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Trump attacks Iran, Khalil leaves jails and Thunder beat Pacers

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

US assessing bomb damage to Iran nuclear sites

What happened
President Donald Trump said last night that the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday resulted in the "obliteration" of Tehran's nuclear program. The U.S. military and the United Nations said it was too soon to assess the damage. Vice President J.D. Vance insisted the U.S. was "not at war with Iran," just "Iran's nuclear program," and he and other Cabinet officials stated on TV that the Trump administration was not aiming for "regime change." But Trump last night said toppling the "current Iranian regime" was certainly on the table.

Who said what
The Trump administration's "conflicting" messages about the scope of U.S. involvement "highlights the difficulty" it faces as it "tries to navigate the fallout" from "its massive strike on Iran" and "mollify the factions of the MAGA base" opposed to joining Israel's war, Politico said. This is a "risky moment for Trump," The Associated Press said, especially as he has long "belittled his predecessors for tying up America in 'stupid wars'" in the Middle East.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday that initial assessments indicated "extremely severe damage and destruction" at the three nuclear facilities — Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — hit by 30,000-pound U.S. "bunker-buster" bombs and Tomahawk missiles. But Rafael Grossi, head of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, said that "at this time, no one, including the IAEA, is in a position to assess the underground damage" at the sites.

U.S. officials also "conceded they did not know the whereabouts of Iran's supply of near-bomb-grade uranium," The New York Times said. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the highly enriched uranium had been moved to undisclosed locations before the attack, a claim deemed probably true by outside experts and Israeli officials and bolstered by satellite photos.

What next?
At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council yesterday, Iran's ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the U.S. had "recklessly chosen to sacrifice its own security merely to safeguard" Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Tehran's military will decide the "timing, nature, and scale of Iran's proportionate response." U.S. intelligence officials had "already detected signs that Iran-backed militias were preparing to attack U.S. bases in Iraq, and possibly Syria," the Times said.

 
 
Today's IMMIGRATION story

Judges order release of 2 high-profile migrants

What happened
A federal judge in Nashville yesterday denied a Trump administration motion to detain Kilmar Ábrego García, a Maryland man illegally deported to an El Salvador prison in March, as the government pursues unrelated federal criminal charges filed before he was brought back to the U.S. on June 6. In a separate high-profile Trump-era immigration case, former Columbia student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil (pictured above) returned to New York City, and his wife and newborn son, on Saturday after being released following more than three months of detention in Louisiana.

Who said what
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes ruled that the government had "failed" to prove Ábrego, 29, was a flight risk or danger to the community, and said many of the gang and human-trafficking allegations against him "defy common sense" or were based on "double hearsay" and other problematic testimony. Her ruling is the "latest twist in a saga that has resulted in multiple black eyes for Trump's mass deportation policy, including a rebuke from the Supreme Court," Politico said, though Ábrego is "unlikely to be released anytime soon." 

New Jersey U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil's release on bail Friday, saying the government had not presented any legitimate reasons to keep him locked up. Khalil, 30, was the "first noncitizen activist to be arrested and detained" under Trump, The Washington Post said, and with 104 days behind bars, he was "detained far longer than any other targeted student and has not been accused of any crime."

What next?
Holmes set a Wednesday hearing on the conditions for Ábrego's release. But the government has already appealed her decision and ICE "will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him," The Associated Press said. The government is also still trying to deport Khalil.

 
 
Today's SPORTS Story

Thunder beat Pacers to clinch NBA Finals

What happened
The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 103-91 last night to win Game 7 of the NBA Finals, giving the team its first championship since moving to Oklahoma from Seattle in 2008. Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (pictured above center), who scored 29 points, was named Finals MVP, making him the first player since LeBron James in 2013 to win that title, regular season MVP and a championship in the same season.

Who said what
The Pacers' "resilience makes an opponent earn each victory," and the Thunder had to fight for this win, USA Today said. Indiana's "mental and physical strength powered them to a 48-47 halftime lead," even after superstar guard Tyrese Haliburton left the game in the first quarter with an Achilles injury. But "without their best player, they could not outlast the Thunder in front of a raucous Oklahoma City crowd," ESPN said. "We deserve this," Gilgeous-Alexander said after his team's victory. "There's so much more room to grow."

What next?
Oklahoma City has been the league's "most dominant team" all season, but the "most frightening thing for the rest of the NBA" going forward is that the Thunder "are just getting started," The Wall Street Journal said. They are the "youngest team in the NBA," and their "embarrassment of future draft picks" will just "add to an already dazzling stockpile of superstars who haven’t even reached their prime." 

 
 

It's not all bad

A new skin patch could soon provide a "painless and less invasive" alternative to biopsies, according to scientists from King's College London. The patches are covered in tens of millions of nanoneedles, 1,000 times thinner than a piece of human hair, and unlike biopsies, they do not remove tissue. Instead, the patches extract molecular "fingerprints" from cells, including proteins and lipids, which are then analyzed. This "opens up a world of possibilities" for "advancing personalized medicine," said lead researcher Dr. Ciro Chiappini.

 
 
Under the radar

The moon may become the next mining hot spot, as studies suggest extensive platinum and other metal deposits in its craters. Guidelines about resource mining on the moon are still not solidified, which could lead to problems with countries and private companies trying to stake their claim. But the potential for platinum could also entice private companies to invest more in space exploration.

There may be more than $1 trillion worth of platinum deposits on the moon, according to a paper published in the journal Planetary and Space Science. Of the 1.3 million craters on the moon with a diameter greater than one kilometer, "nearly 6,500 were made by asteroids containing commercial quantities of platinum," said New Scientist. 

Nobody owns the moon because of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. But as the potential for resources grows, and space travel becomes more widely available, the rules are likely to change. The treaty notably "leaves key questions unanswered," Rebecca Connolly, an adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Sydney Law School, said to New Scientist. 

A monetary incentive for reaching the moon could change space exploration. Astronomy is "done to satiate our curiosity," Jayanth Chennamangalam, an astrophysicist and the lead author of the lunar platinum study, said to New Scientist. It has "very few practical applications" and is "mostly paid for by taxpayer money." But if we can "monetize space resources, be it on the moon or on asteroids, private enterprises will invest in the exploration of the solar system."

 
 
On this day

June 23, 1868

The first commercially successful typewriter, the Sholes and Glidden, was patented by inventor Christopher Latham Sholes. It could print only uppercase letters but introduced the QWERTY keyboard layout that's still standard on English-language computers and smartphones.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

"U.S. enters Israel's war against Iran," casting "doubts about whether the U.S. was ever serious about talks," the Miami Herald says on Monday's front page. "By entering war, president is testing the unity of his coalition" and handing Iran's leader a "fraught choice: backing down or ramping up," The New York Times says. After the bombing, "U.S. braces for Iran's retaliation," the Los Angeles Times says. "Troops on high alert" after "Trump's gamble," says USA Today. "U.S. says limited strike met its goals," The Washington Post says. Iran's "nuclear program is probably set back," The Wall Street Journal says, "but the fate of enriched uranium isn't clear."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Sit happens

A crystal-covered chair at Verona's Palazzo Maffei museum was badly damaged after a man, ignoring warnings not to get too close, lost his balance and fell on it. Security footage shows the clumsy fellow and a companion pretending to sit on the "Van Gogh" chair by artist Nicola Bolla, followed by the man falling down, breaking the chair's legs and crushing its seat. The incident has been reported to the police, but the pair remains unidentified.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Daniel Torok / The White House via Getty Images; Spencer Platt / Getty Images; Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images; Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images