According to US Senator Chris Van Hollen, Trump has viewed his administration as a “junior partner” for Netanyahu.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen claims that US President Donald Trump has “subcontracted” his administration to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Middle East goals.
Senator Van Hollen tells host Steve Clemons that the president is considering expanding his involvement in Israel’s attack on Iran, and that the idea that “there is a real risk that the United States will get dragged deeper and deeper into this war” is misunderstood.
Who: Bayern Munich (Germany) vs Boca Juniors (Argentina) What: FIFA Club World Cup, Group C, Matchday 2 Where: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, United States When: Kickoff is at 9pm on Friday (01:00 GMT on Saturday)
How to follow our coverage: We’ll have all the build-up from 5pm local (21:00 GMT on Friday) on Al Jazeera Sport.
Group C leaders Bayern Munich clash with Argentina mega club Boca Juniors in the second matchday for each side at the FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) in the United States.
Victory for Bayern would ensure they qualify for the knockout stages, beginning on June 28.
After a draw in their opening match, Boca Juniors have it all to play for if they also want to progress to the last 16 of the tournament and will need to defeat Bayern to draw level on points at the top of Group C.
How did Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors fare in their opening Group C fixtures?
Bayern Munich began their campaign in record-breaking fashion, becoming the first team to score double digits in a single CWC game when they thumped Auckland City 10-0 on Sunday.
German international Jamal Musiala marked his return from injury with a brilliant second-half hat-trick in a commanding team display.
Boca Juniors played out a 2-2 draw with Benfica on Monday in a feisty encounter that resulted in three red cards.
The Buenos Aires side were ahead 2-0 just before half-time but let the three points slip after squandering the lead to the Portuguese side.
Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala scores a hat-trick against Auckland City [Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters]
Why were Boca’s Ander Herrera and Nicolas Figal given harsh suspensions?
Boca Juniors players Ander Herrera and Nicolas Figal were handed four-match bans by FIFA after being sent off in their CWC opener, a spokesperson for the Argentinian club said on Wednesday.
Boca disagreed with the sanctions imposed on their players after Benfica’s Andrea Belotti received a two-match ban for catching Ayrton Costa in the head with a high boot in the 72nd minute.
“We have already contacted FIFA to submit an appeal,” a club spokesperson said.
Spanish midfielder Herrera, who was subbed off due to a muscle injury, was shown a red card in the 45th minute after protesting to Mexican referee Cesar Ramos from the bench over a penalty awarded to the Portuguese side.
Defender Figal was sent off in the 88th minute with a straight red card for a foul on Florentino Luis when the match was tied at 2-2.
Mexican referee Cesar Ramos shows a red card to Boca Juniors’ Argentinian defender Nicolas Figal during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Group C match against Portugal’s Benfica at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, on June 16, 2025 [Chandan Khanna/AFP]
Have Bayern and Boca ever played before?
The teams last met on November 27, 2001, in the knockout stage of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, Japan.
The contest was billed as a clash of the super clubs between the then-two-time Copa Libertadores champion Boca Juniors taking on the might of the newly crowned UEFA Champions League winners, Bayern Munich.
Bayern beat Boca 1-0 in extra time courtesy of a 109th minute strike by Samuel Kuffour.
Friday’s match will be only the fourth time they’ve played in 100 years.
Samuel Kuffour scores the game-winning goal against Boca Juniors on November 27, 2001, in Tokyo, Japan [Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts via Getty Images]
Team News: Bayern Munich
Out: Hiroki Ito (metatarsal fracture), Alphonso Davies (cruciate ligament tear), Kim Min-jae (foot injury) Doubtful: none
Manager Vincent Kompany has a full squad available to him and is expected to field a similar starting XI to the side that thrashed Auckland.
Star forward Harry Kane, who failed to score in the goal fest against Auckland City, is again expected to lead the line.
Boca Juniors manager Miguel Russo has two large holes to fill with former Manchester United star Herrera and Figal both suspended until the semifinal stage of the tournament.
Tomas Belmonte replaced Herrera in the midfield against Benfica and is a near-certainty to get the start in the key central midfield role. Figal’s role in the back four will likely be occupied by Marcos Rojo.
Russo is expected to deploy the same 4-2-3-1 set-up, just as he did against Benfica.
Down two starters, Boca Juniors manager Miguel Russo, left, will have some tough choices to make on team selection in the match against Bayern Munich on June 20, 2025 [File: Luciano Bisbal/Getty Images]
Bayern Munich (all competitions, most recent first):
W-W-D-W-W
Boca Juniors (all competitions, most recent first):
W-L-D-W-L
Where will the match be played?
The match will be played at the 65,000-capacity Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.
