NEW YORK (AP) — Cooper Flagg lived up to every expectation during one season at Duke and has the potential for NBA superstardom.
That’s why Mavericks fans can’t wait to get him to Dallas.
The Mavericks are expected to take Flagg with the No. 1 pick in the draft on Wednesday night, quickly adding another franchise-altering player after trading one away last season.
The Mavericks fell into the lottery after dealing Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February, though they had only a 1.8% chance of winning it. When they did, it gave them the opportunity to add an 18-year-old who was college basketball’s best player in 2024-25.
Flagg averaged 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds and led Duke to the Final Four. The 6-foot-8 forward topped the Blue Devils in all five major statistical categories and already has proven he has a game that will more than hold up against the pros when he played well last summer during an invite to the U.S. Olympic team’s training camp.
If Flagg is the choice, it will end two straight years when an American college player was not the No. 1 pick in the draft, the first time that had happened. The San Antonio Spurs selected Victor Wembanyama in 2023 and the Atlanta Hawks took another French player, Zaccherie Risacher, last season.
The Spurs have the No. 2 pick this year. Then it’s Philadelphia, Charlotte and Utah.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Attorneys for 12 of NASCAR’s 15 race teams argued in federal court Tuesday that disclosing their financial records to the stock car series would be “catastrophic” to competitive balance and warned that making such details public would put them all in danger.
The hearing was over a discovery dispute between NASCAR and the teams that are not parties in the ongoing antitrust suit filed by 23XI Racing, which is owned by retired NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins.
23XI and Front Row are the only two organizations out of the 15 that refused last September to sign take-it-or-leave offers on a new charter agreement. Charters are NASCAR’s version of a franchise model, with each charter guaranteeing entry to the lucrative Cup Series races and a stable revenue stream. Of the 13 teams that signed, only Kaulig Racing has submitted the financial documents NASCAR subpoenaed as part of discovery.
The other 12 organizations are fighting against releasing the information to NASCAR and even argued that NASCAR asking for them violates the charter agreement, which claims all disputes must go to arbitration.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell of the Western District of North Carolina promised a quick ruling but, just like last week, seemed exasperated at the lengths being taken in this brawl that for now is heading toward a December trial.
“I am amazed at the effort going into burning this house down over everybody’s heads,” Bell said at the end of the nearly two-hour hearing. “But I’m the fire marshal and I will be here in December if need be.”
“It would be absolutely devastating to these race teams if their competitors were able to find out sponsorships on the cars, driver salaries and all revenue streams,” attorney Adam Ross said. “It cannot make its way into the public realm.”
Ross said NASCAR has asked for 11 years of records and communications — including what Hendrick Motorsports spent on both its Garage 56 project building a car to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the cost of Kyle Larson running both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 the last two seasons.
“NASCAR has gone a step too far,” Ross said.
NASCAR argued it needs the financials to understand profit margins and whether teams are actually unable to make ends meet under the charter agreement. NASCAR vowed to redact details to conceal team identities, a suggestion that was met with skepticism from team attorneys who contended it would be easy to connect the dots and, for example, figure out which contracts belong to, say, Team Penske.
Attorneys also argued that money is not often distributed equally across the board with each team. For example, Team Penske might use an engineer for a NASCAR team, an IndyCar team and a sports car team.
Bell asked NASCAR why it would not be satisfied with just “topline” numbers.
“Why is not enough to know it costs X to run a car?” Bell asked.
Attorneys for the 12 teams also noted that their clients are extremely uncomfortable to be dragged into the suit.
“This is the opposite of what they want — all the teams are torn to pieces that NASCAR wants them to disclose this information and they don’t want to upset NASCAR,” Ross said.
Teams have long argued that NASCAR is not financially viable and they needed multiple concessions, including a greater revenue stream and a more permanent length on the charter agreements. Those presently have expiration dates and can be revoked by NASCAR. Two years of negotiations ended last fall with 13 teams signing on but 23IX and FRM instead heading to court.
The hearing came one day after Bell declined to dismiss the teams’ request to toss out NASCAR’s countersuit, which accuses Jordan business manager Curtis Polk of using “cartel”-type tactics in the most recent round of charter negotiations.
