On Monday, June 23rd, 2018, this is how things are going.
Fighting
At least five people have been killed and dozens have been injured in overnight Russian drone and missile attacks in and around Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.
According to the officials, the attacks also caused a metro station’s entrance to become a bomb shelter and set off fires in residential areas.
During the night on Monday, Russia said it would launch 352 drones and 16 missiles at Ukrainian territory.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian air defense units destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones between 10 p.m. on Sunday (GMT) and 6 a.m. on Monday (03 pt).
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, stated in his weekly speech on Sunday that Norway would invest $400 million in the defense sector.
Diplomacy
Zelenskyy says he will travel to the UK on Monday to talk about Russia’s defense and other pressing issues. He wrote on social media that “we will also be negotiating new and potent measures to put an end to the strikes and put pressure on Russia for this war.”
Spain hasn’t committed to amounteding to at least 5% of its GDP annually, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who stated on Sunday.
Following the news that NATO allies are reuniting this week in the Netherlands, they have come to agreement to significantly increase their defense spending to combat what they see as a growing threat from Russia and give Europe more authority over its own security.
Due to the anticipated rise in energy prices following the US bombing of Iran on Sunday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has urged the European Union to halt a proposed ban on Russian energy.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won the franchise’s first title since moving from Seattle in 2008 by defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
In the deciding game at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center on Sunday, the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 29 points and added 12 assists in front of a raucous home crowd.
The same player had won the scoring title, regular season, and Finals MVP honors for the first time since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002, and he was also named the best player of the Finals.
The Pacers lost their star point guard early on, ; With an Achilles injury at the halfway point of the first quarter, Tyrese Haliburton saw their hopes threatened by a stifling Oklahoma City defense.
Gilgeous-Alexander responded, “It doesn’t feel real.” There are “so many hours, so many moments, so many emotions, so many nights of disbelief, and so many nights of belief.”
This group puts forth hard work. We deserve this, he continued.
An capped the championship extraordinary run ; The Thunder finished the regular season with a 68-14 record, which is good for the fifth-most wins in a single NBA season.
The surprise Eastern Conference champion Pacers pushed the league’s best team to the winner-take-all finale, which featured little star power but thrills in the final game between two small-market teams.
Five minutes into the game, Haliburton drained his third three-pointer for the Pacers, but it was a terrible mistake for Indiana when he slipped and fell two minutes later.
The two-time All Star was crying as his team’s medical staff rushed to his aid as a hush poured over the crowded building filled with Oklahoma City fans.
Aliburton was taken to the locker room but did not return, and a TV broadcast claimed he had an Achilles injury despite the team’s official release.
The Pacers put together a strong defensive performance to end the half one point ahead of the other team, keeping the score steady through a fast second quarter.
The Thunder, however, quickly seized control with Gilgeous-Alexander, who went 0-5 behind the arc in the third period, lighting the fuse with a 25-foot three-point jump shot after the third quarter.
Without Haliburton, the Pacers were unable to recover the deficit, with the Thunder giving the opener with a 9-0 run. However, they were masters of the late comeback in the postseason.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is all smiles after winning the NBA Finals in 2025 [Joe Murphy/Getty Images via AFP]
The battle of young champions
In their postgame celebration, the Thunder’s youth was distinctly present.
Thunder player Isaiah Hartenstein compared the post-game celebratory champagne bottles, saying, “No one knew how to open them.”
They were soon able to understand thanks to 31-year-old Alex Caruso, who is both the team’s oldest player and the only one with an NBA title before.
Hartenstein praised AC [Caruso] for giving us a great tutorial.
There was some inconsistentness with the Thunder youth.
The guys were all set to be who they are, and I tried to do that throughout the entire run, according to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault.
The Pacers are still without a championship in the NBA.
Without point guard TJ McConnell, who scored 12 points in the third half and made six of Indiana’s eight field goals in the frame, the Pacers could have had a worse team.
With 24 points off the bench, the Pacers finished the game. McConnell and Pascal Siakam each added 16.
Since 1988, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Detroit Pistons 108-105, the Thunder became the first NBA Finals team to score 100 or more points.
Caruso, who was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020 championship team, expressed his hope that his postgame tutorial would eventually pay off.
