away in recent weeks.

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Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from £4.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.

Lanarkshire CID said: “This was a particularly distressing incident for the victim and we can only be thankful that she was not seriously injured.”

Detectives in Lanarkshire are appealing for information after three men broke into a property and robbed the householder.

The incident took place in the Coalburn area, near the B7078 road, around 10.20pm on Sunday, June 14, 2026.

The 63-year-old woman within the property suffered a minor injury and was treated by paramedics. She was also left extremely shaken as a result.

Police say that the three suspects are described as wearing face coverings – one was wearing a black hat and black clothing, the second was wearing grey jogging bottoms and it is unknown what the third was wearing.

Cash, jewellery and two cars – a blue VW Tiguan and a blue Ford Fiesta – were also taken.

Police are carrying out high-visibility patrols in the local area, alongside extensive enquiries to establish who is responsible for this attack.

Detective Inspector Vicki Douglas, from Lanarkshire CID, said: “This was a particularly distressing incident for the victim and we can only be thankful that she was not seriously injured.

“We are appealing for any witnesses, local residents with private CCTV or possible dashcam footage from the local area to please come forward. We are also keen to hear from anyone who believes they may have seen any suspicious vehicles prior to the incident.

“Anyone with information which may assist our investigation, no matter how small, should call police on 101, quoting incident 3460 of 14 June. Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, if you wish to remain anonymous.”

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Four scheduled departures from Terminal 2 are cancelled, including KLM flight KL1036 to Amsterdam, SunExpress flight XQ535 to Antalya, Etihad Airways flight EY074 to Abu Dhabi and Turkish Airlines flight TK1992 to Istanbul.

Live departure boards also show a number of flights running more than 20 minutes behind schedule, affecting routes across Europe and the Middle East.

Services operated by easyJet, Jet2 and Qatar Airways are among those experiencing delays.

Live flight-tracking information shows easyJet flight U22104 to Nice running around 37 minutes late, while Qatar Airways flight QR27 to Doha is delayed by around 30 minutes.

Jet2 services to Menorca and Palma de Mallorca are also showing delays of more than 20 minutes.

Passengers due to travel on affected flights are being advised to monitor their airline’s website and Manchester Airport’s live departure information for the latest updates.

A significant depot from the Second World War’s infamous “Death Railway” has resurfaced in western Thailand, having lain submerged beneath a reservoir for decades.

The unexpected reappearance of Nithe Station has prompted a race against time for researchers eager to survey its remnants.

Thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Asian labourers toiled and died constructing the railway, a supply route through mainland Southeast Asia for the occupying Japanese forces.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand recently drained the Vajiralongkorn Dam reservoir for maintenance, revealing the station.

Historians are now seizing this rare opportunity to study the Kanchanaburi province site for artifacts and to verify details.

However, time is limited; the dam’s maintenance concludes in August, and Southeast Asia’s rainy season threatens to begin refilling the reservoir.

Nithe was a major station along the 415-kilometre (257-mile) railway that connected Thailand, known at the time as Siam, with Myanmar, then known as Burma.

The railway was built by about 60,000 Allied POWs, mainly from Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Indonesia, which was known then as the Dutch East Indies, as well as hundreds of thousands of Asian labourers, whom the Japanese called römusha.

More than 12,500 of the POWs and 75,000 laborers died during construction, which inspired the widely used nickname “The Death Railway”.

The railway was featured in the classic 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai and the 2013 movie The Railway Man.

It also was the focus of the award-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which became a 2025 miniseries starring Australian actor Jacob Elordi.

Researcher finds dog spikes and bridge staples

Independent Australian researcher Martyn Fryer flew from Perth to see the site. His grandfather died as a POW working on the railway after his 1942 capture in Singapore.

He stomped through muddy bogs in sweltering 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) heat to “understand what those lads went through and to appreciate the country and the terrain that they endured”.

Mr Fryer, who wrote a book about his grandfather’s regiment, titled From the Woodlands to the Jungle, scanned historic railway embankments with a metal detector. He found iron dog spikes, bridge staples and other war artifacts.

“I’ve been to Nithe Station three times in the past, but the water level has always been too high to actually really appreciate the fantastic offerings that it has with the remaining infrastructure and the layout of the railway itself,” Mr Fryer said.

To locate POW camps in the area, Mr Fryer compared wartime aerial photographs of Nithe from the National Archives in London with hand-charted maps brought by Andrew Snow, a researcher with the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre.