NEW YORK (AP) — Extensive triple digit heat, broken temperature records and oppressive humidity piled up into a steaming mess as the heat dome crushing the Eastern half of the nation sizzled to what should be its worst Tuesday.
New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) a little after noon, the first time since 2013. Then Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston joined the 100 club. More than 150 million people woke up to heat warnings and forecasters at the National Weather Service expected dozens of places to tie or set new daily high temperature records Tuesday. The dangerous heat sent people to the hospital, delayed Amtrak trains and caused utilities to urge customers to conserve power.
“Every East Coast state today from Maine to Florida has a chance of 100 degree actual temperature,” said private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist.
Fryeburg, Maine, also hit 100, for the first time since 2011.
“Getting Maine to 100 degrees is infrequent,” Maue said.
Tuesday’s heat came on top of 39 new or tied heat records Monday. But just as dangerous as triple digit heat is the lack of cooling at night, driven by the humidity.
“You get the combination of the extreme heat and humidity but no relief,” said Jacob Asherman, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. “It’s kind of been just everything stacked on top of itself…. It just speaks to how strong this heat wave is. This is a pretty, pretty extreme event.”
Asherman and Maue said Tuesday is the peak of the high pressure system that sits on top of the Mid-Atlantic and keeps the heat and humidity turned up several notches.
“Nobody is immune to the heat,” said Kimberly McMahon, the weather service public services program manager who specializes in heat and health.
Heat turns dangerous
Dozens attending outdoor high school graduation ceremonies in a northern New Jersey city on Monday were treated for heat exhaustion and related problems, including 16 taken to hospitals. The Paterson school district held ceremonies in the morning and the afternoon as temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees. Officials halted the second ceremony about an hour after it had started due to the heat.
And in New Hampshire, two 16-year-old hikers were rescued from a mountain in Jaffrey late Monday afternoon, overcome by the heat, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said. They were described as being in and out of consciousness and taken to a hospital.
The heat hit New York City as residents headed to the polls for the city’s primary election. In the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Rekha Malhotra was handing out flyers in support of Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani while wearing a pink electric fan around their neck.
“It’s 90 bazillian degrees and here I am,” said Malhotra, an event DJ. “I could have been phone banking.”
“I have all the things — hat, ice and this,” Malhotra added, pulling out a commercial-grade spray bottle from their bag.
Utilities across the Midwest and East braced for the surge of extra demand in the heat, at times asking people to cut back on air conditioning when it felt like it was needed the most. In Memphis, Tennessee, residents were asked to turn off unnecessary lights and electronics, wait until nighttime to use dishwashers, washing machines dryers, and raise thermostats a few degrees, if health allows.
No relief at night
The heat and humidity during the day was compounded by humid nights where the temperatures don’t drop much and the human body and the electric bill don’t get a break to recover, said Bernadette Woods Placky, chief meteorologist at Climate Central.
“The longer the heat lasts, the more it wears on the body, the more it wears on the health,” Woods Placky said.
A good rule of thumb is the temperature has to get at least as low as 75 degrees, if not lower, for people to recover, McMahon said. That’s a lesson from the Pacific Northwest heat wave of 2021, when many of the deaths were elderly people who lived at home and died at night because it wasn’t getting cool enough, she said.
“Unlike other weather hazards, heat does have that compounding effect on the human body. Your body tolerates less and less heat as the days go on,” McMahon said.
Because warmer air from human-caused climate change holds more moisture, making it more humid, summer nights are actually heating up faster than summer days, Woods Placky said. That’s why the Dust Bowl of the 1930s hit high temperatures similar to now, but it wasn’t as warm overall because the nights cooled, she said.
The United States daytime summer high temperature has increased 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1975, but the nighttime lowest temperature is now on average 2.6 degrees higher, according to NOAA data. In Baltimore, summer nights have warmed 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1975, while summer days only 1.5 degrees, the data showed.
Marc Savenor, who owns Acme Ice and Dry Ice Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, struggled to keep up with phones ringing as the heat wave overwhelmed ice machines and refrigerators, forcing customers to seek emergency supplies.
“During the heat waves, my phone will ring at 3 in the morning till 11 at night,” Savenor said as workers shoveled dry ice into pellets. “There’s no help for the weary here because you’ve got to get it when it’s coming in and everybody wants some.”