After President Donald Trump ordered direct strikes on Sunday that he claimed “obliterated” significant nuclear facilities in the Middle East, tensions have risen to the highest point in recent years.
Since the 1979 Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini toppled pro-Western Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran continues to be the US’s biggest adversary in the region. Since then, the two countries have fought over a variety of issues, including US political interference, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and its backing of regional proxies.
Israel, which has long viewed Iran as a threat, launched unprecedented strikes across the country last week after accusing it of developing nuclear weapons. Trump dragged the US into the conflict after Israeli strikes, but Israel’s claims have not been supported by any solid evidence.
The US directly struck Iran on Sunday, in a covert attack that the Trump administration described as being highly sophisticated and using 75 precision bombs and US aircraft. Tehran has warned it will retaliate despite the fact that Washington declared it “devastated” Iran’s nuclear sites.
Following UNSC Resolution 598 and the start of the Iran-Iraq war, an IRGC soldier was post in Khorramshahr, Iran.
A timeline of US-Iranian relations since 1953 is provided.
(1953) US-backed coup and the reinstallation of the shah: Initially, resentment erupted over Mohammad Mosaddegh’s attempts to nationalize the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP). Since oil was discovered in the early 1900s, the British colonial power has held the majority stake in the joint-venture company. The British were enraged by Mosesaddegh’s decision to nationalize the business following his election in 1951. The US’s Central Intelligence Agency helped the UK conceive a coup and bring Pahlavi, a monarch who had been ousted, to power as a shah.
The US and other Western allies were supportive of the shah’s plans for a nuclear-armed Iran (1957). As part of the Atoms for Peace initiative spearheaded by then-US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, both nations ratified a nuclear agreement for civilian use. Iran received a nuclear reactor and uranium ten years later from the US. The current nuclear problem is based on the nuclear collaboration.
Iranian revolution: Despite flourishing relations between Tehran and Washington, Iranians resisted the alleged overreach of Western influence on their businesses. The shah fled in January 1979 as a result of revolutionary protests that started wracking the nation in late 1978. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, an exiled scholar, resurrected as the new Islamic republic.
US diplomatic ties cut after US decision to admit the shah for cancer treatment in 1980, Iranian students kidnapped 52 Americans for 444 days and entered the US embassy in Tehran. Washington severed diplomatic ties with Washington and imposed sanctions on the nation. In exile, the shah perished.
US support for Iraqi invasion: In 1980, the US backed Iraqi invasion, which was under Saddam Hussein’s leadership. This caused tensions between the two countries to rise. Up until 1988, the conflict saw the deaths of countless people on both sides. Iran was also a target of chemical weapons.
After a number of attacks in Lebanon, where the US had been drawn in after Israel’s invasion, President Ronald Reagan designated Iran as a “state sponsor of terror.” 241 US service members were killed in one attack on a Beirut military base. Hezbollah, a Shia-backed Lebanese organization, was put on trial by the US. However, Reagan later collaborated with Iran to free American hostages held by Hezbollah. Reagan was deeply scandalized when the Iran-Contra scandal became public.
A US naval ship sped into Iran’s waters and fired at the civilian Iran Air flight (IR655) headed for Dubai on July 8th, 1988, amid rising war tensions and even direct attacks on the Gulf’s military warships. All 290 passengers died, total. Instead of formally apologizing or claiming responsibility, the US paid families $61.8 million as compensation.
(1995) Tighter sanctions: Between 1995 and 1996, the US imposed more sanctions. Then, Congress passed a law severing sanctions on foreign companies that invest in or sell Iranian advanced weapons, as well as President Bill Clinton’s executive orders, which prohibited US companies from dealing with Iran. The US cited the development of nuclear weapons and the support of organizations like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In a State of the Union address following the 9/11 attacks on the US, President George W. Bush claimed that Iran was an “Axis of Evil” along with Iraq and North Korea. Iran and the US had been working together at the time to combat Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda. By the end of 2022, international observers had noted highly enriched uranium in Iran, which increased the pressure on the cooperation and sparked new sanctions.
2013 Iran nuclear deal: US President Barack Obama held discussions with Iran at a high level between 2013 and 2015. Tehran ratified the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement that would ease sanctions against Iran. The agreement, which set Iran’s enrichment cap at 3.67 percent, included China, Russia, France, Germany, the UK, and the EU.