Like Fryer’s grandfather, Mr Snow’s father was captured in Singapore and forced to work on the railway.

Southeast Asia’s dry season often exposes bits of the station. But the water levels hit a new low this year and drained so quickly that vegetation has not yet regrown, making Nithe easier to study, Mr Snow explained.

“It is a good opportunity for us to do some surveying,” he said. “When you’re dealing with relatives of people that worked on the railway, it’s always nice to be able to show them the areas that maybe their relative worked on.”

Hundreds of Thai visitors have traveled to the area to see the “rare incident”, said Kitti Laokham, a 47-year-old local resident whose posts of Nithe have racked up 32 million views on social media.

Channarong Noimala saw the videos online and motorbiked 350 kilometres (217 miles) northwest from Bangkok to see the exposed station.

“At least for those who died here, no matter whether they are labourers or prisoners of war, we can remember them.”

Hellfire Pass

About 100 kilometres (60 miles) of winding mountain roads southwest of Nithe is Hellfire Pass, a brutal section of mountain where hundreds of POWs died.

The Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre, funded by the Australian government, received a record-breaking 169,000 visitors last year, which also marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

“As time passes, places like Hellfire Pass become even more important,” said Mick Clarke, an Australian Army veteran who manages the centre. “They keep personal stories alive and help future generations understand the cost of war.”

Around 22,000 Australians became POWs during the war and about 13,000 worked on the railway, with 2,800 dying during construction, according to Australia’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

“For many Australians, Hellfire Pass is deeply personal,” Mr Clarke said. “It connects families and the nation to a difficult but important chapter of wartime history.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on Capitol Hill said Monday they need more information about the agreement between the United States and Iran announced by President Donald Trump, and some are expressing skepticism as they ask the White House for details.

The agreement announced Sunday to end the war in Iran, set for a ceremonial signing Friday in Geneva, is centered around reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the United States’ naval blockade in the region, along with financial incentives for Iran if it meets certain benchmarks. But Senate Republicans and Democrats who returned to Washington on Monday said there were still many unanswered questions about the deal and they need thorough briefings before it is finalized.

“I just don’t know enough about it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters in the Capitol. “Even the people who follow this stuff closely up here don’t know that much about it.”

Congressional leaders and intelligence committees generally receive higher-level intelligence briefings before rank-and-file members, and they are notified of major developments before they are announced. But Thune said he had not been personally briefed on the deal.

“I think that my understanding of what it entails — and, again, not having seen anything — it would require, I think the issues are going to be compliance, and how are you going to enforce that,” Thune said.

Thune’s concerns were echoed by several other GOP senators.

“If it’s a secret deal then how can I take it seriously?” asked Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Vice President JD Vance told ABC News on Monday that the White House would release the text this week, “and what everybody will see is that Iran doesn’t get a dime of money unless they perform their obligations.”

Senators have questions about details

Trump has not yet explained how his agreement will address Iran’s nuclear program, including who will be in charge of verifying that Iran is in compliance and who will destroy or remove highly enriched uranium believed to be buried under nuclear sites that were badly damaged by U.S. strikes last summer.

A memorandum of understanding also includes the possibility of releasing Iran’s frozen funds, sanctions relief and a $300 billion fund to help rebuild Iran if Tehran meets certain benchmarks, senior U.S. officials told reporters Monday. But the document has not been released.

Thune said he wants to know more about the conditions on the financial incentives for Iran. He said the deal would be a “good one” if the incentives are conditioned upon Iran winding down its nuclear program and getting rid of the enriched uranium, “preventing them from having a nuclear capability in the future.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he is hopeful but “until you see the final document, it’s hard to make an assessment.”

“I go into it very skeptical of the government of Iran,” Kennedy said. “They learn to lie before they learn to talk. So any agreement we make with them has to have guardrails. It has to have a way to judge through independent inspection if they’re doing what they say they’re doing.”

Senate could have a vote

Under the Iran nuclear agreement review act passed by Congress during the Obama era, any deal the U.S. reaches concerning Iran’s nuclear material must be submitted within a certain amount of time to Congress for review. But it is up to Congress whether that happens — it is not required.

President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, known as the JCPOA, was submitted for what’s called a vote of disapproval in the Senate. The outcome did not roll back the agreement, but put the senators on record with their support or opposition.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Trump and a longtime hawk on Iran, has appeared skeptical over the emerging agreement. He said he is “pulling for a deal” but Congress will need to review and vote on it, and he wants to see the memorandum that the two countries have agreed on.