Savenor, who has been in the ice business for 43 years, described the current heat wave as “an ice man’s dream… I look forward to the next heat wave.”
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Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio in New York; Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, New Jersey; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Rodrigue Ngowi in Boston; and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine; contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
NEW YORK (AP) — An intense and nearly historic weather pattern is cooking much of America under a dangerous heat dome this week with triple-digit temperatures in places that haven’t been so hot in more than a decade.
The heat wave is especially threatening because it’s hitting cities like Boston, New York and Philadelphia early in the summer when people haven’t gotten their bodies adapted to the broiling conditions, several meteorologists said. The dome of high pressure that’s parking over the eastern United States is trapping hot air from the Southwest that already made an uncomfortable stop in the Midwest.
A key measurement of the strength of the high pressure broke a record Monday and was the third-highest reading for any date, making for a “near historic” heat wave, said private meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist. The worst of the heat was likely to peak for Northeastern cities on Tuesday, forecasters said.
“Like an air fryer, it’s going to be hot,” Maue said. ”This is a three-day stretch of dangerous heat that will test the mettle of city dwellers who are most vulnerable to oppressive heat waves.”
A heat dome occurs when a large area of high pressure in the upper atmosphere acts as a reservoir, trapping heat and humidity. A heat wave is the persistence of heat, usually three days or more, with unusually hot temperatures.
Where the heat will be worst
Nearly three-quarters of the country’s population — 245 million people — will swelter with 90 degrees Fahrenheit (about 32 Celsius) or higher temperatures on Monday, and 33 million people, almost 10% of the country, will feel blistering 100-degree heat (about 38 Celsius) on Tuesday, Maue said. The government’s heat health website showed the highest level of heat risk in swaths from Chicago to Pittsburgh and North Carolina to New York.
Those triple-digit air temperatures — with the feels-like index even worse because of humidity — are possible in places where it’s unusual. New York hasn’t seen 100 degrees since 2011 and Philadelphia, which is forecast to have consecutive triple-digit days, hasn’t reached that mark since 2012, said Climate Central chief meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky.
In downtown Baltimore, temperatures climbed into the high 90s by early Monday afternoon, bringing dozens of people to cool off at St. Vincent de Paul’s resource center. A few blocks away, the city’s historic Broadway Market food hall closed early when the building’s air conditioning broke.
The heat forced the cancellation of events in west Baltimore, said Eric Davis Sr., who spends most of his days working at a baseball field there.
“You can’t have kids getting heat stroke,” he said. “It’s just too hot today.“
NOAA meteorologist David Roth said it takes time to acclimate to summer heat and this heat dome could be a shock for some.
“You’re talking about some places that could be 40 degrees warmer than last week. So that’s a big deal,” he said.
Climate change is making Earth warmer
The heat is part of Earth’s long-term warming. Summers in the United States are 2.4 degrees (1.3 degrees Celsius) hotter than 50 years ago, according to NOAA data. Human-caused climate change has made this heat wave three times more likely than without the burning of coal, oil and gas, the climate science nonprofit Climate Central calculated, using computer simulations comparing the current weather to a fictional world without the industrial greenhouse gases.
A key question is how much humidity will add to the discomfort and danger of the heat.
Maue is forecasting dry air which may be a degree or two or three hotter than predicted by NOAA, but more comfortable. Other meteorologists expected worse: Sticky, humid and even more dangerous.
“The ‘big deal’ will be with the humidity being provided with the wet late spring conditions,” said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado. “The area of high pressure will allow for a lot of evaporation to occur from the wet grounds locally and regionally, which will increase the heat indices quite a bit.”
Woods Placky said to expect dew points, a key measure of humidity, in the 70s. That’s downright tropical, with some places approaching a dew point of 80 — a level Woods Placky said feels like “you’re in a swimming pool” and “the atmosphere is absorbing you.”
If this heat were later in the summer, it might not be as dangerous because the human body can adjust to the seasonably warmer temperatures, but this one is coming within days of the solstice, Woods Placky and others said.
“It will be a shock to the system,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia and Lea Skene in Baltimore contributed.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – Mt. Olive Pickle is bringing more than just its famous pickles to downtown Mount Olive—it’s serving up nearly 100 years of history, flavor and community pride. The company is set to open the Mt. Olive Pickle Parlor, a brand-new store and interactive exhibit space that celebrates its legacy with style.