The venue is home to the legendary Miami Dolphins NFL franchise and stages the Miami Tennis Open annually.
The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami [File: Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports via Reuters]
What the teams had to say
Manuela Neuer, Bayern Munich goalkeeper:
“We’re definitely expecting a good atmosphere. We saw how the match against Benfica went,” Neuer told fcbayern.com.
“We’re getting more and more focused as the game approaches. In terms of analysis of the opposition too, we know exactly what we’ll need in the match. We keep increasing the intensity before reducing it a little on the day before the match because the temperatures too play a role.”
Miguel Russo, Boca Juniors manager:
“We have to be up to the task. It will be a physical match like [against Benfica].
“They’re [Bayern Munich are] a big opponent. Historically, they’ve won a lot. But Argentine football is big too. … We welcome these challenges. But we have to know that Friday’s game will be tougher than today’s [vs Benfica].”
How much is the prize money for the Club World Cup?
The total prize pot is $1bn with the champions earning up to $125m.
About half of the $1bn will be divided between the 32 clubs with the amount per club based on sporting and commercial criteria. It means that clubs such as Manchester City and Real Madrid will receive a greater percentage than smaller clubs in a model FIFA developed with the European Club Association.
A further $475m will be awarded on a performance-related basis. Hence, the team with the most wins over a potential seven matches will bank more cash with a maximum pot of $125m available.
The Israeli government has issued new directives restricting how its media covers its current war with Iran.
On Wednesday, a circular from Israel’s military censor, Brigadier General Kobi Mandelblit, announced new rules on what Israeli media organisations and journalists within the country can – and cannot – publish about the effect of Iranian strikes.
The legal underpinnings of censorship in Israel are older than the country itself.
Restrictions on media freedom in the territory were first established by the British during their Mandate for Palestine in 1945, before being incorporated into Israeli law after the state was created three years later.
However, restrictions on press freedom in Israel go further than just outlawing aspects of journalists’ reporting.
According to figures from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Israel has killed at least 164 journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. More have been killed in Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and, now, Iran.
Since May 2024, the Israeli government has banned Al Jazeera from its territory and, since November, has sanctioned the Israeli liberal daily, Haaretz, over coverage considered critical of its actions.
So, what are the new restrictions on journalists and how does media freedom in Israel stack up against that in other countries?
Here’s what we know.
What do the new restrictions involve?
The new regulations relate specifically to the conflict with Iran. They place special restrictions on the way journalists and editors can report the impact of Iranian strikes on Israel.
In a circular, published on Wednesday, titled Rising Lion – IDF Censor Guidelines for Media Coverage of Attack on the Israeli Home Front, the office of Israel’s chief military censor ordered editors to take “strict measures” when reporting on missile and drone attacks.
The censor is also warning against reporting anything that could indicate attack positions or air defence operations, or damage assessments that could “assist the enemy” and pose “a tangible threat to state security”.
Specifically, journalists and editors are prohibited from:
Filming or broadcasting images from impact sites, particularly near military installations.
Using drones or wide-angle cameras to show impact areas.
Detailing the precise location of affected areas near security installations.
Broadcasting images of Israeli missiles being launched or of Iranian missiles being intercepted.
The directive also bans the sharing of videos from social media without prior review by the censor, cautioning – as a side note – that some may be “enemy-generated fake news”.
The new restrictions have taken immediate effect. Photographers in the port city of Haifa were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning while setting up cameras to capture images of potential strikes on the port.
A general view of Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike by Iran on Israel, in Beersheba, Israel, on June 19, 2025 [Amir Cohen/Reuters]
What restrictions were already in place before this?
Journalists and editors were already required to submit any article that could touch upon Israel’s security to the military censor for approval ahead of publication.
Under the existing regulations, the censor has the power to halt publication of any article if “there is a “near certainty that real damage will be caused to the security of the state” by its publication.
It may not, however, restrict articles or reports on the grounds that they might damage the reputation of either the Israeli army or the country’s politicians.
In 2023, Israel’s already tight restrictions were increased via an amendment to the country’s anti-terrorism law which punishes those who “systematically and continuously consume terrorist publications” or who broadcast “a direct call to commit an act of terrorism”.
According to media freedom organisations, such as the Index on Censorship, even before the new restrictions on reporting the Iran conflict were introduced, the censor’s definition of “security issues” was very broad, covering topics as diverse as the army, intelligence agencies, arms deals, administrative detainees, aspects of Israel’s foreign affairs, and more.
Any journalist, publication or media group can appeal a decision by the censor to the Supreme Court, which has the power to overturn its decisions.
How often does the censor take action?
Frequently.
In May, the Israeli-Palestinian magazine, + 972, described what it called an “unprecedented spike in media censorship” since the start of the war on Gaza.
