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‘War Crimes’: Analysis Suggests US Bombed Water Facilities Used by 20,000 Iranians in Precision Strike

Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A water facility is seen in Bemani, Iran after an attack that a New York Times analysis showed was likely a US precision strike on June 10, 2026. Deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure is a war crime under international law. (Photo by Rokna News Agency)

“Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people,” said one academic.

As temperatures in the village of Bemani, Iran, near the Strait of Hormuz, reached above 100°F this week, two water facilities were struck by bombs, cutting off the drinking water supply for 20,000 people in the area.

An analysis by The New York Times late Wednesday indicated that the attack on the drinking-water storage facilities appeared to be a precision strike by the US, raising questions about whether the Trump administration intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure, which would constitute a war crime under international law.

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As the provincial water authority in the area reported that two storage tanks had been destroyed in an attack early Wednesday, US Central Command said on social media that the US Air Force and Navy had used “precision munitions” to strike “Iranian air defense, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait of Hormuz.”

Esmaeil Baqaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, posted a video of damage to one of the facilities, whose light blue pipes were consistent with water infrastructure.

“As part of its aggression against Iran, the US military has deliberately struck vital civilian water infrastructure in Sirik, Hormozgan, destroying two reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2,500 cubic meters,” said Baqaei. “These facilities supplied drinking water to more than 20,000 residents across ten villages. This is not collateral damage—it is a calculated war crime and a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law. The US must be held accountable for committing such systematic brutal attacks on civilian life-sustaining infrastructure.”

The analysis of the strikes came as the US waged more attacks Wednesday night and early Thursday, including on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and against Iranian radars and air defenses.

In its analysis, the Times said commercial satellite imagery showed two water facilities in Bemani whose descriptions matched those given by Abdolhamid Hamzehpour, the chief executive of the province’s water authority, on Wednesday, when he reported the structures had been damaged by missiles.

Hamzehpour said in a statement that the high temperatures in the area were “unbearable” for residents without drinking water, and said that mobile water tanks had been deployed to nearby villages.

The roof of one of the facilities collapsed, according to videos released by Iranian state media, and the center of the roof of the other structure appeared to have been struck by a bomb.

The Times noted that both buildings were remotely located, with no other infrastructure located in the immediate vicinity, suggesting a likely precision strike.

Tasnim, a semiofficial news agency in Iran, released photos of bomb fragments that it said were recovered from the site. Researchers with the Open Source Munitions Portal identified the fragments as parts of a GBU-39 bomb, which is used by the US Air Force.

The precision-guided bomb was “consistent with the damage shown in the footage of the damaged building: a clean hole punched through the building’s roof and limited blast damage around it,” reported the Times.

Alleged U.S. airstrikes overnight hit two water storage reservoirs in Iran's Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, reportedly leaving many without water.Images of remnants posted by Iranian media show the remains of a U.S.-made GBU-39 air-delivered bomb.osmp.ngo/osmp2336/

— Open Source Munitions Portal (@munitionsportal.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T19:29:40.834Z

The bombing came as President Donald Trump complained that Tehran was taking too long to finalize a peace deal. The US and Iran have each carried out attacks this week, raising doubts about a ceasefire deal that was reached in April following Trump’s threats to wipe out Iran’s civilization.

“Trump is so angry that Iran will not give him a deal that he is telling the US military to commit war crimes,” said Phillips P. O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. “Destroying a drinking water facility is not an attack on a target of war, but a mafia-style operation designed to harm the Iranian people.”

Article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
War criminal Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
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Continue Reading‘War Crimes’: Analysis Suggests US Bombed Water Facilities Used by 20,000 Iranians in Precision Strike

‘We wanted to save lives’, Palestine activists tell court

https://www.declassifieduk.org/we-wanted-to-save-lives-palestine-activists-tell-court/

Frank Sherman and Hana Yun-Stevens outside Birmingham crown court. (Photos: John McEvoy / Declassified UK)

Jury mulls case of four protesters who raided Wolverhampton arms factory said to produce “military aircraft parts for Israel”

A jury at Birmingham crown court is deliberating whether four pro-Palestine activists committed criminal damage at an arms factory in Wolverhampton.

Defendants Iain Evans, Hisham Alkhamesi, Frank Sherman, and Hana Yun-Stevens believed the factory, used by arms firm Moog, supplied weaponry to Israel.