“We are holding the grand opening for the brand new Mt Olive pickle parlor in downtown Mount Olive,” said Public Relations Manager Lynn Williams. “We have gone from 600 square feet of retail to a little over 3000.”
The expanded space doesn’t just offer more room for merchandise—it invites visitors into a full-sensory experience. From a 1910s-inspired storefront to 1920s schoolhouse lights and ornate cabinetry inside, every detail is a nod to the company’s roots. A highlight of the space is the Pickle Barrel Room, where guests can watch a looping tour video and explore a timeline tracing Mt. Olive’s journey from its founding in 1926 to its place as a household name today.
But it’s not all nostalgia. The Pickle Parlor brings fresh energy to the downtown district, featuring a new lineup of what Williams affectionately calls “picklephernalia”—everything from branded hoodies to offbeat pickle-themed gifts.
“We took…what we have always had in our little gift shop here t-shirts and hats and hoodies and that kind of thing, but we’ve expanding our offering to just general pickle-themed stuff,” said Williams.
And yes, there’s a pickle bar. The tasting counter will rotate flavors daily and include one of the more unexpected items on the menu: a fizzy, tangy pickle soda brewed locally by R&R Brewing.
“We’ll do pickle tastings, we’ll have a pickle flavor of the day that folks can come in and try, we have our local brewery R&R brewing and they produced a pickle soda–we’ll have that available at the pickle bar,” said Williams.
Set to open this Thursday, the Mt. Olive Pickle Parlor is already drawing attention, with curious passersby peeking through windows and eager fans knocking to get a preview.
“People just come by and they peak in the windows and sometimes they’ll knock on the door and say ‘can we come in and just look?’ There’s a lot of really nice excitement about it,” said Williams. “Pickle fans are the best fans in the world.”
For Mt. Olive, it’s not just about what’s in the jar—it’s about the stories, the people, and the Southern spirit that keep the tradition alive, one crunchy bite at a time.
NEW YORK (AP) — The largest digital camera ever built released its first shots of the universe Monday — including colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years.
Made from over 1100 images captured by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the video begins with a close-up of two galaxies then zooms out to reveal about 10 million galaxies. Those 10 million galaxies are roughly .05% of the approximately 20 billion galaxies Rubin Observatory will capture during its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Explore the Cosmic Treasure Chest. Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The observatory’s first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster were also captured, including two bright blue spirals.
The observatory hopes to image 20 billion galaxies and discover new asteroids and other celestial objects.
The effort is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious force called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the observatory’s discerning camera may yield clues about this elusive entity along with another called dark energy.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In a heavy bottom pot over medium heat bring sugar, salt, evaporated milk and butter to a boil. Once the mixture begins to boil, set a timer for 15 minutes, and stir continuously. After 2 minutes, stir in the vanilla, and keep stirring.
Mixture will boil up and as time goes on it will being to thicken. Be sure to scrape the corners of the pot to prevent any scorching of the sugars.
Once the timer goes off, cut the heat off and add the pecans. Stir it vigorously to whip it for 45 seconds. The mixture should be thick and creamy. It will begin to stiffen, so put a little elbow grease into it.
Then very quickly scoop out pralines. Just move very fast because the pralines will harden fast. Let cool for 1 hour before serving.
Mick Ralphs, a guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of the classic British rock bands Bad Company and Mott the Hoople, has died.
A statement posted to Bad Company’s official website Monday announced Ralphs’ death at age 81. Ralphs had a stroke days after what would be his final performance with the band at London’s O2 Arena in 2016, and had been bedridden ever since, the statement said. No further details on the circumstances of his death were provided.
Ralphs is set to become a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bad Company in November.
“Our Mick has passed, my heart just hit the ground,” Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers said in a statement. “He has left us with exceptional songs and memories. He was my friend, my songwriting partner, an amazing and versatile guitarist who had the greatest sense of humour.”
Ralphs wrote the 1970’s song “Ready for Love” for Mott the Hoople, later revamped for Bad Company’s 1974 debut album, which also included the Ralphs-penned hit “Can’t Get Enough.” He co-wrote Bad Company’s 1975 classic “Feel Like Makin’ Love” with Rodgers.