“The way Iran describes it, it’s awful. The way we describe it, it makes sense to me,” Graham, R-S.C., said. “Let’s look at it and see what it actually is.”

Graham has said he wants Vance, whom he called “the architect of the deal,” to present it to lawmakers.

Vance responded to Graham on Monday, saying in the interview with ABC that he would “caution Lindsey Graham and anybody else not to believe the hard-liner propaganda in Iran, but to believe what’s actually in the agreement.”

Even though Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is the son of the last supreme leader, and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard still has significant authority in Iran, Vance told CNN in a separate interview that “fundamentally, it is a much different group of people.” He insisted that the conflict had unlocked much more direct communication with high-level Iranian officials and that the relationship was “fundamentally transformed.”

Next steps in Congress unclear

Most Senate Republicans said they want to review the deal, but it was still unclear whether they would have a vote, or if Congress could pass it.

Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said he doesn’t think an up-or-down vote is necessary.

“You have the camp that wants us to lose and then you have a camp that wants a forever war,” Schmitt said. “President Trump’s not in either one of those camps, and neither am I.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he expects the Senate will get the final say. But he praised Trump for making “the single most consequential decision of his presidency” by attacking Iran.

“I think he made America safer,” Cruz said. “The president as commander in chief acted decisively to stop that ayatollah from getting nuclear weapons.”

Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who serves on the Intelligence Committee, said he expects there are still many more steps to the process before any package would come to Congress for review.

“Seems like early reports are showing that this is kind of the first step,” he said. “Once we have a final agreement, we need to take it up and pass it. … If you want a long-term agreement it’s got to be law.”

Democrats ask what has changed

Democrats questioned how the deal will improve upon the U.S. position before the war — and how it differs from Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal.

“For all his critique of JCPOA, we had international observers, we actually had an alliance there that included the Europeans, and Russia and China were all signatories,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said there are more questions than answers, including what happens to the Iranian nuclear program and sanctions on Iranian oil.

Trump has spent “tens of billions of dollars” and service members and Iranians have died, “and he still cannot explain how one family in Massachusetts is better off,” Warren said.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said an end to what has been a costly and unpopular war would be a good resolution, but he wants to hear more details.

“An off ramp is good because it was a war that should have never been started,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Price in Washington and Bill Barrow in Alpharetta, Georgia, contributed to this report.

Sky customers can tune into every game of the 2026 World Cup on ‘the TV designed for football’ for a much cheaper price if they act fast

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World Cup fans have been urged to act fast as a Sky deal launched to mark the start of this year’s tournament ends in hours. With the 2026 edition of the FIFA World Cup now in full swing, Sky is preparing to end its £4.50 Sky Glass deal.

This lets customers shaved 20% off each Sky Glass TV, which Sky touts as ‘the TV designed for football’. However, as the group stage at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA enters its final hours, so does Sky’s sale.

Football fans only have until 11.59pm on Wednesday (June 17) to secure the deal before prices revert to normal. Until then, monthly prices for the slim and sleek Sky Glass Air start at £4.50 (was £6) – the equivalent of 15p per day.

The discount also extends to the larger and more powerful Sky Glass Gen 2, which now starts at £11 (was £14). Both models allow football fans to watch all World Cup fixtures broadcast across BBC and ITV in stunning 4K HDR picture quality, while the Gen 2 also delivers Dolby Atmos sound through its built-in soundbar.

It comes as Sky rolls out a significant update specifically for the World Cup that reduces streaming delay between the live action and what’s on screen. The new Sky Real Time channels enhance BBC and ITV’s World Cup coverage for Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers, enabling fans to tune in with less lag and fewer spoilers, reports Wales Online.

Upgrade your World Cup TV setup with the Sky Glass ‘designed for football’

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Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from £4.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.

Sky Glass also features a dedicated sports mode that can be activated for ‘a crisp, cooler look, vivid colours and an electrifying burst of sound’. One important factor to bear in mind is that the reduced prices cover the TV itself only, meaning new Sky customers will also need to sign up for a Sky TV package from £15 per month.

This includes roughly 100 channels and a free Netflix subscription at no additional cost, while those opting for the £24 Ultimate TV package will also gain 35 extra channels plus free HBO Max and Disney+ access. There’s also an option to include Sky Sports channels for £20, offering hundreds of matches from the Premier League, EFL and more throughout the next two seasons, though this isn’t necessary to watch the World Cup.

