Iran’s president killed in a helicopter crash
President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran was killed along with the country’s foreign minister in a helicopter crash yesterday in the country’s mountainous northwest, state news media reported, leaving the country without two of its most influential figures at a time of heightened foreign tensions and domestic discontent. Here’s the latest news.
Raisi, 63, was a conservative Shiite Muslim cleric who violently crushed dissent and was a devoted upholder of religious rule in the country. He was a protégé of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and was widely viewed as a possible successor. Read our obituary.
Quotable: “There will be no disruption in the country’s operation,” Khamenei said in an address on state television. “Senior officials are doing their work and I have advised them on the necessary points, and all of the country’s operation will carry on smoothly and orderly.”
Israeli officials challenge Netanyahu
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, and Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, have demanded that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, come up with a decisive strategy for postwar Gaza. Gantz set up an ultimatum on Saturday and said his party would leave the government by June 8 without a plan from Netanyahu. Both he and Gallant have implicitly accused Netanyahu of prioritizing his political survival over national security.
Now, Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet is on the brink of disintegrating over what opponents view as his dithering prosecution of Israel’s offensive. But analysts said that the dissent from Gantz and Gallant was unlikely to bring about major change; even without Gantz’s party, Netanyahu’s coalition would still hold a small majority.
Hostages: In Gaza, Israeli troops recovered the bodies of three people whom Hamas had captured during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Gaza: A wartime marketplace for survival supplies, including aid parcels, has emerged.
Biden: In a college commencement address, the president called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and said that his administration was working to secure one.
Russia and Ukraine trade fire
Russia and Ukraine targeted each other’s territory yesterday with drone attacks and airstrikes that hit urban centers and energy facilities, as both sides look for ways to inflict damage beyond the battlefield.
The Russian military said that it had shot down nearly 60 Ukrainian drones over the Krasnodar region of southwest Russia. Ukrainian officials said Russia had struck northeast Ukraine, including Kharkiv, killing at least 10 civilians and wounding more than 20 people.
Help for Ukraine: The U.S. and Europe are moving toward using interest earned on frozen Russian central bank assets to provide Ukraine with a loan for military and economic assistance.
A growing number of astronomers are training their attention on our own planet as they rally to fight climate change.
“People are often surprised to learn that astronomers are engaged in climate change work,” the astronomer Travis Rector, above, said, adding: “But there’s a very strong overlap between the science of astrophysics and the science of climate change. We understand, more than anyone else, that Earth is our only home.”
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The rise of neopopulism
The U.S. feels deeply polarized. But the country’s supposedly gridlocked federal government has instead had arguably the most productive period of Washington bipartisanship in decades over the past four years, my colleague David Leonhardt writes.
The collaborations — on issues like Covid-19 policy, semiconductor chips and TikTok — represent a new form of centrism, which David calls “neopopulism,” that is based on mistrust of the neoliberal free-market ethos. Officials are increasing tariffs and supporting government efforts to address the market’s shortcomings.