They climbed onto the roof in August 2025, smashed equipment and unveiled a banner saying “Free Palestine” while wearing T-shirts with the names of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes.

…

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict this week and have been discharged until Tuesday.

…

Sherman, 23, told the jury they would always believe disrupting the factory was “not criminal” and that any repercussions they may face could not “compare to how I would feel if I had not taken action”.

Lawyers for the other defendants reminded the jury of its powers – referencing the Magna Carta and the Bushell case, a landmark ruling from 1670 which established the independence of juries.

They also mentioned how the suffragettes “did a bit of smashing themselves”.

…

See the original article at https://www.declassifieduk.org/we-wanted-to-save-lives-palestine-activists-tell-court/

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Continue Reading‘We wanted to save lives’, Palestine activists tell court

Get Palantir out of our NHS, protesters demand

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/get-palantir-out-our-nhs-protesters-demand

 Campaigners rally against Palantir. Photo: Neil Terry Photography

DOZENS of campaigners rallied outside the year’s biggest NHS conference today to demand health chiefs and the government pull the plug on US surveillance tech firm Palantir.

The NHSConfedExpo, organised by the NHS Alliance, brings together health policy-makers from around the country, but has in recent times been a target for protest by those concerned at the encroachment of the US-based data analytics firm on the service.

Palantir has been implicated in genocide as a supplier of AI technologies for battlefield decision-making and the creation of target lists to the IDF as it set about its slaughter of over 75,000 civilians, an estimated 22,000 of them children, and as many as 1,700 health workers in Gaza.

Speakers at the rally included representatives of Unison, Amnesty International, the Good Law Project, Young Struggle Manchester, and Angela, who did not give her surname, from local mental health campaign CHARM, which last year joined demands for Manchester’s Integrated Joint Board to drop the firm.

“As an organisation of service users, survivors, carers, trade unionists and allies, we believe this is about far more than technology,” she said.

“It’s about trust. That is not a minor issue. In mental healthcare, trust can be lifesaving. 

“Healthcare data should be protected by organisations that reflect the stated values of the NHS. These values include care, transparency, accountability and respect for human rights. 

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/get-palantir-out-our-nhs-protesters-demand

Continue ReadingGet Palantir out of our NHS, protesters demand

Palantir to sue Sadiq Khan over blocked £50m Met police contract

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/09/palantir-sue-khan-blocked-met-contract

Sadiq Khan had blocked the deal and suggested Palantir had been the only contender for the Met’s AI contract. Photograph: Michael Bowles/Shutterstock

US spy-tech company to challenge London mayor’s intervention after he raised concerns over breach of procurement rules

Palantir intends to sue the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, after he blocked a contract between the US spy-tech firm and the Metropolitan police.

The Met had planned to use Palantir’s software to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations, until Khan intervened in late May, sparking a row between the UK’s largest police force and the mayor’s office.

Khan said there had been a breach of procurement rules in the contract and suggested Palantir had been the only contender.

Now the Times has reported that Palantir’s lawyers have written to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime saying they intend to challenge the decision in court. Khan’s office confirmed they had received the letter. Palantir declined to comment for this article.

A spokesperson for Khan’s office said: “The Met did not present its procurement strategy as required and the Met only fully engaged with one potential supplier: Palantir.”

…

On Tuesday morning, the technology secretary, Liz Kendall, confirmed the government was conducting a full review of the NHS contract with Palantir, assessing whether to extend the £330m deal or activate a break clause that would allow it to stop using the company’s services in early 2027.

Last week, a parliamentary committee urged the government to trigger a break, calling Palantir’s presence an “unacceptable point of weakness” in a public sector increasingly reliant on a handful of US tech firms.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/09/palantir-sue-khan-blocked-met-contract

Continue ReadingPalantir to sue Sadiq Khan over blocked £50m Met police contract

Zia Yusuf Cosying Up to Group Behind ‘Authoritarian’ Project 2025 Agenda

Article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog. [Article was published 10 June 2026]

A DeSmog collage of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf. Credit: Reform UK / YouTube (Farage), Yusuf (Z979)

Reform has been chasing even closer ties to Trump’s allies.

Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf is set to speak tomorrow at the Heritage Foundation, the group behind the “extreme” ‘Project 2025’ playbook for Donald Trump’s second term.

Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, is jetting to Washington, D.C., for an event with Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Thatcher Center’.

The event description states that the pair will be discussing “key transatlantic priorities, including mass migration, border security, deportation policy, and the broader challenge of safeguarding Western institutions and values.”

The Heritage Foundation organised Project 2025, the 900-page document which proposed a series of radical, ultra-conservative policies that have served as a blueprint for Trump’s second-term agenda.

The dossier recommended banning abortion pills, restricting access to contraceptives, and removing federal funding for groups providing abortion services. “Conservatives in the states and in Washington, including in the next conservative administration, should push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America,” it stated.

It also proposed bulldozing U.S. climate policies – slashing restrictions on fossil fuel extraction, scrapping state investment in renewable energy, and gutting the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The Heritage Foundation said that the federal government should “eradicate climate change references from absolutely everywhere” – a policy carried out by Trump, who has called climate science a “hoax”.

A core recommendation of Project 2025 was to “dismantle the administrative state” by centralising power with the president, slashing government funding, and replacing career civil servants with ideological loyalists. Russell Vought, a Heritage Foundation alumni and one of the main co-authors of Project 2025, now serves as Trump’s director of Office of Management and Budget – wielding significant power in restructuring the federal government.

Much of this agenda is shared by Reform and its leader Nigel Farage. After years of silence on abortion, Farage recently called for the UK’s abortion limit to be reduced, labelling the current 24-week limit “utterly ludicrous”. The Reform leader has been forging alliances with U.S. anti-abortion groups, while appointing anti-abortion figures to key positions in the party – including its head of policy James Orr, who doesn’t think abortion should be allowed at any stage of foetal development, even in pregnancies resulting from rape.

“Zia Yusuf should be ashamed to share a platform with the Heritage Foundation,” said Abortion Rights chair Kerry Abel. “The architects of Project 2025 are a global threat to abortion rights, climate action and democracy.

“You cannot flirt with the far right in Washington and pretend it has no consequences here. Anyone giving credibility to this extreme agenda must be called out.”

Reform is a pro-oil party that calls for the UK’s climate targets to be scrapped. Farage has said it’s “nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant. The party has also launched a ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) to identify public spending cuts in local authorities – mirroring Trump’s agency with the same name, which has overseen billions in cuts to vital public services.

“Advocates of this brand of right-wing politics, championed by Donald Trump and embraced by Reform UK politicians, are aiming to spread their divisive rhetoric and regressive policies, from opposing abortion to actively undoing climate progress,” said Cary Mitchell, executive director of operations at Best for Britain, which campaigns against populism. “Brits have been clear that they don’t trust Trump – and a knock-off version of his authoritarian approach here in the UK would only risk all our rights.”

Farage has received £52,000 in speaking fees and £12,500 in flights and accommodation for addressing pro-Trump, MAGA events since being elected to Parliament in July 2024.

In recent days, Farage announced that he would be making a keynote address to CPAC GB, a pro-Trump conference being held in London in July. The British spin-off is being organised by disgraced former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss, and Farage initially indicated that he would be “steering well clear” of the event, only to now reverse his decision.

A version of this article was published by The New World.

Farage, a longstanding Trump supporter, has recently been attempting to put some distance between his party and the U.S. government, following the president’s unpopular war in Iran, which Farage has supported.

However, Yusuf’s appearance at the Heritage Foundation – and Farage’s at CPAC GB – underscores Reform’s MAGA loyalty. According to The Spectator, key figures behind Project 2025 have been “shuttling between London and Washington” to bestow their wisdom on Farage, while Gardiner has reportedly been acting as a bridge between the White House and Reform.

Reform politician Matthew Goodwin and its economic spokesperson Robert Jenrick have also made speeches to the Heritage Foundation in recent years.

Gardiner and the Heritage Foundation have regularly been given a platform on the right-wing media channel GB News, Farage’s largest income source since becoming an MP in July 2024.

Gardiner, who served as a foreign policy researcher and aide to former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, has made dozens of appearances on GB News. During those appearances, he has called for the UK to reintroduce the death penalty, labelled the UK government “a bunch of cowardly appeasers” for not supporting Trump’s military intervention in Iran, and called for pro-Palestine protestors to be deported if they have been arrested and are foreign nationals.