It’s worth noting that the Sky Glass TV comes with a 48-month loan, with a £20 payment required upfront, while Sky’s TV subscriptions run for 24 months. Sky also states its prices ‘may change’ during this period.

While both Sky Glass models are designed with a crystal-clear 4K HDR Quantum Dot screen ideal for tuning in to the World Cup, there are a few notable distinctions between the Air and Gen 2, particularly when it comes to audio. The former delivers rich sound through a Dolby Audio speaker system, while the latter features a built-in soundbar powered by Dolby Atmos.

Both models do away with the need for a Sky box or satellite dish, operating via WiFi with a straightforward plug-and-play setup. Sky also confirms that the Glass TV can be delivered the following day when ordered before 3pm, Monday to Friday.

Meanwhile, EE is slashing hundreds off a range of televisions from Samsung, LG, Hisense and more in its rival World Cup sale, which also includes the opportunity to win free tickets to a Home Nations football match. Among the more budget-friendly options is the Hisense A7QTUK QLED AI Smart TV from £289, which customers describe as ‘outstanding quality for the price’.

Amazon is also reducing the price of its newest television, the Ember Artline, which is crafted to resemble framed artwork. Prices now begin at £769.99 (was £949.99) for the 55″ model, representing a saving of £180.

As for Sky Glass, technology experts at Uswitch say the Air model is ‘ideal’ for football supporters looking for ‘a great audiovisual experience at a relatively affordable price’. They said: “The 4K Quantum Dot panel gives vivid colours and strong clarity for both streaming and live TV.

“Its auto-enhance setting adjusts the picture and sound based on what you’re watching, but there are a number of dedicated picture modes, including Entertainment, Sports, Movies, Music, Vivid and Extra Vivid. Audio is probably the most significant compromise that Sky Glass Air makes in comparison to Gen 2.

“While it lacks the built-in soundbar of its big brother, it still has Dolby audio and a two-speaker stereo system inside that optimises sound. I experienced good depth of quality and clear dialogue, so no muffled [or] tinny sounds.”

Despite praising many of its features, the reviewer highlighted certain shortcomings of the Sky Glass Air, noting: “If you’re used to a more immersive cinema experience, you won’t get that with Sky Glass Air. Luckily, you can easily stream Dolby Atmos to a compatible soundbar if you want that full cinema experience.”

They continued: “One of the best features about Sky Glass is the Sky OS interface, which brings together content from Sky channels and streaming services all in one place. The more you watch and add things to your playlist, the more Sky OS learns and can give you better recommendations.

“If you want access to the best TV content in the UK [and] a sleek, good-looking TV that delivers a great audiovisual experience at a relatively affordable price, Sky Glass Air is ideal. However, if you’re a gamer or someone who takes home cinema very seriously, you might consider splashing out on the Sky Glass Gen 2.”

It’s a question big enough to make your head spin! Eight-year-old Ellie from Atlanta, Georgia, wants to know what came before the Big Bang?

Ellie joins our host Eloise to delve into the origins of our universe with astronomer Michael Lam on The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast.

In each episode of The Conversation’s Curious Kids, a curious kid joins host Eloise to ask a top researcher their burning question. If you’d like to join in with the experiment in this episode, make sure you have a balloon and a pen on hand while you listen.

To listen to season two, follow us wherever you get your podcasts, or listen on the Yoto Player via the Discover section on the Yoto interactive audio platform for kids.

You can also listen back to season one and read lots of answers to questions sent in by children around the world in our Curious Kids series.

Got a question? Pop it in an email, or record it and send us the audio to curiouskids@theconversation.com.

This season of The Conversation’s Curious Kids is supported by the University of Southampton in the UK, a world-leading research-intensive university with a global network of international students and campuses in Malaysia and Delhi.

Disclosure statement

Michael Lam has received funding from the National Science Foundation. He is also a research scientist at the SETI Institute.

Credits

This episode of The Conversation’s Curious Kids was hosted and mixed by Eloise Stevens. The producer was Katie Flood and the executive producer was Gemma Ware. Sound from Artemis II launch from CNN.

The British summer is well on its way, and there’s one pretty seaside town that’s in easy reach of Cambridge, with a traditional Victorian pier and golden sand beaches

An unspoilt UK seaside town with sprawling sand beaches, a seafood legacy, and a traditional Victorian pier is perfect for a seaside escape from Cambridge.

