Monday 23rd June 2025. US bombs Iran. Thailand no quit. Belarus release. Finland landmines. Putin Ukraine "ours". Brazil balloon crash...
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Good morning, this is Send7, world news in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devincenzi. Today is Monday the 23rd of June 2025. Starting in Asia today, the United States bombed Iran yesterday morning.

The US and Iran have confirmed that US missiles hit three nuclear sites, and the US officials have said that 75 missiles were fired, including 14 bunker buster bombs, which are designed to penetrate underground before exploding in order to destroy underground sites.

This was the first time that the bunker buster GBU-57 bomb has ever been used in combat. The US Defense Department said that 100 airplanes flew all the way from the United States, conducting refueling in the air before firing the missiles while flying over Iran. Some missiles were also fired from a submarine,

President Donald Trump said that Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities have been obliterated. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace.

If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. Speaking during a visit to Turkey, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aradji said that the US was breaking international law by targeting Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities. The Islamic Republic of Iran condemns in the strongest terms the United States' brutal military tactics

aggression against Iran's peaceful nuclear facilities. It is an outrageous, grave and unprecedented violation of the fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. The warmongering and lawless administration in Washington is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences and far-reaching implications of its act of aggression.

Last night, Iran's parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, which is a water channel between Iran and Oman, through which about a fifth of the world's oil is transported. Thailand's Prime Minister Paitontan Shinawatra has said that she won't resign because of anger at a leaked phone call with Cambodian leader Hun Sen last week,

Sinawatra has apologised, but said that she has the support of all parties of her coalition government. Europe. Belarusian opposition leader Sergei Tsikhanouski has been released from prison and freed into Lithuania, where his wife Svetlana Tsikhanouskaya is living in exile.

Sergei was planning to be a candidate in the 2020 presidential election before he was arrested and imprisoned. In his place, Sviatlana ran for the presidency and opposition groups and the European Union said that she won. However, long-term leader Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, resulting in large protests.

On Twitter, Sviatlana thanked US President Donald Trump and Special Envoy Keith Kellogg, who had visited Lukashenko in Belarus the day before. Finland's parliament has voted to leave the Ottawa Treaty, in which member states say that they won't use landmines,

Finland has said that landmines may be used to defend its 1,340-kilometre border with Russia. Four other countries that border Russia – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – have also left or said that they plan to leave the Ottawa Landmine Treaty in order to protect their borders. Finland's President Alexander Stubb said, quote,

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeated claims that Ukraine is part of Russia,

At the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin said that Russians and Ukrainians are the same people and, quote, in that sense, the whole of Ukraine is ours, end quote. He also said, where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.

Americas. In Brazil, a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed to the ground on Saturday in the southern state of Santa Catarina. Eight people were killed, however, 13 people survived with injuries. Hot air balloon accidents are relatively rare.

In Bolivia, President Luis Arce has announced the death of Labour Minister Erland Rodriguez Lafuente and said that there is an investigation into his death. Africa In Rwanda, opposition leader Victoire Ngabire has been arrested for creating a criminal organisation and inciting public disorder and

Ngabire already spent six years in prison on charges of conspiracy to form an armed group and minimising the Rwandan genocide. Ngabire has spent many years in exile and has won several human rights prizes.

And in Kenya, female baboons that have better relationships with their fathers live for longer, according to a new study. The study of 216 female baboons found that daughters that had more grooming interactions with their fathers and lived in the same group as their fathers during the first four years of their life

lived for two to four years longer than other females. That's your World News in 7 minutes. This podcast exists because of our incredible supporters. Supporters also have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and world news quizzes. You can become a supporter at send7.org. Have a great day. See you tomorrow.