(2018) Trump renounces the nuclear deal: In 2018, the US unilaterally renounced the deal and resumed sanctions against Iran. Trump and Israel had criticized the agreement. Iran also halted its commitments and began producing more enriched uranium than the agreed upon limits.
(2020) IRGC leader assassinated in Baghdad: In a drone strike, the US killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, in the country’s capital. The administration had designated the Quds Force a “terrorist” organization a year earlier. Iraqi assets were attacked by Iran as a response.
A letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which Trump shot off in March, urging Iran to resume negotiations over a nuclear deal with a 60-day deadline. Khamenei rejected the offer, claiming that the US is only making demands of Iran rather than pursuing negotiations with it. Muscat served as a mediator between Oman and Italy, and discussions reportedly broke out in Oman and Italy. After several rounds of negotiations, Trump alleged that his team was “very close” to a deal and warned Israel against striking. Another sticking point in the discussions was Tehran’s optimism, but he also emphasized the right to enrich uranium. A day before the sixth round of Iran-US discussions, Israel launched strikes across Iran.
US bombings of three important nuclear facilities in Iran were cited as reasons for Israeli defense and security.
Following US-led strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the UN Security Council convened an urgent session, prompting sharp rebukes from several member states and renewed calls for a Middle Eastern ceasefire, as US and Israeli allies praised the attack.
According to diplomats with knowledge of the draft, a resolution from Russia, China, and Pakistan was circulated on Sunday. The attack on Iranian nuclear facilities is condemned in the proposal, which does not specifically mention Israel or the United States. There is not currently a vote scheduled.
The resolution’s passage requires the support of at least nine members and no vetoes from the five permanent members, which are the US, UK, France, Russia, and China. This makes it a non-starter because the US won’t take any offense at itself.
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, warned the region that it was “on the verge of a deadly downward spiral.”
The United States’ bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities represents a risky turn for a region already suffering, according to Guterres. We now run the risk of falling into a repulsive rathole following repulsive behavior. We must intervene right away and decisively to put an end to the hostilities and bring the Iran nuclear program back into serious, sustained talks.
Dorothy Shea, the acting US ambassador, argued that Washington had taken steps to end Iran’s enrichment program to protect both its citizens and allies.
Shea told the chamber, “The time has finally come for the United States to act decisively in defense of its ally and our own interests.” Any Iranian attack, whether direct or indirect, on Americans or American bases will face gruesome retaliation, Iran warned.
Iranian Ambassador Ali Bahreini claimed that the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran did not occur “in a vacuum,” and that they were the result of “politically motivated actions” by the US and its European partners.
He claimed that the US “decided to destroy diplomacy” and made it abundantly clear that the Iranian military would decide its response’s timing, nature, and scale.
Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon, who has denied condemnation, added that the attacks had “made the world a safer place.” When asked whether Israel supported regime change in Tehran, he said, “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
Fu Cong, the ambassador to China, blasted the US strikes and called for restraint. He remarked, “We call for an immediate ceasefire.” China “is incredibly concerned about the possibility of the situation spiraling out of control.”
Vasily Nebenzya, the UN envoy for Russia, characterized the attacks as yet another illustration of Washington’s disregard for international standards. He claimed that “the US has opened a Pandora’s box.” No one is aware of the potential for catastrophe or suffering.
Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s ambassador, also expresses grave concern over the US bombing. He claimed that the Israeli aggression and unlawful actions have caused a sharp rise in tensions and violence. In this difficult time, Pakistan shows its support for the Iranian government and its brotherly people. The news was made a day after Pakistan suggested Donald Trump be chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The most significant Western military action against Tehran since the 1979 revolution was Trump’s announcement that American forces had “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites.
Impact craters were visible at the Fordow enrichment site, according to Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Natanz, a long-adjacent target of Israeli sabotage, appeared to have been hit again while the entrances to the tunnels at Isfahan appeared to have been struck.
Grossi has been criticized by Iran for helping to set up Israel and the US attack on it.
The day before Israel’s first attack on June 13 was announced by the board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog, which declared Iran was breaking its commitment to international nuclear safeguards.
In a Group H encounter played in sweltering conditions in Charlotte, North Carolina, the United States, Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler scored late in the opening half to give 10-man Real Madrid a 3-1 lead.