As we’re set to welcome another UK heatwave, with temperatures reaching up to a balmy 29C at the weekend, there’s no better time than to plan a quintessential trip to the seaside. While the UK is brimming with coastal resorts, charming seaside towns and picture-perfect vistas, there’s one destination that certainly deserves recognition.

Tucked away along the north Norfolk coastline, around two hours from Cambridge, lies the beautiful seaside town of Cromer. And it has everything you could ever need for classic coastal pastimes, whether you’re after a weekend getaway or a day out with the family.

The Grade II-listed Cromer Pier is undoubtedly the standout attraction in the town, extending 140 metres into the sea and home to the Pavilion Theatre. The pier is one of the only structures in the UK to host a traditional, full-season end-of-pier variety show.

The iconic Cromer Pier Show has showcased live music, comedy, magic, dance, and variety acts for decades, inviting guests to enjoy a unique entertaining show above the sea in one of their 500 seats. But since the pier opened in 1901, it’s certainly stood the test of time.

Due to its location in the North Sea, Cromer Pier has been hit by the elements, and in 1993, it was actually cut in half. During a major storm, a rig crashed into the pier and caused a huge 30 metre gap just behind the main entrance, leaving the theatre and lifeboat house completely cut off.

Thankfully, it went through repairs and continued to be a beloved attraction in the town. Today, it attracts thousands of visitors who want to walk along its Victoria decking, catch a show, or catch crab off the side, as it’s proven to be a popular spot for seafood.

Cromer is known for its local crab, which thrives in the shallow waters and chalky reefs, making it a prime fishing destination. The crab meat is sweet and tender, which can be enjoyed at a seafood shack near the beach or at a local pub, and it’s not unusual to see them being sold straight off a fishing boat, either.

The beach itself holds a Blue Flag Status, offering stretches of golden sand during low tide and shingle at high tide. Yet it’s known as a family-friendly beach, ideal for shell collecting, building sandcastles or setting up the picnic blanket and sun umbrella for the day.

For additional seaside entertainment, there’s often a funfair on the promenade for little ones to enjoy, or picturesque coastal walks along the Norfolk Coast Path for avid ramblers. Or it’s simply enjoyable to watch the comings and goings of this vibrant town, dubbed ‘Britain’s Great Barrier Reef’, and of course, grab a bag of fish and chips by the seaside.

The town itself, sitting on top of the cliffs, is packed with independent shops, boutique galleries, museums and an independent cinema, the Movieplex, against its Victorian architecture. Visitors will also find a selection of traditional tearooms, seafood restaurants, and welcoming pubs serving local Cromer crab, so they can really savour the flavours of this seaside town.

Whether it’s a fun-packed day out or a getaway by the coast, Cromer certainly won’t disappoint.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

After three months of war with two of the world’s most technologically and militarily advanced countries, Iran has proved far more resilient than anticipated. Indeed, strategically at least, Tehran appears to now have the upper hand in the conflict. How has this situation come about?

When the United States joined Israel to launch the latest war with Iran in late February 2026, the prognosis did not look good for the regime in Tehran.

In attacking Iran, the US and Israel set up a highly asymmetric conflict. It pitted the Islamic Republic up against two nuclear-armed adversaries who boast some of the most advanced military capabilities on the planet. And the scale of the US and Israeli intervention was far larger than anything Iran has experienced in decades.

Over the course of several weeks, Iran was pounded relentlessly with the full force of US and Israeli air and missile power. Precision strikes and targeted assassinations removed key members of Iran’s political and military leadership – including the supreme leader and commander-in-chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The country’s air and naval combat capabilities were decimated, hundreds of its missile launchers and air defence systems were destroyed and its internal security apparatus was severely degraded. The country’s nuclear facilities and missile and drone factories were bombed with thousands of pounds of munitions.

Iran moved quickly to replace its leadership and use its remaining military capabilities to strike back at its attackers and their allies. But by any measure, the Islamic Republic was facing an existential threat. At that point, it seemed almost inconceivable that Iran might avoid capitulation, survive politically, and recover its position so far as to gain leverage in its dealings with the US. Yet that is exactly the scenario that has played out.