According to the magazine, throughout 2024, Israel’s military censor fully blocked 1,635 articles from being published and imposed partial restrictions on another 6,265.
This amounted to an average of roughly 21 interventions in news stories every day; more than twice the highest previous daily tally of about 10 interventions during the 2014 Gaza conflict (Operation Protective Edge), and more than three times that typically recorded during peacetime of 6.2 per day.
Complicating matters are regulations banning outlets from stating whether parts of an article have been censored, so readers cannot be certain what information has been censored and what has not.
(Al Jazeera)
None of the countries that Israeli leaders typically compare themselves with has any institution comparable to Israel’s military censor.
According to the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, Israel currently stands at 112th place out of 180 countries for freedom of the press – below Haiti, Guinea Bissau, South Sudan and Chad.
According to the RSF: “Press freedom, media plurality and editorial independence have been increasingly restricted in Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, launched by Israel on 7 October 2023 following the deadly Hamas attack.”
Israel struck dozens of sites in Iran, including Natanz and a heavy water nuclear reactor, which was originally called Arak and is now named Khondab.
Israel says it destroyed Iran’s internal security headquarters in Tehran as more explosions are reported in the Iranian city of Karaj and the nearby Payam airport.
Several explosions were heard over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as a new wave of Iranian missiles targeted the country, resulting in at least four impact sites.
Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, reported that senior US officials are “preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days”. It said the development is a sign that Washington “is assembling the infrastructure to directly enter a conflict with Tehran”.
US President Donald Trump has declined to say if he has made any decision on whether to join Israel’s campaign. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do,” he said.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is urging Trump to “go all in” and attack Iran’s Fordow nuclear site, which is dug deep into a mountain in central Iran.
The Al Udeid Air Base outside Doha, Qatar – a major US military base in the Middle East – has seen many of the aircraft typically on its tarmac dispersed, The Associated Press reported.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to eliminate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Such a person is forbidden to exist,” he said in a statement cited by the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
In a post on X, Khamenei said: “The very fact that the Zionist regime’s American friends have entered the scene and are saying such things is a sign of that regime’s weakness and inability.”
Turkiye has increased the security of its border with Iran as the Israel-Iran conflict continues, a Turkish Defence Ministry source told Reuters, adding that Ankara had not seen any irregular migration flow from Iran.
Casualties and disruptions
Israel said that at least 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel.
Israel said more than 200 people were wounded in the Iranian strike that hit Soroka Hospital.
At least 639 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Iran, according to the Washington-based group, Human Rights Activists.
Iran has not given regular death toll figures during the intense attacks by Israel. Its last update put the death toll at more than 240 people killed and 1,277 others wounded.
Iranian police announced on Thursday they had arrested 24 people accused of spying for Israel, according to a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.
The IRIB state broadcaster said Iranian authorities extended the cancellation of takeoffs and landings of domestic and international flights until 2pm (10:30 GMT).
Thousands of people in Israel have become homeless as a result of Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported. The Israeli Ministry of Interior classified 5,110 people as homeless, including 907 from Tel Aviv, the report said.
London-based internet watchdog Netblocks said it had been 24 hours since Iran imposed a nationwide internet shutdown.
Diplomacy
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed plans to meet with his British, French and German counterparts, as well as the European Union’s top diplomat, in Geneva on Friday, according to the IRNA news agency.
Iranian human rights activists and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Narges Mohammadi and Shirin Ebadi urged that the war between Israel and Iran end. “Stop the war and choose dialogue over destruction,” they said in a statement on the Nobel Women’s Initiative website.
When asked by a reporter about the potential assassination of Iran’s Khamenei by Israel or the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “I do not even want to discuss this possibility. I do not want to.”
Putin also said he believed a peaceful “solution can be found” to the conflict, as he called for parties to ensure Iran’s interests in pursuing “peaceful nuclear activities”, as well as ensure the “unconditional security of the Jewish state”.
UN rights chief Volker Turk urged restraint from both Iran and Israel, saying it is “appalling to see how civilians are treated as collateral damage in the conduct of hostilities”.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office says Paris is planning, along with European partners, to suggest a negotiated solution to end the conflict between Iran and Israel.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told Al Jazeera the nuclear watchdog does not have evidence showing Iran is actively trying to build nuclear weapons.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has accused IAEA chief Grossi and his organisation of being complicit in the ongoing conflict, saying their “biased” reporting on Iran’s nuclear activities was used as a “pretext” for Israel to attack.
Iraq’s top Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned there will be “dire consequences on the region” if Iran’s “supreme religious and political leadership” are targeted. He called on the international community to “make every effort to end this unjust war and find a peaceful solution” to Iran’s nuclear programme.