Born in Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, England, Ralphs began playing blues guitar as a teenager, and in his early 20s in 1966, he co-founded the Doc Thomas Group. In 1969, the band would become Mott the Hoople, a name taken from the title and title character of a 1966 novel by Willard Manus.
The group’s self-titled first album, recorded in a week, won a cult following, but the two that followed were critical and financial flops. They finally found popular success and became glam-rock giants with the 1972 David Bowie-penned-and-produced song “All the Young Dudes.” But Ralphs felt creatively cramped in the band led by singer-songwriter Ian Hunter and left in 1973.
He would soon form Bad Company with Rodgers, a singer who had left his own band, Free.
The two had intended only to write songs together, and possibly to make a one-off album as a project. But when Free drummer Simon Kirke asked to sit in, they realized they were nearly a proper group already and went seeking a bassist. They found him in former King Crimson member Boz Burrell.
“We didn’t actually plan to have a band,” Ralphs said in a 2015 interview with Gibson Guitars. “It was all kind of accidental I suppose. Lucky, really.”
Kirke said in a statement Monday that Ralphs was “a dear friend, a wonderful songwriter, and an exceptional guitarist. We will miss him deeply.”
Bad Company found immediate success. its albums were full of radio-ready anthems, and its live sound was perfectly suited to the 1970s height of arena rock.
Their self-titled debut album went to No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart. And Ralphs’ “Can’t Get Enough” — often mistakenly called “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” because of its chorus lyrics — would be their biggest hit single, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“We actually did the whole thing in one take live,” Ralphs said in the Gibson interview. “It wasn’t perfect, but we just said, ‘Yeah, that’s great, it’s going to capture the moment.’ That’s what I like to do in recording. It doesn’t have to be perfect as long as it captures the moment. That’s what it’s all about.”
Bad Company’s 1975 follow-up, “Straight Shooter,” was also a hit, going to No. 3 on album charts in both the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and the UK Albums Chart.
Its opening track, “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad,” written by Ralphs, was a modest hit, and the song that followed it, “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” was a big one that would remain in rotation on classic rock radio for decades.
The band’s statement says Ralphs is survived by “the love of his life,” his wife Susie Chavasse, along with two children, three step-children and “beloved bandmates” Rodgers and Kirke.
“Our last conversation a few days ago we shared a laugh,” Rodgers said. “But it won’t be our last.”
By DAVID RISING, JON GAMBRELL and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire,” but its status remained unclear as attacks continued Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran had agreed to a “complete and total ceasefire” soon after Iran launched a limited missile attack Monday on a U.S. military base in Qatar, retaliating for the American bombing of its nuclear sites. (AP Video)
Iran’s foreign minister said that as long as Israel stopped its attacks by 4 a.m. local Tehran time Tuesday, Iran would halt its own. But nearly an hour after that deadline, Israel’s military warned its public that Iran had launched missiles towards it as sirens sounded. At least one missile interception could be seen over the skies of Jerusalem and warnings of two further attacks followed as day broke.
It’s unclear what the detected missile launches would do for the ceasefire’s timeline.
Trump’s announcement on Truth Social said the ceasefire wouldn’t begin until about midnight Tuesday Eastern time. He said it would bring an “Official END” to the war.
Israel doesn’t confirm ceasefire but appears to pause strikes
Israel did not immediately acknowledge any ceasefire, but there were no reports of Israeli strikes in Iran after 4 a.m. local. Heavy Israeli strikes continued in Tehran and other cities until shortly before that time. Israel in other conflicts has stepped up its strikes just before ceasefires took effect.
“As of now, there is NO ‘agreement’ on any ceasefire or cessation of military operations,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in a post on X. “However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards.”
His message was posted at 4:16 a.m. Tehran time. Araghchi added: “The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later.”
The Israeli military declined to comment on Trump’s ceasefire statement and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Trump describes conflict as ’12 Day War’
Trump gave the conflict between Israel and Iran a name: the “12 Day War.” That recalls the 1967 Mideast war, known by some as the “Six Day War,” in which Israel fought a group of Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
Trump’s reference carries emotional weight for the Arab world, particularly Palestinians. In the 1967 war, Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the Golan Heights from Syria. Though Israel later gave the Sinai back to Egypt, it still holds the other territories.