As Jerusalem-based Middle East expert Daniel Sobelman explains, in an asymmetric conflict where a weaker actor is pitted against a superior adversary, the weaker actor must tilt the “balance of vulnerability” in its favour to avoid total defeat. To do this, it must ensure the survivability of its critical military capabilities and it must exploit the vulnerabilities of its adversaries.

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Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win

This type of logic has long been a feature of Iranian strategic thinking. Officials have often emphasised the importance of exploiting the points of vulnerability or weakness of Iran’s adversaries, while minimising their own, as a key element of both asymmetric deterrence and warfighting.

Tehran’s prewar deterrence posture clearly failed to prevent US and Israeli attacks. Yet over the past three months Iran has shifted the balance of vulnerability. It has imposed severe costs, escalated its attacks and exploited vulnerabilities in ways that helped it not only survive but also force its adversaries to a ceasefire.

Asymmetric warfare

By April it was clear that the US and Israel were unable to force Tehran to capitulate (or to “cry uncle” to as the US president, Donald Trump, famously put it). The attacking forces were unable to create the conditions for regime change. And they failed to destroy Iran’s arsenal of missiles and drones.

Iran absorbed all the punishment inflicted by its attackers. And, crucially, it retained the capacity to retaliate with missile and drone strikes on Israel and US bases in the Gulf. Iran also attacked energy and other infrastructure in Arab Gulf states. This undermined the stated US goal of protecting its regional allies and upended their reputation as havens of stability.

Iran’s attacks also signalled clearly that in this regional conflict, support for the US was a liability rather than an asset. In addition to all this, Iran caused havoc by closing the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels. This cut off a critical global supply artery for oil, gas and fertiliser with disastrous consequences for energy and food supply around the globe.

All the while, Iran has forced Israel, the US and the Gulf states to burn through critical, expensive and slow-to-replenish munitions, another vulnerability that emerged for Tehran to exploit.

In terms of escalation, Iran has threatened to further increase economic costs. It has threatened to expand attacks on Israeli and Gulf energy and infrastructure targets and to target undersea cables in the Strait of Hormuz. And it has threatened to push its Axis of Resistance partners in Yemen, the Houthis, to disrupt the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea.

Counting the cost

The US and Israel may have largely achieved their stated military objectives – including degrading Iran’s nuclear programme, military capabilities and defence industries. But Iran has prevented its enemies from achieving their strategic goals. And it has inflicted strategic, diplomatic, military, political and economic costs on Israel, the US, the Gulf states and beyond.

Tehran remains at a clear military disadvantage and highly vulnerable to further US and Israeli military strikes. But Iran appears to hold the upper hand at the political-strategic level, at least for now. It has forced Trump to seek an off ramp, it retains the ability to close the Strait of Hormuz as well as to strike critical targets across the region.

Iran also appears to be revamping the Axis of Resistance – especially Lebanese Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthis – as a key pillar of leverage, deterrence and warfighting. Tehran recently announced the creation of a “new security belt” of the axis and claimed a new doctrine of “unified resistance front,” where any attack on the axis would trigger a coordinated response by all Axis members.

Moving forward, Tehran will clearly try to leverage this moment of perceived strategic advantage to enhance and coordinate its efforts in both the “field of action” – especially its threat and use of military force – and the “field of negotiation” with Washington. It aims not only to survive this conflict, but to emerge in a stronger strategic position.

In doing so, the Islamic Republic will be able to pour available resources into rebuilding and enhancing its critical retaliatory capabilities – especially missile and drones – while continuing to find ways to exploit the vulnerabilities of its adversaries.

The 27-year-old has responded after allegedly imitating shooting a gun with his hands after scoring in the draw with New Zealand

Iran footballer Mohammad Mohebi has responded to accusations that he allegedly made a gun gesture while celebrating his goal in their World Cup 2026 match with New Zealand.

Iran twice fought back from going behind to draw 2-2 with the Oceania outfit, with Mohebi’s 64th-minute strike salvaging a point in an entertaining affair at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

But the manner of how he celebrated his goal stoked controversy amongst fans and pundits. The 27-year-old, who plies his trade for Russian club FC Rostov, placed two fingers towards his arm, before holding two fingers out on his right hand and wagging them about in the air.

The incident has sparked calls for an investigation, given the volatility of Iran’s place in the tournament in the United States. Mohebi has since responded, speaking alongside captain Mehdi Taremi to the media after the game.

There will be more to follow on this breaking news story and Mirror Sport will bring you the very latest updates, pictures and video as soon as possible.

Please check back regularly for updates on this developing story.

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