Xabi Alonso’s first victory as Madrid manager came with Federico Valverde’s sliding goal in the 70th minute.
Following a heartfelt 1-1 draw against Al Hilal in Wednesday’s opener and Raul Asencio’s early dismissal on Sunday, his team’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign is now back on track.
With a win or draw against RB Salzburg on Thursday in Philadelphia, Real Madrid will be able to place in the last 16. Later on Sunday in Washington, D.C., Al Hilal will play Salzburg.
Elias Montiel’s deflected effort in the 80th minute gave Pachuca a consolation goal, but Thibault Courtois did little to help the victors save 10 saves.
Despite leading their Spanish opponents 25-8 overall and 11-3 in attempts on target, the Mexican side was defeated.
However, their opponents had more quality in their attacks than they did in Pachuca’s 2-1 loss to Salzburg on Wednesday.
Asencio was immediately dismissed in the seventh minute for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity after Salomon Rondon was hauled down just beyond the penalty area by Ramon Abatti, who had no hesitation in doing so.
Raul Asencio of Real Madrid leaves the game after receiving a red card [Susana Vera/Reuters]
However, the Spaniards took the lead for the majority of the opening 15 minutes before the Spaniards took the final 15 to a 2-0 lead.
Fran Garcia was quickly freed in the 35th when Gonzalo Garcia’s quick flick-on was released. The latter then picked up Carlos Moreno’s late run, who slid his low finish past him from 15 yards, with a square ball from Bellingham.
On another flowing Madrid move, this time with Gonzalo Garcia providing the final square pass following Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-touch cross, Guler provided the finishing touch from inside the area in the 43rd.
After the break, Pachuca continued to exert pressure, with John Kennedy’s 61st-minute strike well past his left post and Bryan Gonzalez’s early-second-half effort being forced over the bar.
However, Real Madrid held on for an impressive win thanks to Valverde’s well-taken goal, which almost ended the game.
After the game, Bellingham, who was named the player of the match, applauded the team spirit.
After receiving the red card, “we stayed well together.” Raul [Asencio] erred, of course. He told DAZN, “He is young and it will happen.”
“It was amazing to see how the team worked together and won the game.”
Courtois received praise, according to Alonso.
After the game, he told DAZN, “We are so happy to have [Courtois] in goal.”
When we only had one player, he was extremely trustworthy. We prepared our chances by sacrificing a lot of sacrifices while we defended.
According to ESPN’s report from Sunday, the Houston Rockets will trade guard Jalen Green and forward Dillon Brooks for the team’s top overall pick from the Phoenix Suns for five second-round picks.
The US National Basketball Association (NBA) will begin its new league year on July 6th, allowing for the completion of the trade. At that point, Durant will be eligible to agree to a $ 122 million extension.
Durant’s current contract has one more year left, and he’s projected to make $ 54,7 million between 2025 and 2026.
The Rockets finished the regular season as the second-seeded team in the Western Conference, and Durant will be their new coach. The All-Star forward will travel to Houston along with Amen Thompson, Fred VanVleet, and Alperen Sengun, among others.
Durant, who turns 37 in September, played 62 games for the Suns between 2024 and 2025. Not far off of his career averages, he scored 26.6 points, grabbed 6.0% of his rebounds, grabbed 4.2% of his assists, and added 1.2% of his own. Additionally, he shot 43.0% from the three-point line.
Durant has appeared in 1, 123 games for the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder (2007-2016), Golden State Warriors (2016-19), Brooklyn Nets (2020-2023), and Suns (2010-2019). He was also named to the All-NBA first team six times. He averages 27.2% in his career and holds 70.1 rebounds. With a long-range shooting percentage of 39 percent, and 1.1 blocks and 4.4 assists.
Green, 23, started all 82 games this season with a 21.0% average, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. In a potent backcourt, he now travels to Phoenix, joining All-Star Devin Booker.
Since being chosen by the Rockets with the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, he has made 307 points, 4.3% of his shots, and 3.4 assists in 307 games.
Brooks, 29, averaged 14.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 75 games this season.
In 492 games with the Memphis Grizzlies (2017-20) and Rockets, he has contributed 14.2 points, 3.2% of his boards, and 2.0 assists. Houston selected him in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft.
In the Kevin Durant trade, Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, left, serves as the centerpiece.