Trump communicated directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the ceasefire, according to a senior White House official who insisted on anonymity to discuss the Monday talks. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff communicated with the Iranians through direct and indirect channels.
The White House has maintained that the Saturday bombing helped get the Israelis to agree to the ceasefire and that the Qatari government helped to broker the deal.
It’s unclear what role Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s leader, played in the talks. He said earlier on social media that he would not surrender.
Iran attack against US implied willingness to de-escalate
Iran attacked a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday, but appeared to indicate it was prepared to reduce tensions. The U.S. was warned by Iran in advance, and there were no casualties, said Trump, who dismissed the attack as a “very weak response.”
Qatar condemned the attack on Al Udeid Air Base as “a flagrant violation” of its sovereignty, airspace and international law. Qatar said it intercepted all but one missile, though it was not clear if that missile caused any damage.
Iran said the volley matched the number of bombs dropped by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside of populated areas.
Qatar Maj. Gen. Shayeq Al Hajri said 19 missiles were fired at the base that is home to the Combined Air Operations Center, which provides command and control of air power across the region, as well as the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, the largest such wing in the world. Trump said 14 missiles were fired, 13 were knocked down and one was “set free” because it posed no threat.
Iran announced the attack on state television, with a caption calling it “a mighty and successful response” to “America’s aggression.”
Earlier reports that a missile was launched at a base housing American forces in Iraq were a false alarm, a senior U.S. military official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said debris from a malfunctioning Iranian missile targeting Israel had triggered an alert of an impending attack on the Ain al-Assad base.
By early Tuesday, Qatar Airways resumed its flights after Qatar shut down its airspace over the Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base. Flight-tracking data showed commercial aircraft again flying in Qatari airspace, signaling Doha believed the threat on the energy-rich nation had passed.
Israel and Iran trade attacks
Israel and Iran traded barrages early Tuesday morning.
Iran struck Israel with missiles and drones while Israel said it attacked “regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran.”
In Tehran, Israel hit the headquarters of the military force that suppressed recent protests and blew open a gate at Evin prison, which is known for holding political activists.
Iranian state television aired footage it said was shot inside Evin, with prisoners under control. However, the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran said many families of detainees “have expressed deep concern about the safety and condition of their loved ones” in the prison.
The Israeli military also confirmed it struck roads around Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility to obstruct access to the site. The underground site was one of those hit in Sunday’s attack by the United States. The Israeli military did not elaborate.
In Vienna, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said he expected there to be heavy damage at the Fordo facility following Sunday’s U.S. airstrike there with sophisticated bunker-buster bombs.
Several Iranian officials, including Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi, have claimed Iran removed nuclear material from targeted sites ahead of time.
Trump floats regime change
Israeli officials insisted they did not seek the overthrow of Iran’s government, their archenemy since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But the latest strikes unfolded only hours after Trump himself mentioned the possibility of regime change a day after inserting America into the war with its stealth-bomber strike on three Iranian nuclear sites.
“If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” he asked on his Truth Social website. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later described Trump as “simply raising a question.”
Before the news of a ceasefire, an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss high-level internal deliberations, said Israel aimed to wind down the war in the coming days, but that it would depend on the Iranians.
Israel’s preferred outcome is for Iran to agree to a ceasefire and reenter negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, the official said. But Israel is prepared for the possibility of an extended low-intensity war of attrition or period of “quiet for quiet,” in which it would closely monitor Iran’s activities and strike if it identifies new threats.
Conflict has killed hundreds
In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in the war. Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 974 people and wounded 3,458 others, according to the Washington-based group Human Rights Activists.
The group, which has provided detailed casualty figures from Iranian unrest such as the protests surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, said of those killed, it identified 387 civilians and 268 security force personnel.
The U.S. has evacuated some 250 American citizens and their immediate family members from Israel by government, military and charter flights that began over the weekend, a State Department official said.
There are roughly 700,000 American citizens, most of them dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, believed to be in Israel.
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Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad, Abby Sewell in Beirut, Elise Morton in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Ella Joyner in Brussels, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Stephanie Liechtenstein in Vienna contributed to this report.