Reform has been forging close ties to a number of pro-Trump groups for a number of years. In December 2024, Farage helped to launch the Heartland Institute, a co-author of Project 2025, in the UK and is now being advised by the climate science denial group.

As reported by DeSmog, two thirds of the party’s funding has come from those with financial interests in fossil fuels.

“Reform make out like they’re your mate down the pub, standing up for everyday people. But they’re actually working closely with the establishment think tanks that helped put Trump into power, and raking in millions in donations from billionaires,” said Green Party peer Natalie Bennett. “We can see who’s pulling the strings and who they’re really working for.”

Reform and the Heritage Foundation were approached for comment.

Article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.

Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Nigel Farage objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Continue ReadingZia Yusuf Cosying Up to Group Behind ‘Authoritarian’ Project 2025 Agenda

Nigel Farage to Headline Liz Truss’ CPAC GB Event

Article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.

A DeSmog collage of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Conservative prime minister Liz Truss in front of a CPAC sign. Credit: Gage Skidmore (Nigel Farage and CPAC sign), Tim Hammond / No 10 Downing Street (Liz Truss)

The Reform leader has opted to join the pro-Trump conference as it comes to the UK.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has announced that he will be speaking at CPAC GB in July – the pro-Trump conference brought to the UK by disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss.

Reform sources speaking to The Guardian previously suggested that Farage would be “steering well clear” of the event, following Truss’ involvement.

However, over the weekend, Farage announced that he would be the “keynote” speaker at the event, which is also set to feature fellow Reform politician Matthew Goodwin, who lost the Gorton and Denton by-election in February.

“Farage likes to pretend he’s on the side of the ordinary working man, but he’s really a 1980s yuppie, with out of date Thatcherite ideas,” said Nick Dearden, director of the campaign group Global Justice.

“Farage said he wouldn’t turn up to CPAC GB, Liz Truss’ embarrassing attempt at a comeback, but he just couldn’t stay away because this is where he belongs – with the grifters of recently failed governments. No one should be in any doubt – Farage is part of Britain’s out of touch elite and offers no solutions to the problems Britain faces today.”

Truss, who was prime minister for 49 days in late 2022, was forced to resign after announcing £45 billion worth unfunded tax cuts and spending hikes – causing an economic shock. Experts have warned that Farage’s agenda, which echoes Truss’ economic policies, would cause similar financial repercussions.

Farage and Truss will be joined by Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former Conservative MP who was a senior minister under Truss and currently works for GB News, which employs Farage as a presenter. The Guardian also previously reported that Rees-Mogg had “no interest in making an appearance” at CPAC GB.

Former Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg on GB News.

Credit: GB News / YouTube

Truss and Farage share similar views on climate change. The Reform leader has claimed it’s “nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant, while Truss has called on the UK, EU and U.S. to drop their landmark climate policies. The world’s leading climate scientists say it’s “unequivocal” that man-made CO2 is responsible for the majority of global warming experienced since the Industrial Revolution – driving extreme weather, droughts, and flooding.

The American Conservative Union has hosted annual Conservative Political Action Conferences in the U.S. since 1973, and has been closely linked to Trump and MAGA since his first presidency beginning in 2016. Farage has been a regular feature of CPACs in recent years, and has made tens of thousands speaking at pro-Trump events in since becoming an MP in July 2024.

At CPAC’s 2025 event in Washington D.C., Trump claimed that he had terminated the ”Green New Scam,” referring to Biden-era climate policies.

International CPAC leaders are now counting on the movement’s assistance to “take out” left-leaning politicians in Colombia and Brazil, while aiding the political campaigns of Europe’s staunchest Trump allies, according to audio recordings from recent CPAC events obtained by DeSmog.

Other speakers at CPAC GB include Tory peer Toby Young, Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson – who is a director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a climate science denial group, Talk TV host and former Farage advisor Alexandra Phillips, the radical right-wing YouTube hosts Mike Graham and Dan Wootton, Sun journalist Harry Cole, and Lucy Connolly, who was previously jailed for calling for people to “set fire” to hotels housing asylum seekers.

Article by Sam Bright republished from DeSmog.

Nigel Farage reminds you that he's the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Lettuce complains about being compared to Liz Truss.
Lettuce complains about being compared to Liz Truss.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingNigel Farage to Headline Liz Truss’ CPAC GB Event